Here is the map that I worked on.
The map that I chose to use for this assignment is a map of the whole world. While it is similarly set up to the one on the David Ramsey Map Collection site, it was created in 1851 so there are places of discrepancy from the current present day map. All of the major landforms, such as continents and some islands, arere present, however, some of the smaller islands are missing. Additionally, the land masses are somewhat out of proportion with the site’s map. I noticed this while using the overlay feature. This helped me identify points where the two maps did not align. I was able to add more points on the two maps to better align them. The 1851 map has horizontal lines that span across the page. By looking at those lines, I was able to see the distortion in the map from trying to align it with the site one.
This tool helped me see how detailed and specific spatial digital humanities projects can get. The coordinates feature helps to pinpoint areas that seem to be off alignment. The zoom in feature, in conjunction with specific curves and elements in the graph, helps to align the maps in a very tight manner. In terms of the format that the map is available in, there are three options: as a Web Map Tile Service (WMTS), a TileJSON link, or a XYZ link.
This tool could be useful for mapping historical areas and movement. This can especially be a great tool for comparing historical geographical knowledge with the current understanding of geography. A possible next step after using this tool is then working with topographical information. There are also limitations. Like we discussed in class, this tool would not necessarily be helpful in mapping out fictional lands as the basis of this mapping tool is the earth and our common understanding of the placement of land and water. This presents challenges for older maps that exclude or distort certain landforms. In addition, the way the map in the site is set up is very specific. It is a horizontal, square portrayal of the world. This means that it would be hard to use this tool with maps that have a view from the poles.
