Evolution of Digital Map Libraries towards Virtual Map Rooms: New Challenges for Historical Research

Abstract

Over the past two years the number of initiatives and projects in the field of Digital Map Libraries (DML) have greatly increased. The aim of many of these projects is to uncover methods and methodologies that enable people to access old maps through geoportals and to thereby link the cartographic collections held in different libraries and archives. It is forseen that the geographic component of maps that will be common and enabling link to such integration of collections. The remote access capability of web located resources through optimized searches has had a great repercussions for both researchers and the academic world. In addition, to a new type of work practice for the map librarians, based on the online cataloguing and geo-referencing, there will also be significant impact on the map artefacts themselves. For example such a shift in collection access will particularly impact collection safety and preservation, preventing manipulations, damage, deterioration and thefts from happening. This paper describes the state-of-the-art DML initiatives, emphasizing their technological evolution within the new institutional framework. From the results obtained, a new generation of Virtual Map Rooms is presented for the integrated access to the Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) thanks to the design of new crosswalks between geographic and bibliographic metadata profiles. Moreover, new analytic and online geo-processing tools will be developed, thereby supplementing the present-day digital access to the entire cartographic heritage with a new query and work virtual space.