Blog – Week 5

Link to map of Northfield

What possibilities do you see once you have a georectified map? What would be next steps? Once a map is georectified it can be digitally aligned with an aerial image or a spatial grid of the same area. Several control points are set up to ensure that the same areas of the map are being looked at. This allows data from the map and the image and/or grid to be combined and overlayed in order to compare and contrast different aspects of them. From there, specific longitudes and latitudes could be found on the map in addition to distances and areas.

Are there problems with georeferencing that you should consider? Accuracy could be a problem that often comes with georeferencing. If a map that someone is trying to georeference is extremely dated, it may not align well with a spatial grid causing warping and distortions. The maps may also be misaligned if not enough control points are placed on the map.

What research questions or areas would this method NOT be appropriate for? Georeferencing would not work well for areas that do not have much spatial data to cross reference. Additionally, areas that do not have a geographic aspect would not benefit from this method. Otherwise I am not entirely sure what research areas would absolutely not work with georeferencing.

Did this process change your understanding of the spatial DH projects you explored earlier? I think this process did help me understand how spatial projects worked quite a bit. I thought that they were very time consuming to create, given all the data and content in them. But with the usage of methods, such as the website for this blog post, I found that it was actually quite easy! That being said there needs to be an emphasis on detail to ensure that the maps are as accurate as possible.