Exploring Maps of 18th Century – Modern London

This week, I explored the Locating London’s Past project. This project includes maps derived from John Rocque’s 1746 map, first accurate Ordinance Survey’s map of London (1869-80) and the modern map of London from Google maps. All three maps are overlaid with each other according to their geolocation and can be switched with an interactive map. The user can also use modern street view on the 18th and 19th century maps as well. The project also includes data points of events from the past where the user can visualize on the respective maps. It is possible to add personal data to the project as well.

The 18th century map was created by John Rocque, an immigrant from Geneva, through the use of trigonometry/geo-reference. This method of creating reference points by establishing triangle relationships led to a more accurate depiction of maps. Rocque created this map for commerical purposes as he sold to the public on a subscription bases. Rocque’s map was selected for being the most detailed map of that century. However, Rocque left out information about small alley ways as those were more difficult to measure and record. Rocque spent about nine years to create this map, which included 24 panels. In order to digitalize these fragments, this project used photoshop to overlay and color correct them. The most interesting step of the digitalization was warping the map to the modern geolocation. As you can see in the picture below, the edges are not straight but are bent to fit the modern map.

The 18th century map was put together by England’s first national mapping company – the Ordinance Survey. Researchers state that this version was the first accurate modern map of London. This map is much more enormous than Rocque, with over 90 separate pieces and exceeding 5 feet when put together. However, for this particular project, only the area from Rocque’s map was digitalized. The OS map was created not for the public but for Metropolitan Sanitary Commissioners and other health campaigners. While Rocque’s data focused more on guiding the people, OS map focused more on the boundaries, street pattern, and the general planning of London.

Both maps are useful for the researchers and historians in their own way, but I feel that these maps can be much more interactive. As of current state, the maps are only shown one at a time and there is not side-by-side comparison. Since they are overlaid via geolocation, a side-by-side comparison can be possible. Also, for the data of events portion, one can only pinpoint one at a time as well. I believe that if there can be multiple points while using side-by-side comparison, a much more interesting analysis can be made.