Placing Your Past Carolyn Davis December 6, 2014 1 purpose • demonstrate web sites/programs through which you can connect your family history to a place on a map • sharing with family/friends • crowdsourcing - involving family in visualizing family connections 2 • NYPL Map Warper • What Was There • Google Earth • HistoryPin • Old Maps Online • Place My Past • Genealogy software programs and mapping 3 NYPL Map Warper • tool for digitally aligning ("rectifying") historical maps from the NYPL's collections to match today's precise maps • browse already rectified maps or assist the NYPL by aligning a map • maps.nypl.org/warper. Choose “Browse Rectified Maps” or use Search. Click “Preview Rectified Map”. • Google Maps is basis for current maps 4 What Was There • ties historical photos to Google Maps, allowing you to tour familiar streets to see how they appeared in the past • web site tagline - “Put history in its place” • add your own old photos and overlay them on Google’s Street View • http://www.whatwasthere.com • registration is free • iPhone app available 5 Google Earth • http://www.google.com/earth/ • http://www.google.com/earth/learn/ • can be a little dizzying and it’s jerky if you don’t have a lot of bandwidth • Historical Imagery - Google teaming with US Geological Survey and other sources to add historical images. 6 HISTORYPIN • similar to What Was There • log-in w/Google, FB, Twitter accounts • My Profile holds everything that person adds to site, plus others can add to the content • Tours tell a narrative, walking viewers through a series of pins/photos in a set order. Great for telling story of person’s life or showing a journey • www.historypin.com 7 Old Maps Online • large search portal for online mapping, accessing around 100,000 maps from 20 collections around the world • not interactive, but fun to use • search by subject across all maps or use Collections tab to look at one institution • http://www.oldmapsonline.org 8 Place My Past • tagline - “Every place has a story. Find out if it's part of yours.” • sign in using Google, Yahoo, FB, Windows Live or create an account • http://www.placemypast.com • user uploads a GEDCOM, and site geocodes all of the events and attempts to find some info about each location • uses MapQuest as its source of current maps • has potential, but site takes a long time to import data and is somewhat difficult to use 9 Family Tree Software Programs • Many family tree software programs include a tool that links geographic locations to Google Maps or similar service • Reunion • Ancestry.com online tree - mapping feature currently not available because Ancestry is transitioning to new mapping tool 10.