This week I worked on my first georeferencing project using the David Rumsey Map Collection. The map I chose to work with was made in 1834 and I tried to line up key landmarks in the map with those in a modern map of the United States. Part of the process that stood out to me was trying to find landmarks that were noted in 1834 that were also seen in a modern map. I ended up using edges of states or bodies of water because I struggled to find landmarks within states. After I finished lining up key points, I eventually cropped and overlapped the image with a current map. This is what it looked like:
Other projects I looked at were three mapping projects published by the New York Times. One that stood out to me was A Map of Baseball Nation, which showed where fans for various teams lived. The colors and visualizations in this map really stood out to me and gave me a new understanding of fandom. After making my own map and correcting it, it definitely felt like two different projects though. For one, the mapping I did was more focused on updating or comparing an old map to a new one whereas these projects at the NYT were more focused on just depicting current data.
Under the “This Map” section of David Ramsey’s site, there is the option to overlay & compare the map with a real map, but also links that allow you to view the map in other contacts, or export the georectified map to other mapping websites. This makes me think that a next step could be to add an interactive element to these georectified maps.
On the other hand, a problem I see with georeferencing is just asking about how accurate it can really be. When I did it myself, I found that I could not be entirely accurate with where I was placing my identifying points. There was a sort of lack in similar monuments for me to be sure about, which makes me question the overall accuracy of these maps. Therefore, although this can be helpful in doing comparative research, this might not be suitable for doing concrete analysis of past geography. Georeferencing might be helpful for visualizing overall trends as opposed to details of the past.
