Publications

Projection analysis and georeference of the 1: 2M Africa map by Régnauld de Lannoy de Bissy (1891-1902)

Published in e-perimetron, 2023

The 1:2 million scale Carte d’Afrique by Régnauld de Lannoy de Bissy, consisting of 63 sheets, is a nice summary of humanity’s knowledge of Africa at the end of the 19th century. According to the literature, the map system has the ‘meridional orthographic’ projection, with the central meridian 10 degrees East of Paris (cca. 12 degrees and 20 minutes from Greenwich). No datum information is found. At this scale, it is less important indeed for any georeferencing work. However, defining an orthometric projection with the central meridian of 12 degrees 20 minutes leads to unacceptably high errors of the georeference of the sheets of this map product. We tried another solution. As the contemporary German map product (the 1:4 million scale ‘Habenicht map’) has a ‘Flamsteed’ projection, we tried this for the French series. The Flamsteed projection is called sinusoidal in modern GIS applications. The georeference with the sinusoidal projection was much more convincing, resulting in a conclusion that the actual projection of the French map product is also the ‘Flamsteed’ or sinusoidal projection, with the projection center at the crossing of the Equator and the meridian 12.33333 degrees East of Greenwich. However, georeferencing using this projection also produces errors; The errors have a magnitude of up to some 10 kilometers far from the center, hinting that the size of the Earth assumed was slightly different from the applied ‘Google Sphere’; it shall invoke further scale analysis of the map product. We are encountering errors of a completely different nature in Central Africa, far from the coast. The interior of the continent was only partially surveyed along traverse lines with geodetic accuracy at that time. These errors are therefore part of the knowledge conveyed by the map at the end of the 19th century.

Download here

OpenIndexMaps: A New Iteration of Collaborative Digital Index Mapping

Published in e-perimetron, 2022

Librarians in the GeoBlacklight community have been collaboratively developing a digital geographic index map standard. OpenIndexMaps (openindexmaps.org) is an interoperable standard, using the GeoJSON format, for creating and sharing geographic index information for map series and other collections. OpenIndexMaps is catalyzed by the adoption of Geographic Information Systems in libraries and map collections. The Geodex system, cartobibliography software developed in the 1980s at the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, did not reach a critical level of adoption and long-term support, but set the groundwork for creating and sharing index information among map collections. OpenIndexMaps has the potential to bring about the original aim of the Geodex project—to create a union catalog of large paper map series and other collections held across various institutions. Ultimately, OpenIndexMaps will advance collection management of paper map series and air photo collections, enhance discoverability of geographic collections, and improve cooperation between institutions.

Download here

Letters from Spain in a Space-time Box: Historical GIS with Timestamped Itineraries for Understanding the Chronotopes of Nineteenth-century Travel Writing

Published in International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, 2020

This article documents the use of historical GIS with timestamped itineraries to better understand a large multilingual corpus of nineteenth-century travelogues about Spain and their diverse ‘chronotopes’ (meaningful intersections of space and time in a narrative, as defined by Mikhail Bakhtin), which remain unnoticeable when one reads travelogues as traditional literary texts. The authors offer a rationale for using historical maps and GIS with timestamps, discuss the challenges posed by a multilingual historical dataset with partially imprecise or inferred information, and share their approach to overcoming these challenges in data collection, the creation of gazetteer, and timecoding. Despite focusing on travelogues, these tools and approaches are transferable to the visualisation and analysis of other texts in which chronotopes matter.

Download here

Geospatial Information Literacy Instruction: Frameworks, Competency, and Threshold Concepts

Published in Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2019

As librarians are developing library instruction curricula for map and geography libraries, there are many places where one can find guidance. Instructional frameworks can help organize and teach key competencies and develop literacy of geospatial information for learners. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has become the quintessential guiding document for information literacy instruction in academic libraries. One does not teach the framework directly, rather the instructor (librarian) identifies threshold concepts, knowledge practices, and dispositions guided by six core concepts and disciplinary context. Librarians in special collections must consider how to apply such frameworks to specific disciplines, collections, institutions, and curricula. This paper focuses on geospatial information literacy instruction, best represented by librarians offering instruction services on geospatial data and/or technologies to classes ranging from GIScience courses to humanities classes incorporating digital scholarship. The unique blend of geographic literacy incorporating geography, primary-source, map, and spatial literacies as well as data and digital literacies, including data information literacy and the emerging Cyber GIScience literacy make GIScience a discipline where map and geography librarians are well positioned to impact the success of learners and advance pedagogy development.

