Project Background

The first iteration of OldInsuranceMaps.net was made publicly available as LaHMG (Louisiana Historical Map Georeferencer) in early 2022 through a four-month pilot project, focusing on maps of Louisiana. This work formed the bulk my master's thesis at Louisiana State University: "Creating a Public Space for Georeferencing Sanborn Maps: A Louisiana Case Study".

Since then, I have worked hard to refactor, restructure, and streamline the platform, into what is now just called OldInsuranceMaps.net (I had hoped for a better name but one has yet to come along...). I am also slowly spinning out the software into a more generic georeferencing app called OHMG (Online Historical Map Georeferencer), because a lot of characteristics of what I had to build to facilitate crowdsourcing for this particular map collection can be applied to other georeferencing work as well.

Publications (and mentions)

Various articles and blog posts about this project. Let me know if you find one to add to the list.

• Toward a Georeferencing Commons: A Crowdsourcing Case Study and the Creation of OldInsuranceMaps.Net (open access version), Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, March 2024.

  • Adam Cox.

• Piloting a Sanborn Map Georef-a-thon for GIS Day 2023, WAML Information Bulletin, Western Association of Map Libraries. 2024.

  • Josh Sadvari and Michelle Hooper

• Scroll through Time with the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, South Richmond News. February 12, 2024.

  • John M. and Riley Champine

• Historical Sanborn Maps of America, Maps Mania (blog). December 5, 2023. Kier Clarke.

• Open Source Spotlight: Old Insurance Maps, Development Seed Blog (blog). December 1, 2023.

  • Sanjay Bhangar and Kiri Carini

• Creating a Public Space for Georeferencing Sanborn Maps: A Louisiana Case Study, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University (MS thesis). August 2022.

  • Adam Cox

Presentations

Over the course of the development of OldInsuranceMaps.net I have given a handful of presentations at conferences and the like.

• "Mapping the turn of the Century with OHM and OldInsuranceMaps.net" -- slides
  • State of the Map US, 2023. Presentation with Jeff Meyer of OpenHistoricalMap
• "Crowdsourced Georeferencing Sanborn Maps of Louisiana" -- slides
  • NACIS, 2022 this one has the most about the pilot project
• "Creating a Public Space for Georeferencing Sanborn Maps" -- slides
  • NACIS, 2021
• "Extending GeoNode to Support Historical Map Georeferencing" -- slides
  • GeoNode Developer Summit, 2020