Georeferenced Maps

Georeferenced maps are physical maps that are locationally matched to a digital map. Many of these maps are very old and some were hand drawn, before computerized map programming existed. The original maps didn’t always have longitude and latitude. Distances and sizes of places were often distorted. Georeferencing is so fun because we get to learn about history while seeing how well the artists rendered place before we had advanced technology.

This map is of Lower Manhattan Island, NY in 1662. It was called Nieuw Amsterdam because during that time it was occupied by the Dutch. Either Manhattan got shorter in 400 years, or the map-makers imagined it much longer than it actually was. I love noticing interesting details, like Wall Street used to be called De Wal Straat.

This is an example of a 1945 map of Denver that I georeferenced to a present day map of Denver using ArcGIS Pro. I love the cartography of this old map. The hand drawn images are so indicitive of the time period.