G ENEALOGY G OOGLE E ARTH GIS EGS CIG Joe Flint July 24, 2010

M Y G OAL To demonstrate the use of data from Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to explore a genealogically or historically significant location in Google Earth.

W HAT I S : Genealogy? The study of individuals and their actions in time and place. History? The study of groups of individuals and their actions in time and place.

W HAT I S G OOGLE E ARTH ? Cool! A good tool to show place Problem: County boundaries are hard to see and are only the current boundaries. Problem : Rivers and creeks are hard to see.

W HAT I S : GIS? A geographic information system (GIS), or geographical information system, is any system that captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that are linked to location. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIS en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIS

W HAT I S : HGIS? A historical geographic information system is a GIS that displays, stores and analyzes data of past geographies and tracks changes in time. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_GIS en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_GIS

GIS V ECTOR DATA Vector data expresses geographical features as geometrical shapes, points, lines, and polygons. We will be looking at Shapefiles

H OW TO VIEW AND USE S HAPEFILES The MapWindow GIS application is a free, extensible, geographic information system (GIS)

H OW TO VIEW AND USE S HAPEFILES Shape2Earth converts shapefiles to the KML format used by Google Earth. $ lt.aspx It is a plugin to MapWindow GIS.

G OOGLE E ARTH C OUNTY BOUNDARY PROBLEM The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS), free aggregate census data and boundary shapefiles for the United States between 1790 and

G OOGLE E ARTH C OUNTY BOUNDARY PROBLEM S OLVED The Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries org/ahcbp/ Just Released Free!

G OOGLE E ARTH C OUNTY BOUNDARY PROBLEM S OLVED The Atlas presents in maps and text complete data about the creation and all subsequent changes (dated to the day) in the size, shape, and location of every county in the fifty United States and the District of Columbia. It also includes non-county areas, unsuccessful authorizations for new counties, changes in county names and organization, and the temporary attachments of non-county areas and unorganized counties to fully functioning counties. The principal sources for these data are the most authoritative available: the session laws of the colonies, territories, and states that created and changed the counties.

G OOGLE E ARTH C OUNTY BOUNDARY PROBLEM S OLVED Data and Maps Available Online KMZ Files (Google Earth) Shapefiles (GIS) PDF (Adobe Reader)

G OOGLE E ARTH R IVERS AND C REEKS PROBLEM USGS National Map Viewer v/viewer/ Download Hydrographic Shapefiles

GIS R ASTER DATA Raster data expresses geographical features as pixels in a grid. e.g. satellite images or scanned maps. We will be looking at Geo Tiffs

H OW TO VIEW AND USE G EO T IFFS MICRODEM is a freeware mapping program written by Professor Peter Guth of the Oceanography Department, U.S. Naval Academy. ceano/pguth/website/microde m/microdem.htm

H OW TO VIEW AND USE G EO T IFFS Microdem is a little quirky to install and use. Does not comply with usual standards. Regularly maintained and updated. Exports to Google Earth

L IBRE M AP P ROJECT Makes digital maps and GIS data available for Free. 24k scale USGS DRG's - detailed topographic maps for all 50 states. Download as Geo Tiffs

H OW TO FIND THE T OPO YOU WANT MapFinder™ for Google Earth MapFinder™ for Adobe Reader apfinder.html#MapFinder_fo r_Google_Earth

A DDITIONAL R ESOURCES Free Geography Tools Blog / Historical GIS Technologies, Methodologies, and Scholarship Ian N. Gregory and Paul S. Ell Cambridge University Press 2007

A DDITIONAL R ESOURCES T UTORIALS Mapwindow GIS utorials utorials Introducing GIS. From South Africa. High School level audience.

S TATE S PECIFIC R ESOURCES Google Is Your Friend U of Oregon: Links to State GIS Data Resources. p/map_section/map_Statedat asets.html

S TATE S PECIFIC R ESOURCES New York GIS Clearinghouse / Kentucky Geography Network.