Abstract

Giving Historical Maps Life in a World of Digital Mapping
Track: Mapping
Authors: Robbyn Abbitt, Glenn Julian, Joseph Lawrie

As humans we have been mapping our world for centuries; however only in recent history has this mapping moved to the digital world. Much of our history lives in old maps, most notably those in paper form. We used modern georeferencing techniques within the ArcGIS 10.x software package to map the historic location (circa 1840s) of one family in Tennessee using disparate source data spanning decades. Our results show a modern context for the historic land holdings of this family and also provide a repeatable method for mapping other historic geographic information.
This project was a joint research effort between an undergraduate Botany student, a retired Physics professor, and a GIS educator/professional.