{posted to lismaps, Maps-L, MapHist}
Now that you have returned to your desks, reinvigorated after the
holiday, I wonder if you would feel like responding to the
outrageous things I say below! Like others, I am in prophetic
mood about the future of the World Wide Web. Unlike some, I feel
that we can perhaps help to *direct* that future. In particular,
I wonder why we appear not to be thinking about organising the map
images on the WWW.
It seems accepted that images are an important feature of the
WWW, for some people the *most* important part. Perhaps the time
is right for some challenging analysis of the way that map images
are currently handled on the Web.
Why are images put on web-pages? What is the purpose? More
relevantly, what use is made of them? [I am assuming that, for
commercial reasons, we are, broadly, talking about
out-of-copyright material only].
I imagine - and no doubt you can give other answers - that the
uses are seen as:
1. An added, illustrative element to a catalogue description
[as, for example, in Peter van der Krogt's published revision of
Koeman's "Atlantes Neerlandici"]. This is likely to be a
'thumbnail' image, intended for no more than general recognition.
2. A resource for private individuals who can then download
and reuse. Since the service is likely to be free, the owning
institution will often degrade the quality to protect its photo
revenue.
3. A priced resource for professional picture researchers seeking
high quality images for publication.
The WWW is anarchic, and some people defend that quality with
religious zeal. However, others prefer to spend, rather than
waste, their time online. It seems to me - as the organiser of
the History of Cartography's gateway site (for which I can find
few parallels) - that the handling of map images on the WWW
reflects the needs of the webmaster rather more than those of
any anticipated users. An analogy with the display windows of
a department store seems reasonable, since 'fashion' demands
that a web-page have images.
I am not a user of map images - my own page is pure information
- and I may be revealing my ignorance. But the approach appears
to me fragmented, inconsistent, inward-looking. I see no signs
of collaboration and co-operation. Roelof Oddens heroically
lists, in his Oddens's Bookmarks, sites with map images. He
sensibly arranges these geographically. That is fine if you
want to locate a map databank whose images are *defined*
geographically, or if, say, you want to check out a Texas site
for maps of Texas. But non-current maps are spreadly widely
and unpredictably.
What does the user want? Here am I more confident. Something
entirely different - a union catalogue approach. The WWW
could/should free us from geography. The image I am searching
could be in Baltimore, Birmingham (either) or Brussels. It
makes no difference to me. What I want is the ability to enter
a *single search* across *all* the relevant sites. If I seek a
known map, I would probably search by mapmaker/publisher and
title or area. If for an unknown item, via a geographical
hierarchical index, refinable by date and/or subject.
The technology exists. But has anybody even thought about
this, let alone written about it?
Suspecting that the world of art history (with its Getty
millions) might be ahead of us, I spent time over the holidays
looking to see if they were pursuing this approach. And I did
indeed find such a site:
http://www.gii.getty.edu/arthur/
"Arthur (ART media and text HUb and Retrieval System), a
demonstration project currently under development in Getty
Information Institute's Technology Research & Development
group. Arthur uses the AMORE image system, developed by NEC
USA, Inc. to index and search 30,000 images and associated
text of 300 selected Websites organized into five databases."
Do you know of any other attempts to index images *across* sites?
For indexing to be effective, I imagine there has to be prior
agreement about metadata standards (even if at a rudimentary
level). Maybe the UK-based ROADS (Resource Organisation And
Discovery in Subject-based services) -
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/roads/what/ > could be relevant
here. Perhaps, if something was started, future webmasters might
apply the agreed standards at the outset. Others might then
convert so as to be part of a successful venture.
So, finally:
* are we, at present, doing anything about indexing map images?
* could we be doing it?
* should we be doing it?
* if we could and should, who will respond to the challenge?
* how - in very *practical* terms - might we go about it?
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Tony Campbell, Map Librarian
British Library Map Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
Phone: 0171 412 7525 International: +44 171 412 7525
Fax: 0171 412 7780 International: +44 171 412 7780
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Please see, bookmark and PROVIDE LINKS to:-
1. The British Library Map Library homepage
http://www.bl.uk/collections/maps
2. The History of Cartography homepage
http://www.ihrinfo.ac.uk/maps/
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