Old Maps

[Cadeho]

I'm not sure if this is the right area, but I love looking at old maps of my area and city. I like looking at what still exists and what's been developed over or modified. Like in the city, you can see which streets were erased to create megablocks and even whole neighborhoods that have disappeared. Then in the country side, there were loads of roads that have disappeared and it's fun to try to figure out where they were exactly. Like there was one major road that crossed a river into another county that is nowhere to be found on both sides of the river. Then other places, you can see where a road could have been. It just amazes me how much we create, destroy, erase, or let fade. Anyone else like comparing maps and searching for traces of vanished streets?

[teshadoh]

Yes - I have quite a few old maps of Atlanta, as well as aerial imagery from the late 1940's. I've even georeferenced a few of the maps & imagery. My favorite by far though are Sanborn Insurance maps - it's exciting to actually see the house you live(d) in on the map, with structural additions.

1911 Sanborn map of my house in Atlanta:

Georeferenced 1949 imagery with current streets:

Slightly different type of map, an 1892 bird's eye map of my neighborhood - just in development. You can see a Civil War fortification is still there:

But is there a reason this thread is in Urban Transit?

[Cadeho]

I'm glad you noticed my post! I'm not sure where this can go... I was thinking streets and roads = transit. I love Sanborn maps! I even pieced together several of my neighborhood and had them on my walls in my dorm room all 4 years. I've even made maps similar to them. I wish they'd follow the same style of cartography today, just update it.

[Cadeho]

I love it! Thanks I'm going to save that site.