Old Maps Research Discussion

[DiggItUp]

Hello, everyone. Today, I type this from my school during midterms week. It's dull and gray outside, and I'm extremely bored. Too cold and "open" with all the leaves off trees to detect, I'm just itching for spring time so I can detect again. I've recently taken to researching possible sites to hunt in when spring comes. What I've been doing (which seems to be the best) is overlay old maps into live, real satellite images on google earth. I've recently run into some things it wanted to hear from you guys about. I'm using an 1874 map of the area, which has little black squares as house sites with the names of the residents. Now, how do you guys go about finding the actual sites of the houses? I try to line up the image overlay so the roads are on top of each other, so I can therefore estimate where the house would be in relation to the real road. Also, many if these sites, including a "school house no. 4" are (if I'm judging and estimating correctly) directly on top of modern houses. The area is pretty rural, not urban or suburban at all. I guess what I'm really asking is if anyone can offer me advice on this, or knows a better way to find old homesites and structures. Also, once I find these sites and travel to the approximate area where they should be, what should I do? Just look around for bricks, stones, etc?

Thanks,

-_\|~<•>~|/_-

 

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[Marvin]

Generally old maps are fairly accurate. If the roads line up fairly closely, you can use the scale on the current map (assuming there's not one on the old map) to scale out where the structures were. Start hitting that area and you'll typically start finding old iron nails or other materials that let you know you're in the right area. A lot of times you might even find remnants of a foundation with your eyes before you find anything with the MD.

 

[Rob in KS]

IF you can get the maps to line up pretty well with Google Earth, you should be pretty darn close. When you get close to a homesite, you'll get all kinds of hits. Most of them will be iron. My house is about 65 years old and the yard is so trashy that I usually don't detect it without a lot of discrimination. I'm talking multiple hits per swing. Some they are so close together you can;t separate them.

As for the school, out here on the plains, one section was set aside for the school in each township. Around here that was in the 1880's. Most of them are long gone so I'm not surprised to hear houses are built over it.

Using the overlay feature on GE is a great tool. A handheld GPS is another. points and tracks can be imported in GE. There are a couple of threads around here that talked about it.

Depending on where you are, maybe sanborn maps would be of some help.

 

[Produce Guy]

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[junk]

Thanks for the good info, old guys like me need all the help we can get with the computers and modern ways of doing things. I have my computer all set up now, thanks to you.

 

[DiggItUp]

Thanks for the good info, old guys like me need all the help we can get with the computers and modern ways of doing things. I have my computer all set up now, thanks to you.

Junk, try watching this...

 

[Notsuredomus]

I have yet to try this however I am fairly proficient at Adobe Photoshop and since the oldest maps contain the most errors in precise topography yet also contain contents no longer present you may be able to use the deform tool to get the features which are consistent in both past and present maps to better line up. Like I said I have not tried this myself and I am not sure if this would increase or lessen the location accuracy. But it may be worth a try.
P.S. Photoshop has great tools for creating layers and transparencies that would make it well worth the time to learn.

 

[Notsuredomus]

I have a possible solution. Though I've never actually tried it

I have yet to try this however I am fairly proficient at Adobe Photoshop and since the oldest maps contain the most errors in precise topography yet also contain contents no longer present you may be able to use the deform tool to get the features which are consistent in both past and present maps to better line up. Like I said I have not tried this myself and I am not sure if this would increase or lessen the location accuracy. But it may be worth a try.

P.S. Photoshop has great tools for creating layers and transparencies that would make it well worth the time to learn.

 

[DiggItUp]

I have yet to try this however I am fairly proficient at Adobe Photoshop and since the oldest maps contain the most errors in precise topography yet also contain contents no longer present you may be able to use the deform tool to get the features which are consistent in both past and present maps to better line up. Like I said I have not tried this myself and I am not sure if this would increase or lessen the location accuracy. But it may be worth a try. P.S. Photoshop has great tools for creating layers and transparencies that would make it well worth the time to learn.

Good idea... I like the name BTW.