2 ms·

This is neat. I'm curious to know what the practical uses of this information are? Anyone know?

hopelite 1y ago
My first thought is for historical research. It would be quite a bit of help if you have some old town or settlement map that you can compare to/overlay with a LiDAR stone wall map. I am not sure, but it may also serve historical preservation purposes if that is an issue, e.g., if administrators are deciding on land partitioning and/or development plans.
- joshuamcginnis 1y ago
  That's what I was thinking too. The historical aspect is useful. And I would imagine the position of the walls could be correlated with past land ownership boundaries.
teeray 1y ago
It could be used to enhance topo maps for hiking. If you’re lost and come across a stone wall, you now know where it possibly leads.
rob 1y ago
I'm not affiliated with the site I submitted, but some just really love stone walls, especially those of us here in New England. I'm part of a "New English Stone Walls" Facebook group that has ~65,000 members. To me (I'm in CT) there's something really cool to be in a forest surrounded by trees but see a perfectly made stone wall just there in the "middle of nowhere." I think about how much time and effort it took back in the early ~1800s to clear all that land, move all those rocks across fields without modern machinery, and put so much effort into constructing these walls. Some are over 6 feet wide and many are in incredible shape for being put together ~200 years ago. There's also the "Stone Wall Initiative" spearheaded by Robert Thorson of the University of Connecticut that also has tons of info: https://stonewall.uconn.edu/ https://stonewall.uconn.edu/ (He also has a really good "Stone by Stone" book available on Amazon.)
- pstuart 1y ago
  It's a testament to what we can accomplish when we don't have distraction machines at our beck and call.
- joshuamcginnis 1y ago
  Oh, wow. I had no idea there was so much of a community around this phenomenon. Thanks for sharing.

My first thought is for historical research. It would be quite a bit of help if you have some old town or settlement map that you can compare to/overlay with a LiDAR stone wall map. I am not sure, but it may also serve historical preservation purposes if that is an issue, e.g., if administrators are deciding on land partitioning and/or development plans.

joshuamcginnis 1y ago
That's what I was thinking too. The historical aspect is useful. And I would imagine the position of the walls could be correlated with past land ownership boundaries.

teeray 1y ago

It could be used to enhance topo maps for hiking. If you’re lost and come across a stone wall, you now know where it possibly leads.

rob 1y ago

I'm not affiliated with the site I submitted, but some just really love stone walls, especially those of us here in New England. I'm part of a "New English Stone Walls" Facebook group that has ~65,000 members. To me (I'm in CT) there's something really cool to be in a forest surrounded by trees but see a perfectly made stone wall just there in the "middle of nowhere." I think about how much time and effort it took back in the early ~1800s to clear all that land, move all those rocks across fields without modern machinery, and put so much effort into constructing these walls. Some are over 6 feet wide and many are in incredible shape for being put together ~200 years ago. There's also the "Stone Wall Initiative" spearheaded by Robert Thorson of the University of Connecticut that also has tons of info: https://stonewall.uconn.edu/ https://stonewall.uconn.edu/ (He also has a really good "Stone by Stone" book available on Amazon.)

pstuart 1y ago
It's a testament to what we can accomplish when we don't have distraction machines at our beck and call.
joshuamcginnis 1y ago
Oh, wow. I had no idea there was so much of a community around this phenomenon. Thanks for sharing.