Palimpsest

[lascellesabercrombie]

Project Name

Palimpsest

Describe the problem you'd like to solve

Putting pins in Google Maps is easy enough - but what if you want to think about the locations of buildings on streets that no longer exist? Historical research might be facilitated by having an application that would allow importing maps from elsewhere (or uploading one's own) and charting locations as one would on Google Maps. There would be an exploratory component (using the application to get a sense of the relative position of two buildings, etc.) and a component more closely related to presenting information (generate elegant maps with a few key locations marked).

Who are the stakeholders?

• Professional researchers in history or disciplines with a historical component.
• People curious in tracing their family or local history
• Writers of historical novels with a strong feeling for geographical accuracy

Other considerations

• The more information-rich the map, the more information for the app to manage - how to make something quick enough not to be frustrating but complex enough to be useful

What is currently being done to solve this problem?

• I need to have a proper look to see if Google Maps already allows the possibility of importing maps - that would be pretty decisive
• Layers of London [overlays maps of parts (all?) of London; quite heavy and slow, but brings up interesting material]

What technology might be interesting to explore?

• Could be a good opportunity to explore mapping software
• Data visualisation software?