Download here

Review of New Lines: Critical GIS and the Trouble of the Map

Published in Cartographic Perspectives, 2018

New Lines: Critical GIS and the Trouble of the Map reinvigorates some of the discussions that GIScience scholars have debated for decades by presenting material that is sub- stantial without being impenetrable. I would recommend this book to anyone studying GIScience, and especially to those interested in GIS and Society, though Wilson’s discussions are also relevant to the GIS community at large. It may also appeal to those interested in the digital humanities, particularly humanities GIS. This book challenges everyone who usually deals primarily with the technical issues of GIS to more carefully consider the impacts of these technologies on society; I know it challenged me.

Download here

Facilitating PPGIS through university libraries

Published in The Cartographic Journal, 2016

Equitable access to local geospatial data continues to pose challenges to the knowledge production efforts of marginalized citizen groups. While local government agencies have provided greater access to public data sets through their internet Geographic Information System (GIS) sites, data cannot always be downloaded and used directly by citizens. Past research demonstrates that data sharing at the local level can be a challenging task, mired by legal, institutional, and personal issues. Despite the hype about open data in government, its acceptance and implementation is slow at the local scale. The need for a centralized data repository system at the local scale is thus crucial. This research explores the recent groundbreaking effort to establish a state-wide geospatial portal among the 26 University of Wisconsin (UW) library systems. Through a survey and follow up interviews conducted among public land information professionals in Wisconsin, we find that GIS professionals in local and county governments are open to data sharing through a common geospatial portal. Simultaneously, the efforts to introduce open source GIS software and technical skills through workshops conducted by the library staff demonstrate new ways to facilitate Public Participation GIS (PPGIS). Our research thus demonstrates that university libraries can emerge as an effective model for advancing PPGIS through geoportals, web services, and data and applications in the cloud.

Download here

Geodex 2.0: saving a legacy map series cartobibliography

Published in E-Perimetron, 2016

In the early years of library automation many libraries were innovative in their approach to bringing new technologies to use for library search. Some of those technologies have long ago been archived or in some cases lost. Specialized libraries such as map libraries, who were early adopters of new technologies are now finding themselves left with legacy systems that are close to or past their life cycle and we are faced with the decision to either phase the system out of service and archive it, or to look for ways of breathing new life into these systems. The American Geographical Society Library was faced with such a decision recently. In 1988, the American Geographical Society launched GEODEX: GEOgraphic InDEX System for Map Series. GEODEX was an innovative means for indexing the hundreds of map series held in the collection at the AGSL. At the time of its launch, GEODEX was one of the largest automated cartobibliographies in the world close to 400,000 entries. Changing technology and computer upgrades threatened all of the data held in GEODEX due to operating system incompatibility with the DOS program that was the heart of running GEODEX. That would have meant over 25 years of work and hundreds of thousands of database records would be rendered useless unless there was a way to bring GEODEX into the 21st century. After more than a year of development the conversion of GEODEX is just about complete. A new interface for adding new maps and searching the database bring a fresh look to this impressive database of map series, now including online accessibility for the world.

Download here

Public geospatial data in wisconsin: information access, data sharing, and the university (Thesis)

Published in UWM Digital Commons, 2015

This research explores public geospatial data sharing in Wisconisn. The research is informed by literature on GIS and Society, Participatory GIS, Spatial Data Infrastructure, Information Justice, The Digital Divide, and Library and Information Science. Original research consists of a survey and follow up interview to public land information professionals in Wisconsin gauging their interest in a UW System-wide geographic information portal for distributing public spatial data to UW System users. The research finds that social and insitutional rather than technical factors are major drivers of data-sharing activities in Wisconsin. However, technical aspects of geographic information are changing quickly with a move to more hosted services in the cloud. This research explroes how this shift influences data-sharing, academic library GIS services, and university level education. While social and institutional influences are critical, GIOS proefssionals, students, and educators must be ready for the cloud.

Download here

Stephen Appel

Publications