Show me the borders of a place that doesn't exist anymore
October 3, 2011 12:47 PM Subscribe
Where can I get GIS data (Esri Shapefiles, GeoJSON, etc.) for no-longer-extant countries and kingdoms? I am specifically looking for data on the old Austro-Hungarian Empire and its former provinces and regions, particularly Galicia and/or Bukovina/Bukowina.
Response by poster: Boundaries are really what I'm looking for. Internal sub-regions (i.e. Galician district boundaries within Galicia's province boundaries within the Empire's boundaries) would be fantastic. Anything else would be gravy.
posted by Asparagirl at 1:49 PM on October 3, 2011
posted by Asparagirl at 1:49 PM on October 3, 2011
Best answer: I suspect you are going to have to create this data yourself by finding some old maps and doing some heads' up digitizing over them to get the boundaries you want. You might contact http://www.klokantech.com/ who specialize in providing software and support for managing digitized historical map collections. They might know where to start your search for digitized maps of the areas you want and possibly some information about vintages.
http://www.davidrumsey.com/view/2d-gis might also have something for you, though you may have to dig. Or spend all your time looking at cool maps and forget what you were there doing in the first place...
posted by hobu at 2:05 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
http://www.davidrumsey.com/view/2d-gis might also have something for you, though you may have to dig. Or spend all your time looking at cool maps and forget what you were there doing in the first place...
posted by hobu at 2:05 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Im in a hurry but here's a page I got from searching "galicia shp" Can't ascertain if it is useful
posted by desjardins at 4:35 PM on October 3, 2011
posted by desjardins at 4:35 PM on October 3, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks, but that's the Galicia in Spain, not the Galicia that once spanned the modern Poland/Ukraine border area.
posted by Asparagirl at 9:42 PM on October 3, 2011
posted by Asparagirl at 9:42 PM on October 3, 2011
Try the GIS folks at Jagellonian University, in former Galicia.
posted by zaelic at 12:19 AM on October 4, 2011
posted by zaelic at 12:19 AM on October 4, 2011
D'oh!
Maybe you should come to NACIS, surely someone there would know. Plus there is a mefi meetup.
posted by desjardins at 8:48 AM on October 4, 2011
Maybe you should come to NACIS, surely someone there would know. Plus there is a mefi meetup.
posted by desjardins at 8:48 AM on October 4, 2011
Response by poster: Can't come; have children, husband, cats, clients, etc. to manage here in LA. Could you mention my idea to the nice folks at NACIS? Surely some obsessive map geek there would want to start a little cartography website with data for places that don't exist anymore?
posted by Asparagirl at 10:56 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by Asparagirl at 10:56 PM on October 4, 2011
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posted by desjardins at 1:06 PM on October 3, 2011