Jerry –

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply. Watched your video that referenced 
NYPL’s Map Warper before posting here. And right after I sent this message to 
OHM, I sent a message to MapTime organizers. Will see where it goes!

The NOAA maps are in Clarke 1661 projections and, while they have points that 
could be used to rectify, I have been georeferencing the maps in ArcGIS. Is 
there a benefit to doing the rectification in Map Warper vs ArcGIS, as far as 
the OHM/OSM workflow? It may be easier to share the georeferenced maps after 
the fact, than georeferencing natural features in a browser. (NOAA 
maps<http://nosimagery.noaa.gov/images/shoreline_surveys/survey_scans/NOAA_Shoreline_Survey_Scans.html>)

I really like the OSM Task Manager that HOTOSM has running. It would be nice to 
be able to feed this into that process and chunk out the tasks to the various 
universities in the region that would be interested in taking on a part of it. 
Not sure I have the technical chops to get it up and running, but it sounds 
like a good way to break this up.

Semi-automated tracing sounds interesting, though the maps are not uniform in 
style. What are some good resources to look into further? I have stayed away 
from ArcGIS’s automated tracing, as it is better for roads or very obviously 
defined polygons. The wetlands are signified not by shading or stroke, but by a 
kind of grassy icon, which may make automation less tenable.

David – I’ve checked that source, but I need a rather uniform data series that 
covers a 31-county region as early as possible. Thanks for the tip, though.

Really appreciate the replies, as I start exploring how to open up this 
process. Would love to have a regional historic wetland map available to the 
planning community that extends earlier than 1900.

Best,
Sanjay


—

Sanjay Seth | Research Analyst

Regional Plan Association

(917) 546-4327 | rpa.org

From: SK53 <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2015 15:26:47 -0400
To: Sanjay Seth <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Cc: "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: Re: [OHM] Mapping the NY Metro Region's Historic Wetlands

Hi Sanjay,

A timely query. We were discussing only on Tuesday about the use-cases for 
mapping historical ecological data. This example of course reflects lots of 
them (wetlands as buffers in extreme events; as components of water quality; 
and in some parts of the world sources of disease).

Again we discussed on Tuesday ideas for getting communities involved. I have 
been thinking about this over the past few days and realise that the scheme 
used by Humanitarian mappers, Missing Maps, and the smaller get-togethers under 
the MapTIme banner both represent models for getting a group of people to map 
specific things allowing straightforward training, coaching & mentoring. 
Another, rather different, approach is the Irish Townland mapping project, 
which involves rectifying 1:25k maps covering Ireland (80,000+ sq km) and 
drawing 60,000 small administrative units from them.

Currently the OHM community is quite small and many of us have multiple 
commitments to existing projects and related OSM activities (for instance I am 
doing some specific things in the context of the townlands project), so I don't 
think we are a great pool of tracers. The much larger OSM communities do have 
many more people who are looking for such challenges. I'd perhaps start by 
seeing if MapTime New York<http://www.meetup.com/Maptime-NYC/> might be 
interested in giving you a slot.

Now for some of the technical problems/issues:

 *   OHM requires that each tagged object natural=wetland is also marked with a 
start_date & end_date.
 *   It is generally valuable to use a tag which identifies the apparent as_of 
date of the wetland (i.e., based on underlying map), this makes querying 
easier). This also makes it easier to filter data in some editors.
 *   It is easier to map something multiple times in different time periods 
rather than try & reconcile an object across from many source maps. (At least 
this is true until one has lots of such things).
 *   Coastlines may create problems. This is because of the OSM way of handling 
coastlines is inelegant. I do have some ideas about how to approach this, but 
haven't taken them forward yet: the coastline of the River Plate changed 
dramatically in the late 19th C so affecting stuff I have done with Buenos 
Aires).
 *   Use meta tags (source etc.) copiously; they will be the only evidence of 
someone's interpretation of the sources. Ultimately other info like photos, 
paintings and documentary evidence may need to be incorporated.

Use of any of the Map Warper websites (NYPL, MapWarper & WikiMedia) for 
rectification would ensure that warped maps are readily available in the 
editors, and following the Townlands model can also be crowd-sourced.

It may also be worth looking at semi-automated tracing if the map quality 
permits such an approach.

HTH,

Jerry Clough



On 25 September 2015 at 19:43, Sanjay Seth 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Dear OHM Community –

I hope you are all doing well. I’m a researcher at an urban policy think-tank 
based in NYC. We are looking at long-term coastal adaptation strategies –  and 
are working to map out the NY metropolitan region’s historic wetlands, which we 
will use (in addition to projected future wetlands) to inform those strategies.

I’m new to the OHM community, but would like to gauge the interest in taking 
this on together as a group tracing effort. I have hundreds of historic maps 
from NOAA, starting from 1830’s onward, that would be relatively 
straightforward to trace, once they were georeferenced. We’re in the process of 
georefererencing the lot right now. I just don’t have the people-power to trace 
out thousands of wetlands on my own.

If this sounds like a project you are interested in – or want to just hear more 
about – let me know. Thanks and feel free to get in touch at 
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> or (917) 
546-4327<tel:%28917%29%20546-4327>.

Best wishes,
Sanjay


—

Sanjay Seth | Research Analyst

Regional Plan Association

(917) 546-4327<tel:%28917%29%20546-4327> | rpa.org<http://rpa.org>

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