CartoHeritage 2011: Georeferencer & MapRank Search

International Cartographic Association: 6th International Workshop on Digital Approaches in Cartographic HeritageThe Hague, Netherlands, 7-8 April 2011

Petr Př[email protected]

GEOREFERENCER:COLLABORATIVE ONLINE GEOREFERENCING TOOL FOR

SCANNED MAPS

Moravian Library Brno: OldMapsOnline.org & TEMAPR&D grant of the Czech Ministry of Culture (DC08P02OUK006)

Large collections of old maps are scanned and published online in digital repositories. But ...

... once they are georeferenced, they are much more attractive and useful: visualizations, comparing, location context, annotations, geographical search...

INTRODUCTION

MAPS ARE NOT ONLY IMAGES!

• Hand made georeferencing is time consuming process

• The scanned collections are two large (thousands of maps to handle)

• There are more technical approaches how to georeference old maps, not always clear workflow especially for pre-1850 - you need to keep this “how”

• Disk space: georeferenced copy next to the original scan

• GIS software and knowledge necessary

• Workers need to have access to large files (JPEG/TIFF/...)

PROBLEMS

GEOREFERENCER AS A SOLUTION

• User-friendly online tool: runs in a web browser

• Simply visit a website, log-in and you can start

• Easy and enjoyable process

• Open for online visitors, organized volunteers, crowdsourcing

• No GIS software necessary, no local files to handle

• GIS-ready outputs possible - you can easily create GeoTIFF/GeoJP2 if you have access to the high-resolution images

• Service for EU libraries, archives & citizens

• Developed in a library - for libraries and other culture heritage institutions

GEOREFERENCER: TURN AN IMAGE INTO A MAP.

• Enrichment of metadata (MARC, DC, ISO 19139)

• Engaging visitors

• Attractive 3D visualization (Google Earth)

• GIS services (WMS, WMTS/TMS, ...)

• Statistics & crediting

MOTIVATION FOR GEOREFERENCER

INSTITUTIONS: INDIVIDUALS:

• Georeference any online image on the Internet

• Combine images from different institutions

• Create your own virtual collection

• Conduct research online, compare, analyze, share, ...

INSTITUTIONS: PILOT APPLICATIONS

• Moravian Library, Czech Republic (students)

• Nationaal Archief, Netherlands (organized volunteers)

• National Library of Scotland (online visitors, anybody)

TRY THE GEOREFERENCER PILOT:HTTP://NLS.GEOREFERENCER.COM/

OR THE PUBLIC SERVICE FOR INDIVIDUALS:HTTP://WWW.GEOREFERENCER.ORG/

http://nls.georeferencer.com


http://www.georeferencer.org


http://nls.georeferencer.com/



GEOREFERENCER PILOTSPilot: Nationaal Archief. 13 volunteers. Great feedback!

GEOREFERENCER PILOTSResult: 650 maps georeferenced in less then one month!

Metadata enrichment.

GEOREFERENCER PILOTS

Crowdsourcing: Retired volunteers. Excellent local knowledge. Competition & a public winner.

GEOREFERENCER PILOTS

First public pilot: the National Library of Scotland.

GEOREFERENCER PILOTSAnybody can participate. It is easy & fun.

http://geo.nls.uk/maps/georeferencer/



• Unique scalable architecture. One centralized service for all libraries and maps. Upgrades and new functionality deployed automatically.

• Runs “in the cloud” - Google AppEngine / Amazon.

• Server side based on open-source GIS stack (Proj4, GDAL, MapSever). Closure Library on the client side.

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

MINIMAL EFFORT TO PARTICIPATE.IMAGES ARE USED DIRECTLY FROM EXISTING ONLINE

REPOSITORIES!

NEXT STEPS?

GEOREFERENCER: NEW DESIGN

SPATIAL REFERENCE SYSTEMS

Coordinate systems with map projection, for example OSGB or S-JTSK and in general any reference system

from EPSG database usable in Georeferencer

IMPROVED BASE MAPSOut-of-copyright base maps, agreements with local

authorities for using official mapping data (WMS).Fast and visually appealing version of OpenStreetMap as

an alternative - probably from MapQuest. OpenAerialMap.

HIGH QUALITY GEOCODING

Fast and reliable search in gazeteer database based on OpenStreetMap or GeoNames.org data.

Online service, without license restrictions of Google GeoCoding API - usable both in GeoReferencer a

GeoParser services.

API FOR DATA INTERCHANGEAND 3RD PARTY FUNCTIONALITY

REST API based on JSON for exchange of data between Georeferencer and third-party applications.

JavaScript API for easy integration into library websites.

COLLABORATIVE EDITING

Technical solution of the problem of concurent team editing of map georeference by serveral people in the

same moment - locking and communication a la online chat in a web browser (via HTTP Comet)

Social aspects:Motivation. Team. Competition. Guiding. Rewarding.

CROWDSOURCING

Research and development of algorithms and

application for raster image analysis.

Target: detection of scans of the same map (via

“image hash”) and following automatical assignment of ground

control points.

