A server full of GIS data (maps) from my work at the University of Washington is finally up. The River History Project is undertaking an investigation of historical changes to aquatic habitats and land cover throughout Puget Sound's rivers and estuaries, and recently expanded to include Puget Sound's historical nearshore.
You'll need a fast connection, as the maps are large image files. Maps are in .TIF file format (GeoTIFF, really), compressed as .ZIP files. If you do not have it already, you will need some sort of software to open the compressed files. The .TIF files can be readily viewed individually with any image-handling software, and this may be all you want to do. However, for layered viewing of multiple maps in their geographic coordinate systems you will need some sort of GIS software. ESRI's ArcExplorer is free. For the somewhat more intrepid there is also the open-source GRASS. With such GIS software, you can put a map from 1890, for example, over aerial photos from 1933, and make the top map layer transparent so as to see changes from one era to another.
More maps to be posted periodically.
Posted by Charles on October 13, 2003 08:24 PM