Historical Maps Research Articles

Protection and revalorisation of public spaces in the historic centre of Wieliczka in the first two decades of the 21st century

The town of Wieliczka was founded around a salt mine, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by millions of tourists. Due to its geological structure and mining activities, the area was at risk of sinkholes. The subsidence hazard was eliminated by underground mining safety works. Over the centuries, the development of the town has been documented by historical maps, engravings and photographs, which are now valuable iconographic sources in conservation efforts. In 1977, the urban layout of the centre of Wieliczka was entered in the register of historical monuments. A local spatial development plan was adopted for the area in 2010. During the first two decades of the 21st century, a number of investments have been made in Wieliczka that have improved the appearance of the historic town, making its public spaces more welcoming to residents and visitors.

THE PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL MEMORY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING AND RESEARCH

This article addresses the importance of preserving historical memory in the digital age, highlighting challenges, opportunities and the use of interactive technologies in teaching and research. It discusses the ephemerality of digital media and the need for preservation strategies, such as format migration, metadata maintenance, and backup practices. The risks of loss and obsolescence of digital formats are addressed, underscoring the importance of constantly monitoring formats and adopting open standards. Legal and ethical issues related to digital preservation are examined, emphasizing respect for copyright, protection of privacy, and promotion of democratic access to historical knowledge. Global access and democratization of historical knowledge through online platforms, digital repositories and virtual libraries are also highlighted. Collaboration and information sharing between researchers and institutions are considered essential for the preservation and dissemination of historical knowledge. It presents the use of digital tools, virtual reality, games and virtual platforms in historical education, highlighting their ability to create immersive experiences for students. Big data analysis and historical data mining are explored as promising approaches to understanding historical patterns and trends. Thebenefits of data visualization and historical mapping in understanding and analyzing past events are discussed. Digital tools for the analysis of primary sources and the construction of historical narratives are presented. KEYWORDS: Media; Technology and History; Research; Memory and Teaching.

Spatial-temporal pattern of change in production-living-ecological space of Nanchong City from 2000 to 2020 and underlying factors.

This study analyzed the spatial-temporal change pattern and underlying factors in production-living-ecological space (PLES) of Nanchong City, China, over the past 20 years using historical land use data (2000, 2010, 2020). A land use transfer matrix was calculated from the historical land use maps, and spatial analysis was conducted to analyze changes in the land use dynamics degree, standard deviation ellipse, and center of gravity. The results showed that there was a rapid spatial evolution of the PLES in Nanchong from 2000 to 2010, followed by a stabilization in the second decade. The transfer of ecological-production space occurred mainly in the Jialing and Yilong River basins, while the reduction of production space and the increase of living space were most prominent in the intersection of three districts (Shunqing, Jialing, and Gaoping districts). The return of production-ecological space was observed in the south and northeast of Yingshan, and there was little notable transfer of other types. The distribution of production space in Nanchong evolved in a north-south to east-west trend, with the center of gravity moving from Yilong to Peng'an County. The living space and production space expanded in a north-south direction, and the center of gravity position was in Nanbu, indicating a more balanced growth or decrease in the last 20 years. The changes in the spatial-temporal pattern of PLES in Nanchong were attributed to the intertwined factors of national policies, economic development, population growth, and the natural environment. This study introduced a novel approach towards rational planning of land resources in Nanchong, which may facilitate more sustainable urban planning and development.

Rapid coastal erosion, its dynamics and cause – an erosional hot spot on the southern Baltic Sea coast

Coastal erosion is one of the major problems in coastal management. To adapt to it, and prevent it where possible and needed, it is important to recognize the temporal and spatial scale of the phenomenon as well as its causes. This paper describes the rapid erosion rate along an approximately 2.25 km stretch of the southern Baltic coast. The erosion occurs within a nature reserve, which is not subject to direct anthropogenic impact. Historical maps and modern remote sensing were used to trace changes in the shoreline position from 1875 to the present, and detailed DTMs derived from airborne LiDAR were used to trace elevation changes of the beach and dunes over the past years. The weighted maximum annual erosion rate since 1875 averages 2.3 m. An increase in this annual erosion rate has been observed since the turn of the millennium. The maximum average erosion rate from 2001 to 2005 was 15 m/year. The erosion has caused serious changes in elevation within the inland part of the coastal zone, manifested by a reduction in the width of the beach and a decrease in the height of the beach and dunes.

