Creating a map from an image?
May 3, 2015 11:24 AM Subscribe
Is there a service/some software that will let me (up)load an image of a map and then convert that image into an actual map, with lat/long coordinates? I have an image of a hand drawn map (drawn to scale). I know the latitude/longitude points for some points on the map. I want to find out accurate coordinates for some other points on the map. Ideally, I'd be able to click a point on the output and be given the coordinates.
Yes, QGIS's georeferencer is pretty good. It's still a little fiddly, and you do need to understand some key GIS concepts to make it work, but it's still solid. You need at least three identifiable points to have a chance of getting an image usefully referenced. You may run into problems if the map is of a very large area or uses a non-standard projection.
posted by scruss at 12:26 PM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 12:26 PM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
If I'm understanding your question correctly, I think the instructions in this blog post titled "From Paper Maps to the Web: A DIY Digital Maps Primer" (and more specifically, the Map Warper tool listed there) should help you do the trick.
(Disclosure: I work in the same library department as the person who wrote that post, and we solicited the grant to help fund the creation of that Map Warper tool -- hope it's useful to you!)
posted by Hadroed at 4:50 PM on May 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
(Disclosure: I work in the same library department as the person who wrote that post, and we solicited the grant to help fund the creation of that Map Warper tool -- hope it's useful to you!)
posted by Hadroed at 4:50 PM on May 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
i haven't used the 'Map Warper', but the concept is ubiquitous in GIS - we call it rubber-sheeting. So, if your map doesn't just need to be plopped on an underlying basemap, but might also need to be squished and stretched to fit just so, try it out. Other options: ArcMap is expensive and has it built it. Looks like QGIS has reliable capability too.
posted by j_curiouser at 10:46 PM on May 3, 2015
posted by j_curiouser at 10:46 PM on May 3, 2015
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It looks like there's an open source toolkit called QGIS that can get the job done.
posted by teraflop at 11:35 AM on May 3, 2015