I have just learned about and am very impressed with the Manitoba Historical Maps project. Maps that would have previously been unseen have been scanned (are still being scanned) and offered to anyone one in the world with access to Flickr. Of course the project is on-going. The goal “of the historical maps of Manitoba digital collection will be the identification, location, scanning and displaying of these intriguing images over the Internet” (Laliberte, Larry).

In order to make this project possible, a flatbed scanner with high resolution was purchased. The scanner can digitize the printed maps up to 24 by 36 inches and then save the image in several file formats. “Once a map is scanned, the digital image and associated meta-data (title, author, publisher, year, scale, legend information, etc.) are uploaded to Flickr.

Flickr, in its primary function, is a repository for photographs. So why put the maps on Flickr? Because they are a graphic records says Laliberte. Not to mention “FLickr…….provides a flexible set of tools for uploading, organizing, annotating, creating meta-data or tagging, embedding, downloading, and sharing (digital maps)” (Laliberte). Equally as impressive is the RSS function on Flickr, which alerts subscribers to MHMP when new maps have been added to the site. And if that is not enough for you there are also features such as user comments, discussion, notes for image, links, using the mouse to scroll over the maps and highlight important attributes and daily user statistics. Laliberte notes that one of the only limitations to Flickr is the inability to zoom and pan. Many repositories who have digital map collections use Zoomify which enables the zoom and pan. But Laliberte is confident that as new software is constantly being added to Flickr, Zoomify will arrive shortly.

So, have a look at the Manitoba Maps project, it is very cool. But I must say what I think is even cooler is what is happening on Flickr. I have not ever used the site except to view photos (especially me as a zombie librarian in the Ghouls Gone Wild parade)! I think we are going to see some interesting things happening on Flickr in the future, this is a very exciting development. I am anxious now to see what other digital collections I can find.

In fact, I hope to find my own collection as I am so impressed I am hoping Doc Martens will let me use Flickr for my digital collection of yearbooks. I really want to try it out. It’s free, will allow metadata, tagging,etc and will solve my current problem of lack of access. What do you think Doc?

 

Liliberte, Larry. 2008. Picture the map: An online cartographic collection of maintoba history using   “Flickr”. Manitoba Historical Society (57): 29-32.