Mashing up places of historical significance on a Google Map is one of the most interesting developments in the area of historical research. Now people everywhere can create their own historical maps and use them to explore their surroundings and develop a greater sense of awareness of what took place nearby.The Historical Marker Database is a great new history maps mashup which presents historical marker locations and distances between each other for locations in the US and Canada. Markers are plaques and signposts that explain what significant event took place in that exact spot. HMDB lets you choose historical markers by category (a huge list) or by state or Canadian province. Each event page has a great description of the event with a "Map" or "Click for a map" link that plots that historical point. HMDB also lets create your own historical marker for your local area! These types of mashups have great use in the area of tourism and also for educational purposes!
Other Great History Maps:
- DC Boundary Stones Project
- 7 Wonders of the World
- US History Mashup
- Historical San Francisco
- British History Map
- London Historical Blue Plaques
2 comments:
Now that Google Earth has the time line feature, I'm looking forward to some "animated" battlefield maps.
It should be the perfect medium for giving a sense of scale, terrain, the position of particular units, the relative postions of the opposing forces and the movement of the front lines.
WW1 & US Civil War spring to mind but there's plenty to choose from throughout our illustrious history!
Totally agree about the battlefield maps. Been thinking about those myself.
But I wonder if there isn't some way to develop some standards for such data? Putting together the data for these would be a lot of work, so some standards would be helpful. Like GPX, but with additional data troops, artillery, etc. Any thoughts, anyone?
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