200 Years of Dutch Topo Maps

Why we love it

Travel through two centuries of topographic and cartographic history in The Netherlands. This web map app makes it possible to see political, artistic, and scientific forces at work. We love how the simple interface allows just enough interactivity (pan, zoom, search) to draw you into this rich, historic record. Use the timeline slider to see the process of land reclamation, urbanization, and land allocation. Take note of the changes in cartographic style and technology.

Why it works

Scanned images of older paper maps are precisely georeferenced so you can exactly compare changes over time. There’s no interference from variations in scale, rotation or projection. Without this, the maps would not register to each other and geographic features would appear to shift between time periods. By using a new digital medium for this historical data and merging it with modern data, we see how a nation’s portrait of itself has changed over 200 years.

Important steps

Georeference the images

Combine all the historical maps in mosaic datasets

Those mosaic datasets are used to create tiled services for the specific years. Each tile contains 256 x 256 pixels.

Choose tiled services for accessible, online maps

Tiled services make the maps accessible online. Preparing so many tiled services is a lot of work, but with a web app for a large target group, the added performance and scalability justify the effort.

Design easily navigable time and scale maps

Design the application to make the maps easy to navigate through time and scale. A timeline slider combined with familiar pan, zoom, and search functions ensures the maps are the focus.

Requirements

Data and software

All the historical maps are combined in mosaic datasets. Those mosaic datasets are used to create tiled services for the specific years. Software used: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS API for JavaScript.

Analysis

Scanned georeferenced images of the maps were combined into a mosaic dataset. Tiled services made data accessible online. ArcGIS API for JavaScript built the application. Compare the geography and cartographic style over 200 years of topographic mapping.

Time

Over the course of five weeks, Esri Nederland’s content team counted the thousands of historical maps, and combined them into mosaic datasets which were then share as tiled services with ArcGIS Online. The JavaScript application was created in five days.