6 ms·

Something I'd be willing to pay for is historical tiles/data. I'm writing an application that lets you view historical data, and the problem is that most/all m

by mholt 2y ago

Something I'd be willing to pay for is historical tiles/data. I'm writing an application that lets you view historical data, and the problem is that most/all map services show only current data. It would be nice if the map reflected the year of the data we're layering on top. So if you want to make some money, there's an option for you!

wcedmisten 2y ago
Have you heard of: https://www.openhistoricalmap.org https://www.openhistoricalmap.org I don't think you can pay for it, but I'm sure they'd accept donations!
- petre 2y ago
  Interesting but not entirely accurate. Moldova has not existed as a state until 1991, after the dissolution of the USSR but it shows up on the map after WW2.
  - pininja 2y ago
    The great thing about open map projects is that they can be updated, and store a historical edit log along with discussions and sources for each change.
  - uneekname 2y ago
    As with other community projects such as Wikipedia or OSM, OpenHistoricalMap relies on keen-eyed volunteers such as yourself to improve their database!
- mholt 2y ago
  Ah, wonderful -- thank you
uneekname 2y ago
The key problem here is a lack of accurate data. OSM is amazing, but is constantly getting improved and closer to realtime "ground truth." Historical OSM data is usually worse all-around, rather than "equally good, but as of year XXXX" Perhaps there is a different dataset with better historical accuracy than OSM, but I do not know of one. You'd likely have to reduce your scope: trails in a specific park? Roads in a specific city? As another commenter notes, there is a sister project OpenHistoricalMap that focuses on mapping historical data. It is rather sparse compared to OSM, but super fun to explore around e.g. NYC.
- runxel 2y ago
  As a hobby historian (not really haha) I'm interested in old streets and names particularly. Especially here in Europe / Germany, where entire quarters where bombed to rubbles newer streets do not match neither namely nor spatially. I loved how you could "move back in time" in street view. I think that has been killed too? There is a lovely Twitter/X account for Detroit tho: https://x.com/DetroitStreetVu https://x.com/DetroitStreetVu
  - aiiane 2y ago
    You can still go back in time on Street View. There's a "See more dates" link next to the address info in the top left (at least on the desktop Maps interface) that when you click it opens a film strip of different dated captures for that location. Here's the 2007 capture of 1 Embarcadero (outside the Ferry Building in San Francisco) for example: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ArrucFgus9uMvdSaA https://maps.app.goo.gl/ArrucFgus9uMvdSaA
    - runxel 2y ago
      Oh yeah, true. Thanks for pointing out. It's just that in Europe the data is much more sparse to begin with. In many places Google didn't go multiple times, so there just can't be older data. On some streets however I see that if the data was really old (before ~2010/2012) Google probably decided that the quality was so bad – well, it really is – that they do not make it available. So even if there were multiple passes it is not a must that this feature comes available.
JimDabell 2y ago
I think you’d be interested in Pastmaps: https://pastmaps.com https://pastmaps.com
dahauns 2y ago
Maybe not exactly what you had in mind (sounds more like a street view-like timeline of changes, if I understand you correctly), but https://maps.arcanum.com/ https://maps.arcanum.com/ has a great selection of historical maps.

by mholt 2y ago

wcedmisten 2y ago

Have you heard of: https://www.openhistoricalmap.org https://www.openhistoricalmap.org I don't think you can pay for it, but I'm sure they'd accept donations!

petre 2y ago
Interesting but not entirely accurate. Moldova has not existed as a state until 1991, after the dissolution of the USSR but it shows up on the map after WW2.
- pininja 2y ago
  The great thing about open map projects is that they can be updated, and store a historical edit log along with discussions and sources for each change.
- uneekname 2y ago
  As with other community projects such as Wikipedia or OSM, OpenHistoricalMap relies on keen-eyed volunteers such as yourself to improve their database!
mholt 2y ago
Ah, wonderful -- thank you

uneekname 2y ago

The key problem here is a lack of accurate data. OSM is amazing, but is constantly getting improved and closer to realtime "ground truth." Historical OSM data is usually worse all-around, rather than "equally good, but as of year XXXX" Perhaps there is a different dataset with better historical accuracy than OSM, but I do not know of one. You'd likely have to reduce your scope: trails in a specific park? Roads in a specific city? As another commenter notes, there is a sister project OpenHistoricalMap that focuses on mapping historical data. It is rather sparse compared to OSM, but super fun to explore around e.g. NYC.

runxel 2y ago
As a hobby historian (not really haha) I'm interested in old streets and names particularly. Especially here in Europe / Germany, where entire quarters where bombed to rubbles newer streets do not match neither namely nor spatially. I loved how you could "move back in time" in street view. I think that has been killed too? There is a lovely Twitter/X account for Detroit tho: https://x.com/DetroitStreetVu https://x.com/DetroitStreetVu
- aiiane 2y ago
  You can still go back in time on Street View. There's a "See more dates" link next to the address info in the top left (at least on the desktop Maps interface) that when you click it opens a film strip of different dated captures for that location. Here's the 2007 capture of 1 Embarcadero (outside the Ferry Building in San Francisco) for example: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ArrucFgus9uMvdSaA https://maps.app.goo.gl/ArrucFgus9uMvdSaA
  - runxel 2y ago
    Oh yeah, true. Thanks for pointing out. It's just that in Europe the data is much more sparse to begin with. In many places Google didn't go multiple times, so there just can't be older data. On some streets however I see that if the data was really old (before ~2010/2012) Google probably decided that the quality was so bad – well, it really is – that they do not make it available. So even if there were multiple passes it is not a must that this feature comes available.

JimDabell 2y ago

I think you’d be interested in Pastmaps: https://pastmaps.com https://pastmaps.com

dahauns 2y ago

Maybe not exactly what you had in mind (sounds more like a street view-like timeline of changes, if I understand you correctly), but https://maps.arcanum.com/ https://maps.arcanum.com/ has a great selection of historical maps.