Spatial Resources: Online and at Guelph

Maps and Data

University of Guelph Data Collection:
The University of Guelph Library website offers a large collection of geo-spatial files and statistical data to users, some of it historical. A good place to find historical statistics is in the Government Publications section, and the Rural History’s Selected External Resources page lists a variety of other repositories. The library’s digital Geographic data are available to users in the Geospatial Data section. The data included there fall under the following categories:

Census / demographic geographic data
Climate / Environment
Digital Elevation Models
Geology and Soil
Imagery (aerial photography, orthoimagery, satellite imagery, etc.)
Topographic

Publicly Accessible Data:
There is also a page on the Library’s website devoted to external GIS data, and much of it is freely accessible to the public.

Censuses and Business Directories
These are some of the routinely generated sources that are spatially ordered and that may be of use to researchers using GIS. The following sites feature only a few groups that study or provide access to these historical records.

Canada:
Public use micro-sample from the 1891 manuscript census
MAP (Montréal l'avenir du passé)
Vancouver Island History hosts maps and census data for Vancouver Island
Trent valley archives hosts business directories and other data for Peterborough, ON

Other Areas:
The North Atlantic Population Project

Some publicly accessible sites host historical GIS data.

Canada:

GEORIA (Georeferenced Databases for Accessing Historical Data)
A combination of databases created by the two partners involved: Laboratoire de géographie historique/CIEQ de l'Université Laval, and the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto, GEORIA develops georeferenced databases of environmental, social and health-related data in Canada to enable researchers to explore these problems in an historical context.
The starting point for the project were the databases developed for mapping purposes by the Historical Atlas of Canada project, and by the Atlas historique du Quebec. The long-term goal of the project is to coordinate this data into on-line geographical information systems (GIS) that can be used by researchers and educators alike. Researchers must complete a request for data form and agree to terms and conditions before using the free GEORIA files.

GeoGratis
GeoGratis is a web and file transfer protocol (ftp) site that distributes geospatial data of Canada. Data is available for download, without charge. Vector mapping data is available in scales ranging from 1:50 000 to 1:30 000 000 in a variety of file formats.
Although the historical boundary files begin as late as the 1960s, some researchers will be able to use modern boundary files for their historical data (see our Case Study for one example). Rural historians may be interested in the downloadable vectors available for the Agricultural Census of 2001.

Other Areas:

ESRI Geography Network

This web page explains the four types of geographic data available for use with GIS software. Downloadable data are files that GIS uses to create a map. Dynamic Data and Maps are live map services that allow direct interaction with content. Offline Data are on media such as CDs or DVDs that can be ordered from the publisher online or offline. Clearinghouses are web sites that provide links to free geographic data or allow direct downloads. Use the explorer to specify the region and type of data you are looking for.

Historical GIS
This is a clearinghouse published by ThinkQuest that provides multiple data sets covering the last 4000 years of history.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
This collection has over 13,600 historical maps online. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North and South America maps and other cartographic materials. It provides an online GIS browser (requires Java) that demonstrates the software’s capabilities with historical maps and research.

Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative Metadata Clearinghouse
Developed by the University of Sydney, ECAI is an international project to develop and distribute digital data on historical and archaeological resources. The visual search engine allows you to specify the region, period, and type of the map you need, and provides a space for keywords in order to narrow the search.

Other publicly accessible sites host historical maps and interactive atlases.

Canada:

Historical Atlas of Canada Online Learning Project
The Historical Atlas of Canada was a three-volume collaborative publishing project, finished in 1993, which used maps, text, and other graphics to explore themes in the history of Canada. The Online Learning Project proposes to make many of the maps and research data created for the Atlas available over the Internet. At present the Online Learning Project is under development and seeking funding; only 15% of the proposed Table of Contents is actively online.

Atlas of Canada
In 2006, The Atlas of Canada is celebrating 100 years of mapping Canada’s geography and history, and offers a free downloadable and printer-friendly collection of maps of Canada.
The site offers other interactive maps of historical phenomenon, including Indian Treaties, Aboriginal Peoples, Pre-Confederation Canada, Territorial Evolution, and Exploration to 1760. The maps are printable and can be queried for more information on each region.
The Map Archives contains 943 maps from seven previously printed collections: 1906, 1915, 1957, 1974, 1978-1995, 1956-1987 (international), and 1969-1972 (glacier atlas).

Canada’s Digital Collections
Canada's Digital Collections is one of the largest sources of Canadian content on the Internet. More than 600 collections are available, celebrating Canada's history, geography, science, technology and culture. A search of projects under the subject of Geography yields many useful sources to researchers using GIS.

Library and Archives Canada
“ArchiviaNet” contains a large collection of Maps, Plans, and Charts, including the 1895 Electoral Maps of Canada, the Indian Reserves of Western Canada. The map search engine consults approximately 40,000 item-level descriptions from the "old map card catalogue." About 4,000 items from the catalogue, now in the public domain, have been digitized and may be consulted online. This number will increase on a regular basis.

