Georeferencing Historic Maps
Georeferencing Maps
Have you ever found a historic or hand drawn map and wished you could layer it on top of a satellite image or digital street map? You can! Georeferencing is the process of warping a digital map so that it lines up with real geographic data, like Google Earth or Google Maps.
Georeferencing is useful for:
- Showing a hand drawn/historical map in modern context
- Tracing features from the newly georeferenced map; use them to create a digital map or perform a spatial analysis
How do I Georeference a Historical or Paper Map?
Find a high quality scan of your map. Save it as a PDF, JPEG, or TIFF (recommended).
Decide whether you should use Google Earth or ArcGIS Pro and follow the linked tutorial. Click here to view an accessible PDF version of this chart.
| Google Earth | ArcGIS Pro | |
| Cost | Free | Free for Brandeis users |
| Hardware Requirements | PC/Mac | PC, DS Lab Teamviewer, or virtual machine on a Mac |
| Skill Level |
Beginner |
Basic ArcGIS Pro knowledge required |
| Accuracy | Some report it’s cumbersome. Users are not provided with accuracy-level statistics. | Users are provided with accuracy-level statistics. |
| Can I digitize (i.e. trace) features? | Yes | Yes |
| Change map transparency? | Yes | No. Edit the image’s transparency level before importing into ArcGIS Pro. |
| Exportable? | Yes (limited) | Yes |
| Best for | Quickly showing historical/hand drawn maps on modern satellite. | Turning historical/hand drawn map into analytical geospatial data. |
| Tutorial | Google Earth Image Overlay tutorial | Georeference in ArcGIS Pro |
Georeferenced Map Databases
David Rumsey’s Historical Map Collection is a digital archive of historical maps from across the globe. Most of the maps are already georeferenced. When you add them into Google Earth, they’ll automatically show up in the right position.
Contacts
GIS Librarian position is currently open.