PROBLEMS OF PRESERVATION AND REVITALIZATION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE NATURAL MONUMENT – HISTORICAL "KADETSKYI HAI"

The article is devoted to the study, preservation and revival of the territory of the historical natural monument – Kadetskyi Hai. This is a unique ecosystem with the river Vershynka, lakes and a large oak grove, which has repeatedly undergone changes. This territory is known from chronicle sources of princely times and is depicted on historical maps, it is described as an important green zone in the suburbs of ancient Kyiv, which played several functions: recreational, economic, residential, military. After 1917, the mass destruction of the green massif of Kadetskyi Hai began, which was intensified by blocks of massive construction in the 1960s. The purpose of the research: to systematize historical information about the Kadetskyi Hai, to identify its features, to identify the problems associated with the process of organizing the remaining green areas today, and to provide proposals for their solution.
 According to the developed proposals, it is necessary to clean up and arrange the bed of the Vershynka River, setting up a sanitary protection zone around it. As an option, it is proposed to move the channel further from the railway track and turn it into a place of rest. Since the part of the “Sputnyk” park in the part of the White Gazebo (Bila Altanka) and the Vershynka River is unorganized and cluttered, it is proposed to organize it.
 The disorder of green zones remains a problem, both in Sputnyk Park and landscaping within residential neighborhoods. In fact, the areas of mass construction of the 1960s have turned into “sleeping neighborhoods” over time, where there is a lack of public service facilities, parking lots, organized recreation areas, sports and children's playgrounds.
 A separate problem is related to the disorganization of green spaces. The authors investigated the greening of the Pershotravnevyi residential area on the territory of the former Kadetskyi Hai. This neighborhood is characterized by a terraced terrain, where medium-story brick houses are located on the upper and lower levels of the natural slope. In the thickness of the slope there is an extensive network of communications, so it remains undeveloped. In recent years, because of the war, slope clearing and removal of self-seeding trees and bushes have not been carried out, so this area has taken on the appearance of a forest park made of deciduous trees.

Retrieving landscape

This article focuses on two methods employed in the selection, interpretation, and representation of diverse source materials for developing alternative biographies for my ancestral landscape - Nanhai district in the Pearl River Delta in southern China. These biographies aim to approach Nanhai from a long view of continual transformation, as opposed to prevalent readings of the region that focus on the striking spatial contrasts and large-scale developments that have only come about in recent decades. The chronological reading explores a critical shift in the cosmological understanding of the landscape situated in the 19th century through a selection of historical gazetteer maps, while in the excavational reading the diffuse continuity of the lineage in the present-day landscape of Nanhai is traced. In both methods, the drawing functions as a crucial (research) tool to engage the range of source materials.

Mapowanie przeszłości. Systemy Informacji Geograficznej (GIS) a badanie przeszłości

Interactive online maps enable new perspectives and allow for multi-dimensional interaction with source data, becoming – thanks to that – an intuitive analytical resource for the purpose of exploring relations between the information, which were obscured up to this moment. Visualization of data in the form of interactive maps is becoming not only an attractive means for presenting the knowledge – e.g., in the form of diagrams, tables, and images – but, first and foremost, provides the user with a possibility to perform a more profound analysis of historical phenomena. Visualizations of this kind, revealing unnoticed relations and patterns, provoke new questions and prompt historians to search for the answers. Newly created interactive historical maps can become a starting point to formulate new representations of past phenomena and processes. They can also serve to organize the knowledge and to integrate source materials of different sorts. As they link various forms of data (linguistic, visual, geographical), they form an analytical tool used to interpret historical processes and phenomena that have been of interest, but also to explore new ones.