The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project
Begun in July 1998, the County Atlas pilot project initially encompassed ten atlases. Two subsequent phases allowed the completion of the Ontario map, ultimately totalling forty-three atlases.
The County Atlas Digital Project is a searchable database of the property owners' names which appear on the township maps in the county atlases. Township maps, portraits and properties have been scanned, with links from the property owners' names in the database.

W.H. Pugsley Collection of Early Canadian Maps
Dr. William Howard Pugsley donated a collection of 50 early Canadian maps to the McGill University Libraries, which have been digitized for this web site. Dating from 1556 to 1857, the maps tell the story of the discovery and exploration of North America.

Geoscience Data Repository of the Geological Survey of Canada
This repository hosts two collections of maps:
MIRAGE (Map Image Rendering DAtabase for GEoscience) is a digital image library of Geological Survey of Canada maps. The GSC has published thousands of maps since the mid-1800's. More than 10,000 of these maps have been scanned and are available.
Digital Geoscience Maps. Although more recent, this collection offers the geological polygons for approximately 250 of the 400 digital GSC maps created in the last 15 years. The map search tool allows you to find, preview, and download these maps as shape files to be used in GIS software.

Other Areas:

Atlas et cartes historiques
This compilation of links to digitized, online historical atlases and maps was created by André Côté, a professor at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.

Library of Congress Map Collections
The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases, and are searchable online.

National Atlas of the United States
The historical material on this site focuses mainly on election results, territorial expansion, and a geographical survey of the Civil War.

Cultural Resources Mapping & GIS
With a helpful section describing GIS and some cultural resource projects using GIS, this site focuses on using the technology for heritage preservation, specifically assessing the integrity of, and threats to, surveyed battlefields.

Recently Added Links:

Online Historical Map Digitization Project is a website hosted by "Rootsweb" that offers publically accessible historical maps, especially of western Canada.

The China Historical Geographic Information System, CHGIS, project is a database of populated places and historical administrative units for the period of Chinese history between 222 BCE and 1911 CE. CHGIS provides a base GIS platform for researchers to use in spatial analysis, temporal statistical modeling, and representation of selected historical units as digital maps.

Syracuse University Library offers a short list of links to online historical maps.

The Map History / History of Cartography website offers an extensive lisk of links to historical maps, including many Canadian maps.

 

Planning your Project
These steps comprise a useful way to plan an historical GIS project.

1. Identify your thesis:
   Answering the following questions will determine the scope of the project and the type of analysis necessary: What is the problem I am trying to solve? What are the criteria necessary to solve this problem? What does the literature say?
   Who is the intended audience?
2. Learn software basics:
   There are a number of opportunities to learn how to do the basics in GIS. The Data Resource Centre in the University of Guelph Library offers short hands-on workshops each semester.The Library provides two GIS products from ESRI – ArcView 3.3, and, the more powerful ArcGIS 9. Advanced training is available through self-paced on-line tutorials at the ESRI Virtual Campus. For more information contact libgis(at)uoguelph(dot)ca
3. Extract information from primary documents: The Library’s workshop “Using statistical data in a GIS” is useful background for this stage.
   1. Process the historical material. When you begin to obtain or create these data, be sure to establish data management procedures. GIS requires the usage of many different pieces of data, thus it is very important that attention is paid to file storage and naming conventions of original and altered data. It is important that all data is contained within one main project folder – subfolders within are encouraged.
   2. Prepare the research for analysis. Before original data can be used in a GIS, they must often be modified. This can involve a variety of tasks such as converting from analog to digital (scanning and georeferencing paper maps and photos), creating base maps from modern boundary files and historical maps, defining coordinate systems, standardizing fields between maps and tabular data, and verifying and correcting errors.
   3. Manage the metadata. Metadata is information about the data. In the same way that one cites information obtained from books and journal articles, a researcher is responsible for citing the data used in a project. Metadata is found in the documentation provided by the data producer. Information contained within typically includes when, how, and who collected the data. It also describes the structure of the attribute tables, as well as information on projection and scale. Any changes to original files or data created by the researcher should also record the above information. ArcGIS 9.x has a module called ArcCatalog which makes managing metadata quite simple.
4. Analyze the results:
   This step involves creating the map, chart, or report. It can be very simple (ie: simple reference map showing location of phenomena) or complex (ie: creation of spatial models that simulate a process, predict an outcome or analyze a problem).
5. Presentation of results:
   Research results can be presented in map, chart, or report format. Basic knowledge of map design principles needs to be considered in order not to misrepresent your results. Again, the Library offers a workshop called “Map design in ArcGIS 9,” that will be an asset.

 

University of Guelph GIS Workshops:
If you are at all curious about how you might be able to use GIS in your research please contact staff in the University of Guelph Data Resource Centre.