DUPLICATES + AUTOGEOREFERENCING

Automatic detection of map sheet borders based on the image analysis algorithms.

NEATLINE DETECTION

Database of Czech map series with GIS-ready map indexes.

Integration with Georeferencer: georeferencing with the help of existing map

indexes.

Authorities for cataloguing of map series.

Maybe a new project:OpenMapIndexes.org

GEOREFERENCING OF MAP SERIES

WEBGL EARTH

Google Earth-like visualization of georeferenced maps in a web browser or on mobile devices.

100% open-source, no license restrictions, runs without a need to install any extra software. Under development.

http://www.webglearth.com/

http://www.webglearth.com


http://www.webglearth.com/



HTTP://NLS.GEOREFERENCER.COM/HTTP://WWW.GEOREFERENCER.ORG/

[email protected]

• Institutions interested in participation

• Share expectations - ideas for improvement?

• Sources of support on international level: development of a service for EU institutions and citizens?

• We are seeking research partners: image processing, ...

COOPERATE. CONTACT US.





mailto:[email protected]


International Cartographic Association: 6th International Workshop on Digital Approaches in Cartographic HeritageThe Hague, Netherlands, 7-8 April 2011

Petr Př[email protected]

INTUITIVE GEOGRAPHICAL SEARCHING IN MAP COLLECTIONS AND METADATA CATALOGS

KLOKAN TECHNOLOGIES - Museo Sans 500

KLOKAN TECHNOLOGIES - Museo Sans 500 ItalicKLOKAN TECHNOLOGIES - Museo Sans 700

KLOKAN TECHNOLOGIES - Museo 300

KLOKAN TECHNOLOGIES - Museo 500KLOKAN TECHNOLOGIES - Museo 700

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• Research, scientific articles, work on Ph.D. thesis (Petr Přidal), Computer Science + Geodesy and Cartography

• Alternative projects tested in OldMapsOnline.org (R&D project in MZK):

• Lucene with GeoTemporal Ext. (LGTE) from DigMap.eu

• Alexandria Digital Library

• TimeMap.net (ECAI.org)

• Google GeoSearch API

• Knowledge of traditional GIS search methods (PostGIS, ...)

GEOGRAPHICAL SEARCHING





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Result: Development of a new geographical search engine for map collections.

Explore library catalog by browsing a map.

• Map-driven interface: Simple. Intuitive. Web 2.0. Users love it!

• Combined queries: Where, When, Who & What

• Results sorted geographically with an advanced spatial ranking algorithm.

• Instant search. Immediate delivery of the results by moving the map or typing.

• It is fast. Even for large databases (million+ records).

CORE FEATURES





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• Indexing metadata in MARC, DublinCore, ISO 19139 formats, ...

• Batch import or harvesting: OAI-PMH or OGC CWS

• Numerical geographical boundaries necessary! (MARC 034, DublinCore DCMI) - enrichment with Geoparser or Georeferencer tools

• Possible customization of the user interface, integration into products or websites

• For developers: REST API (JSON format), queries following OpenSearch.org

METADATA & CUSTOMIZATION





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Try it at: http://demo.mapranksearch.com/

http://demo.mapranksearch.com


Try it at: http://rumsey.mapranksearch.com/



Try it at: http://mapy.mzk.cz/



TOUCH INTERFACE





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• MapRank ranking: an advanced algorithm calculating similarity of geographical area of query and area covered by every document and combining it with map scale, time range, predefined categories and traditional full text search.

• Data indexing implemented specifically to provide ranked real-time results even for large databases. Traditional R-Tree indexing or Lucene are failing.

• Server component: FastCGI, C++

• Default user interface developed with Closure JavaScript Library + Closure Compiler.

MAPRANK RANKING & SCALABILITY





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Geoparser

Text parsing and semi-automatic assignment of bounding boxes to map records with detectable geonames (gazetteer), known physical size and map scale.

Georeferencer

Crowdsourced georeferencing. Higher accuracy, more outputs beside geometadata such as visualization, 3D view, comparing of maps, OGC WMS for use in GIS.

ENRICHMENT OF METADATA





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NEXT STEPS?

IMPROVEMENT OF THE SYSTEM





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• The ranking: new requirements in Switzerland, union catalog. Boosting some maps, etc.

• Improvements related to map series - visualization of map indexes in the search interface

• Faceted search - refine the query: suggested authors

• Advanced search options: alternative sorting, ...

IDEA: FEDERATED MAP SEARCH SYSTEM

CONTACT & LINKS





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Try the applications:

http://www.kartenportal.ch/

http://rumsey.mapranksearch.com/

http://mapy.mzk.cz/

http://www.mapranksearch.com/

[email protected]

More details and enquiries:

http://www.kartenportal.ch




http://rumsey.mapranksearch.com

http://rumsey.mapranksearch.com

http://mapy.mzk.cz

http://mapy.mzk.cz

http://www.mapranksearch.com

http://www.mapranksearch.com



CartoHeritage 2011: Georeferencer & MapRank Search

Technology

Transcript of CartoHeritage 2011: Georeferencer & MapRank Search