Integrating Historical Maps and Photographs into Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Hamra of Beirut Revisited 2 Aalborg University, Copenhagen Department of Architecture, Design and Planning MSc in Geoinformatics Aalborg University A.C. Meyers Vænge 15 2450 Copenhagen SV Secretary: Janni Larsen Semester : 4th Semester In 1973 geographer Per Kongstad and sociologist Samir Khalaf published the Title : Integrating Historical Maps and Photographs into Geographic Information Systems (GIS): book Hamra of Beirut – A Case of Rapid Hamra of Beirut Revisited Urbanization . The book contains a series of cartographic elements and analysis from the Hamra area in Beirut, Lebanon. The material is mainly from the 1960’s. Theme : Master Thesis We gained access to these original maps, Project Period : 2 nd of February – 10 th of June 2015 as well as unpublished photographs of the time, and proposed to digitise and Submission Date : 10 th of June 2015 integrate them into a Geographical Main Supervisor : Thomas Balstrøm Information System (GIS) environment. We discuss the validity of integrating these materials, into urban studies, and describe the technical aspects related to processing the data. Elise Thing (20130958) Issues such as database design, scanning, georeferencing, vectorising, attribute filling, and sharing online are discussed in the thesis. Bruno Cardoso (20132496) At last we reflect on the results and suggest future research. Number of Copies: 2 Number of Pages: 92 i ii PREFACE This is the final thesis of the Msc in Geoinformatics at Aalborg University Copenhagen in Denmark. The project was prepared in cooperation with the Neighborhood Initiative at the American University of Beirut, and the thesis is written by Bruno Cardoso and Elise Thing. References are made in the APA format (American Psychological Association) 6 th edition. iii iv INDEX Preface ...................................................................................................................................... iii Figures ....................................................................................................................................... ix Tables ........................................................................................................................................ xi Acronyms ................................................................................................................................ xiii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. xv Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Master Thesis Research .............................................................................................. 4 1.2 Geography of Lebanon and Beirut .............................................................................. 5 1.2.1 Divisions of Beirut: ............................................................................................... 6 1.3 Historical background: ................................................................................................ 8 1.3.1 Beirut in the 20 th Century: ................................................................................... 9 1.3.2 The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1991) ................................................................... 9 1.4 The Work of Per Kongstad and Samir Khalaf ............................................................ 11 1.4.1 The Aims:............................................................................................................ 11 1.4.2 The Methodology: .............................................................................................. 11 1.4.3 The Results: ........................................................................................................ 12 1.5 Gentrification ............................................................................................................ 13 1.5.1 Gentrification in Beirut ...................................................................................... 14 1.5.2 Confronting Gentrification ................................................................................. 14 1.6 The Collaborator: Neighborhood Initiative: .............................................................. 15 1.7 The Data .................................................................................................................... 16 1.7.1 The Maps ............................................................................................................ 16 1.7.2 The Photographs ................................................................................................ 18 Theory and Method .......................................................................................................... 20 2.1 Why is this important: when cities change ............................................................... 20 2.1.1 Urban Memory: .................................................................................................. 20 2.1.2 Photographs and Memory ................................................................................. 21 2.1.3 Historic Maps and GIS ........................................................................................ 22 2.2 Work Method ............................................................................................................ 23 2.3 GIS Software: ArcGIS ................................................................................................. 24 2.3.1 ArcMap ............................................................................................................... 24 2.3.2 ArcGIS Geodatabase .......................................................................................... 24 v 2.4 Other Software .......................................................................................................... 27 2.4.1 Microsoft Excel ................................................................................................... 27 2.4.2 Image Editing ..................................................................................................... 28 2.4.3 Considerations of historic Datasets: .................................................................. 28 2.4.4 Scanning Maps ................................................................................................... 29 2.4.5 Vectorising Maps ............................................................................................... 30 2.5 Georeferencing.......................................................................................................... 30 2.5.1 Coordinate Systems and Projections ................................................................. 30 2.5.2 Geotagging ......................................................................................................... 32 2.6 ArcGIS Tools............................................................................................................... 33 2.7 Sharing Data: ............................................................................................................. 35 2.7.1 ArcGIS Online ..................................................................................................... 35 2.7.2 Story Map ........................................................................................................... 36 2.8 Cartography and Geovisualisation ............................................................................ 37 2.8.1 Metadata ............................................................................................................ 39 Data Achievement ............................................................................................................ 40 3.1 Scanning the Source Material ................................................................................... 40 3.1.1 Scanning the Photographs ................................................................................. 40 3.1.2 Scanning the Maps ............................................................................................. 42 3.2 Fieldwork in Beirut .................................................................................................... 44 3.2.1 Methodology of Fieldwork and Data Collection ................................................ 44 3.2.2 Limitations of the Fieldwork .............................................................................. 49 3.2.3 Results ................................................................................................................ 51 3.3 Database Design ........................................................................................................ 51 City Layouts ....................................................................................................................... 52 Analysis layers ................................................................................................................... 52 Points of Interest .............................................................................................................. 52 3.3.1 GEOREFERENCING THE MAPS .................................................................................... 53 3.3.2 ModelBuilder Preparation Workflow ................................................................ 56 3.3.3 ArcScan Post Processing .................................................................................... 62