Buried but not dead: The impact of stream and wetland loss on flood risk in redlined neighborhoods

The United States government sponsored the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s to assess and grade neighborhoods based on perceived financial risk. The grades were influenced by the presence of minority racial groups, immigrants, and residents with lower socioeconomic statuses and, even though the practice was eventually outlawed, the impact on low income and underrepresented minorities is still prevalent today. This study was designed to assess spatial patterns and intensity of flood risk to (a) HOLC grade, (b) proximity to coastal zones, (c) intensity of vegetative cover, and (d) relationship to buried (ghost) streams and wetlands to determine which variable has the most impact on flood risk. Flood risk data, acquired from First Street Foundation’s Flood Factor dataset, was summarized by HOLC grade, and ghost streams and wetlands were digitized from historical maps and aggregated by HOLC grade. The results show flood risk is higher in C and D graded neighborhoods, compared to A and B. Regardless of HOLC grade, neighborhoods near the Detroit River and Lake St. Claire have 10 times higher flood risk than inland neighborhoods. Interestingly, B-graded neighborhoods exhibit minimal impact from buried rivers and wetlands, but that risk increases substantially if there is a history of stream or wetland burial within a D graded neighborhood. Flood risk is disproportionately distributed, caused in part by outlawed, racist housing policies. Understanding where risk is highest can help identify optimum locations for adaptation measures to minimize flood damage in these neighborhoods.

A novel framework for road vectorization and classification from historical maps based on deep learning and symbol painting

Road networks in the past are imperative for understanding evolution of transportation infrastructure, urban sprawl, and route planning, etc. Various approaches have been developed for road extraction from historical maps, among which deep learning techniques stand out as the most effective ones. However, little attention has been paid to investigating road vectorization and classification from historical maps. Moreover, road classification via machine learning methods usually requires large amounts of dedicated training data. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel and comprehensive framework for road vectorization and classification on the basis of road segmentation from historical maps. First, deep learning is used to get pixel-wise raster road segmentation results, which are further skeletonized using morphological operations. Then, considering that each road class is represented with a certain symbol, a painting function is defined for each class able to paint the corresponding symbol. These painting functions are then used to draw road segments along the skeletons. Since the start and end points in each painting function are used to vectorise the segment, this method achieves vectorization and classification at the same time. Our method is validated on four Siegfried map sheets in Switzerland, and evaluated via both visual and quantitative assessments. The results indicate that the method is capable of classifying roads accurately. In particular, two evaluation metrics completeness and correctness achieve 90.69% and 72.71% respectively for road class 2 which accounts for the highest portion in the map. Moreover, the results of this method avoid the saw-toothed issue of vectorised road lines. This research is beneficial for creating complete vector road network datasets with class information to support decision-making in urban planning and transportation.

The use of old demarcations to recover vanished landscapes: a case study in Doñana (SW Spain)

This study emphasises the value of surveys, demarcations, and boundary delimitations in uncovering vanished landscapes and understanding the origins of present ecosystems, with a particular focus on Doñana, Spain. A 1661 delimitation was examined providing detailed information on the state of vegetation and ecosystems at the time it was conducted, as well as the processes and disappearance of elements now buried under the mobile dunes. This information was combined with historical maps and documents to gain a better understanding of the area’s ecological history. The demarcation revealed previously unknown aspects, such as the penetration point of the mobile dunes, some vanished ponds, and the drainage of the Santa Olalla pond towards the sea. It also revealed lost and relocated place names, shedding light on their significance through additional historical research and fieldwork. The findings highlight the importance of demarcations in reconstructing vanished landscapes and understanding the genesis of current ecosystems.

The lower Cambrian Cranbrook Lagerstätte of British Columbia

Discovered over a century ago, the lower Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4) Cranbrook Lagerstätte of southeastern British Columbia's Eager Formation is one of the oldest Burgess Shale-type deposits in North America. This Konservat-Lagerstätte is rich in olenelloid trilobites, but also yields a very low-diversity soft-bodied fossil assemblage including Tuzoia and Anomalocaris , and a low-diversity ichnofauna. Its scientific study, however, remains limited. A 2015 field-based investigation by the Royal Ontario Museum has revealed new information about the site's biota, depositional environment and taphonomic conditions. Not only is the Cranbrook Lagerstätte significant for early Cambrian biostratigraphy and comparisons with other Burgess Shale-type deposits, it also reveals some of the little-known diversity of life in a distal outer shelf environment during the Cambrian period. Supplementary material: Three supplementary figures (historical map, Tuzoia outlines, Anomalocaris specimens), supplementary material and methods, and a supplementary data file (generic presence/absence matrix) are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6850810

