I am thinking about “Just because you can put it on a map ….” the talk I still haven’t started for W3GConf and whilst pondering the question of what you should and should not try to stick on a map I am also feeling pretty caustic about naff and ugly. Or put more politely if it is worth mapping it is worth mapping in a useful, elegant and engaging way.
In the last few months two sites launched that presented historic photographs on a map. There is something quite compulsive about searching for old photos that depict the area that you live in. History Pin is a global crowd sourced project which currently has 19,000 pictures posted, you can search by location, topic and narrow your search by date. The UK History Photo Finder from the National Archive Lab has 14,000 1920-40’s photographs from the Dixon-Scott collection.
Comparing the two sites really makes the point for me that “if a job is worth doing …”
Maybe the National Archive Labs should be talking to We Are What We Do or the guys at Essence?
