The document discusses OldMapsOnline.org, a gateway for accessing historical maps from libraries around the world. It provides an intuitive search interface, indexes maps from multiple collections, and allows users to view high-resolution zoomable maps. The project aims to promote map libraries and discovery of maps currently only available in the "deep web". It is supported by JISC and uses crowd-sourcing and competitive elements to enrich map metadata.

1. Petr Pridal <petr.pridal@klokantech.com>
Europeana Plenary 2012, Leuven, Belgium. 13-15 June 2012

2. Fulltext search
fail on maps.

3. OldMapsOnline.org
An easy-to-use gateway to
historical maps in libraries
around the world.

4. OldMapsOnline.org
The gateway to high-resolution online
maps in institutions around the world
Intuitive search by location
Indexing maps from several collections
One click to view the zoomable map
Free to access and open for contributions
Audience: general public, genealogists,
historians, researchers, experts

5. Zoom in or out, or drag the main map to
move sideways, until you can clearly see
the part of the world you want maps for.
You can also use the search field on the
top to find a place or define the
time period of interest with the sliders.

7. Our targets...
Bring online visitors to the websites of
participating institutions to view the maps
Promote the map libraries and their content
Do proper crediting: logo and links back
Store only minimal metadata & thumbnails
Make it easier to discover the scanned maps
Boost the number of online visits of maps
Allow users to find maps from “deep web”

8. Funding
Project actively developed with the support
from JISC (UK) until January 2013
Basic maintenance covered until 2018
Google Ads to help cover the hosting costs
Participation on a future research projects
for improvements of the technology and
optimizations of the map management

9. Technology
Based on the MapRank Search technology
http://www.mapranksearch.com/
Released in 2010 by Klokan Technologies
for Swiss project Kartenportal.ch, improved
for Czech libraries and for David Rumsey
Designed for large metadata catalogs.
D-Lib: doi:10.1045/september2011-oehrli

10. Technology
Data indexing implemented specifically to
provide ranked real-time results even for large
databases. Traditional R-Tree indexing or
Lucene are failing.
Server component: FastCGI, C++
Default user interface developed with Closure
JavaScript Library + Closure Compiler.

11. Do you want to be a part?
Use the system & send us ideas for
improvement and report bugs
Share: blog, twitter, facebook, google+
We are calling for institutions who would
like to index their map metadata. It is for
free. Institutions retain all the rights.

12. How to contribute
High resolution (300dpi+ or 2 Megapixel+)
maps with a zoomable viewer online
Permanent URL with direct access - no
password or payment required
Metadata with DublinCore elements
supplied in a spreadsheet (XLS). Later OAI-
PMH harvesting.
Bounding box (MARC 034, DCMI BOX, ...)
http://project.oldmapsonline.org/contribute

13. Bounding box

14. Bounding box encoding
MARC: field 034
034: $$dE0055700$$eE0102900$$fN0474800$$gN0454900
255: $$cE 5°57'00"-E 10°29'00"/N 47°48'00"-N 45°49'00"
DublinCore: DCMI Box
DCMI BOX: westlimit=5.9559; southlimit=45.818;
eastlimit=10.4921; northlimit=47.8084
ISO 19115 / FGDC / OGC

15. How to create such records?
BoundingBox Tool
+ Geoparser Tool
Georeferencer Tool

16. BoundingBox Tool
BoundingBox Tool: Cataloguing while
holding the physical maps - manual
selection of the area on an online map
(used by Swiss libraries, David Rumsey, ...)
Geoparser: Semi-automatic rapid process -
with suggestion of the area by analyzing
existing textual metadata.

17. http://boundingbox.klokantech.com

18. Georeferencer Tool
Enrichment of the online scanned maps
A tool which runs in a web browser
Uses volunteers for metadata enrichment
3D visualization, Accuracy, Geodata, BBOX
Successful pilots in several institutions

19. britishlibrary.georeferencer.com
http://player.vimeo.com/video/36419466
www.georeferencer.com

20. Georeferencer
Powered by crowdsourcing:
Motivation, competition, rewarding, progress
indicators, graphs - live widgets to include in
the websites of the library
Runs as a service, no new software in-house
The scans are displayed from the original
institution repository or websites*
Integration with the web of institution
* (Zoomify, MrSID, Djatoka, IIPImage JPEG2000, ContentDM, DigiTool, Luna, etc.)

21. Competitive
Crowdsourcing

22. OldMapsOnline Launch
Project announced in the end of February in
New York and London
Over 30.000 visitors per day on the website
after the launch
Over 250.000 visitors since the beginning of
the project

23. Publicity
Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook
Google Developer Showcase + Google I/O 2012
BBC History magazine online slideshow
La Stampa (Milan, Italy) newspaper
Gizmodo, Ars Technica, The Verge
Wired.jp (Japan), About.com Genealogy,
Playtech.r (Romania), Portsmouth News
(UK), ... TV spot in Catalonya: link

24. Old Maps Online
www.oldmapsonline.org
... thank you ...
Petr Pridal <petr.pridal@klokantech.com>