Breaking away from the landscape - Former teammates, now adversaries: Analysis of the development of the communications between open landscape and settlements (1845–2023)

Based on both historical and recent maps, this paper discusses the trend of nearly 200 years of development of the communications network between settlements and open landscape in the Czech Republic. In this Central European country, the development was quite dramatic. Firstly, due to the intended transformation towards a centrally planned economy and state ownership. Secondly, the transformation took a U-turn towards privatisation and consequently, suburbanisation has caused significant pressure for development over the last decades.The connection between settlements and the open landscape has changed considerably in the framework studied. Unlike the past settlements, contemporary ones are distancing themselves from the open landscape, offering fewer opportunities to enter it. Former agricultural villages have been particularly affected by this change, with the currently reduced number of communications into the open landscape making it difficult for their inhabitants to interact with the landscape and may also constitute an obstacle in the future successful development of these settlements.The final recommendations set out in this paper can serve urban planners by guiding them towards developing projects that are more interconnected with their surroundings. Such implementation of measures prevents the negative impacts of current developments of rural settlements on the accessibility of the open landscape for its inhabitants.

Detection of Changes in Buildings in Remote Sensing Images via Self-Supervised Contrastive Pre-Training and Historical Geographic Information System Vector Maps

The detection of building changes (hereafter ‘building change detection’, BCD) is a critical issue in remote sensing analysis. Accurate BCD faces challenges, such as complex scenes, radiometric differences between bi-temporal images, and a shortage of labelled samples. Traditional supervised deep learning requires abundant labelled data, which is expensive to obtain for BCD. By contrast, there is ample unlabelled remote sensing imagery available. Self-supervised learning (SSL) offers a solution, allowing learning from unlabelled data without explicit labels. Inspired by SSL, we employed the SimSiam algorithm to acquire domain-specific knowledge from remote sensing data. Then, these well-initialised weight parameters were transferred to BCD tasks, achieving optimal accuracy. A novel framework for BCD was developed using self-supervised contrastive pre-training and historical geographic information system (GIS) vector maps (HGVMs). We introduced the improved MS-ResUNet network for the extraction of buildings from new temporal satellite images, incorporating multi-scale pyramid image inputs and multi-layer attention modules. In addition, we pioneered a novel spatial analysis rule for detecting changes in building vectors in bi-temporal images. This rule enabled automatic BCD by harnessing domain knowledge from HGVMs and building upon the spatial analysis of building vectors in bi-temporal images. We applied this method to two extensive datasets in Liuzhou, China, to assess its effectiveness in both urban and suburban areas. The experimental results demonstrated that our proposed approach offers a competitive quantitative and qualitative performance, surpassing existing state-of-the-art methods. Combining HGVMs and high-resolution remote sensing imagery from the corresponding years is useful for building updates.

Background grid extraction from historical hand-drawn cadastral maps

Background grid extraction from historical hand-drawn cadastral maps

Within-season vegetation indices and yield stability as a predictor of spatial patterns of Maize (Zea mays L) yields

Accurate evaluation of crop performance and yield prediction at a sub-field scale is essential for achieving high yields while minimizing environmental impacts. Two important approaches for improving agronomic management and predicting future crop yields are the spatial stability of historic crop yields and in-season remote sensing imagery. However, the relative accuracies of these approaches have not been well characterized. In this study, we aim to first, assess the accuracies of yield stability and in-season remote sensing for predicting yield patterns at a sub-field resolution across multiple fields, second, investigate the optimal satellite image date for yield prediction, and third, relate bi-weekly changes in GCVI through the season to yield levels. We hypothesize that historical yield stability zones provide high accuracies in identifying yield patterns compared to within-season remote sensing images.To conduct this evaluation, we utilized biweekly Planet images with visible and near-infrared bands from June through September (2018–2020), along with observed historical yield maps from 115 maize fields located in Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota, USA. We compared the yield stability zones (YSZ) with the in-season remote sensing data, specifically focusing on the green chlorophyll vegetative index (GCVI). Our analysis revealed that yield stability maps provided more accurate estimates of yield within both high stable (HS) and low stable (LS) yield zones within fields compared to any single-image in-season remote sensing model.For the in-season remote sensing predictions, we used linear models for a single image date, as well as multi-linear and random forest models incorporating multiple image dates. Results indicated that the optimal image date for yield prediction varied between and within fields, highlighting the instability of this approach. However, the multi-image models, incorporating multiple image dates, showed improved prediction accuracy, achieving R2 values of 0.66 and 0.86 by September 1st for the multi-linear and random forest models, respectively. Our analysis revealed that most low or high GCVI values of a pixel were consistent across the season (77%), with the greatest instability observed at the beginning and end of the growing season. Interestingly, the historical yield stability zones provided better predictions of yield compared to the bi-weekly dynamics of GCVI. The historically high-yielding areas started with low GCVI early in the season but caught up, while the low-yielding areas with high initial GCVI faltered.In conclusion, the historical yield stability zones in the US Midwest demonstrated robust predictive capacity for in-field heterogeneity in stable zones. Multi-image models showed promise for assessing unstable zones during the season, but it is crucial to link these two approaches to fully capture both stable and unstable zones of crop yield. This study provides opportunities to achieve better precision management and yield prediction by integrating historical crop yields and remote sensing techniques.

Unleashing the power of old maps: Extracting symbology from nineteenth century maps using convolutional neural networks to quantify modern land use on historic wetlands

Topographical maps from the nineteenth century hold significant historical and environmental value, providing insights into landscape changes over the past two centuries. These maps feature distinct symbols representing various land cover types, such as forests and wetlands, offering a unique historical perspective on land-use changes. For example, there has been a significant reduction in wetlands because of agricultural expansion and intensification which lead to biodiversity loss and increased greenhouse gas emissions globally. Our study uses U-net CNN to automatically segment wetland symbols from nineteenth century maps from hundreds of map sheets for an area of interest a large river catchment in Ireland. Extracted wetland extents were intersected with digital land cover datasets to estimate current land cover on former wetland (on both organic and mineral soils). Utilizing U-Net, we successfully automated the segmentation of wetland symbols from hundreds of nineteenth-century map sheets, focusing on a large river catchment area in Ireland. Our analysis achieved a very high F1 score of 98.2% and a Kappa of 89%. While it is challenging to verify the veracity of historical map content, the largely untapped information contained within these maps are important for understanding landscape change over time, and especially before the era of Earth observation & remote sensing. The data extracted from these sources can inform modern environmental management strategies, for example, in targeted rewetting of peatlands, or in habitat restoration.

The Budapest time machine

The paper presents the history of the development of the Budapest Time Machine (www.hungaricana.hu/en/budapest-time-machine), which started from the vision of the Venice Time Machine, despite the fact that it was never realised, but was the basis for the European Time Machine Initiative. The Budapest Time Machine was a visionary phenomenon from the moment of its debut, and it has maintained this position ever since: one of the flagships of the international Time Machine initiative from the very beginning. The development was launched by the Budapest City Archives in 2017. The background database of the Budapest Time Machine is the Hungarian public collection portal called Hungaricana, on which the Budapest City Archives continuously publishes a large amount of digitised archival sources (maps, blueprints, notarial deeds etc.). The interface of the Budapest Time Machine – whose first version was developed in 2017 provides digitized and georeferenced maps of Budapest, synchronized with each other using GPS coordinates, and vectorised historical maps of the city’s development in five different time sections (1837, 1872, 1908, 1916, 1938). The platform also allows browsing through historical documents related to the buildings, their owners or their former inhabitants: building plans, land registry inserts showing the owners, notarial deeds showing legal and administrative transactions of the period and the network of the inhabitants. Archival photographs and postcards are also easily searchable, either by address or by browsing the map. The Budapest Time Machine was completely renewed at the end of 2022. The advantage of the new version is that, unlike the previous version, it provides a single interface for accessing the data, and the maps can now be viewed in 3D. An important innovation is the publication of 3D historical reconstructions of some 30 buildings in cooperation with the University of Óbuda. The Budapest Time Machine is an example of collaboration between public collections and academic research, and we plan to include data created by NGOs in the future.

Historical Atlas of the Low Countries: A gis Dataset of Locality-Level Boundaries (1350–1800)

Abstract This historical gis provides reconstructions of premodern village-level boundaries in the Low Countries, covering the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and adjacent parts of France and Germany. While some countries have historical municipal gis maps for the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this resource provides a detailed and contiguous historical gis for the premodern period. It also covers an area spanning several modern states, a rare undertaking. It combines modern and historical sources, including existing gis data, historical maps, and written records, focusing on the ‘smallest mappable units’ referred to as administrative areas in contemporary documents, such as parishes, lordships, or towns. This article accompanies the first tranche of the dataset for the 1500 cross-section, which can be used to link statistics for any period between 1350 and 1800. When completed, the gis dataset will cover four cross-sections: 1350, 1500, 1650, and 1800. Each cross-section will comprise an estimated 18.000 geographical units – typically around 5 to 10 km2 each. The dataset facilitates cross-temporal analysis of historical statistics while allowing users to consider the wider geographical and territorial micro and macro context of these statistics. The result will be an invaluable resource for historians, archaeologists, geographers, and social scientists alike.

Assessing current use and visions for sacral complexes in a landscape: An example from Central Europe

Abstract A significant phenomenon of sacral complexes in a landscape is their cultural heritage dimension. They are part of historical landscape structures, representing a type of cultural landscape. In addition, they are often perceived as important landscape landmarks and symbols. In Slovakia (Central Europe), most such complexes are abandoned and deteriorated. In this context presented paper deals with the assessment and possible future human use of Calvary in Hliník nad Hronom (Slovakia) in order to preserve it for future generations. A central aspect of our research work presented in this contribution is to elaborate a sustainable and feasible concept for the Calvary following the integrated approach of its revitalization. Firstly, we analyzed Calvary´s historical and regional setting with the help of a thorough review of literature, historical maps, and pictures. Then we evaluated architectural, landscape, and vegetation values, as well as landscape structure changes using relevant methodologies. Based on this evaluation, much fieldwork, and social survey we were able to identify the current problems of the place connected with abandonment and use, evaluated values, socio-economic factors, and preservation policies. Subsequently, we prepared a future concept for the Calvary following the selected criteria and distinguishing features and looking at the Calvary as a result of collective work. Finally, recommendations were formulated for legal framework and spatial planning procedures in order to enforce better preservation of values of sacral complexes in the country.

UAV-based aeromagnetic surveys for orphaned well location: Emerging best practices

Historical oil and gas exploration and development in the northeastern United States left behind hundreds of thousands of orphaned oil and gas wells in areas where hydrocarbon extraction predated state and federal regulations on well abandonment. Abandoned by their original operators with incomplete records of location and well status, orphaned wells pose significant economic and environmental challenges associated with possible emissions of formation liquids and gases. Effective location and assessment of orphaned wells is a key first step in well site remediation; however, the task of locating orphaned wells has proven to be a formidable challenge in some of the most impacted areas. Specifically, in key areas of the northeastern United States, where the oil and gas industry first emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, historical lease maps have proven largely inaccurate, and wide-area terrestrial geophysical surveys in difficult terrain characteristics and dense vegetation were found to be cost-prohibitive. In recent years, integration of miniaturized magnetic sensors with low-altitude uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) facilitated successful implementation of wide-area aeromagnetic surveys targeting orphaned well identification in areas where piloted aeromagnetic surveys were previously infeasible due to challenging terrain and canopy conditions. Aeromagnetic data sets collected by ultra-low-altitude UAV surveys and processed to highlight magnetic anomalies associated with orphaned well casings have the potential to drastically reduce search areas for orphaned wells and complement ground surveys, thus helping turn the tide in orphaned well remediation efforts. As UAV-based aeromagnetic surveys gain recognition as a dependable wide-area surveying tool for remote identification of orphaned well sites, we highlight key advantages and important limitations of this methodology, underscore key practical challenges to successful implementation, and outline best practices in effective survey design and execution.