History of Maps

POSTPONED Due to #snowquester and the federal government shutting down on 3/6, we've postponed our March meetup until Tuesday, March 12th-- same time, same place. See you then!

This month's GeoDC meetup will look back at the history of maps and how we use historical maps and data today. We're still looking for speakers - if you'd like to give a 5 minute lightning talk on this topic, just contact us through the meetup group. Here's the current lineup.

Mikel Maron (https://twitter.com/mikel) from the GroundTruth Iniative (http://groundtruth.in/) will talk about two historical projects he's starting up. The first is Open Historical Map, which will experiment with the creation of historic map data using the OpenStreetMap model. Second is a project (http://new.mapkibera.org/themes/imagery/) to digitize aerial imagery collected in the 1950s/1960s. Elizabeth Lyon (http://twitter.com/geographerliz), working with the MapStory (http://www.mapstory.org/) crew and a Geographer with the Corps of Engineers, will talk a little bit about historical mapping, and a little bit about how the MapStory Team is laying a technical foundation for anyone to tell stories about the past, the present and even the future both spatially and temporally. She may even bring a sextant or a light table (weather and transportation pending) for show and tell. Ian Fowler (https://twitter.com/deralect) will talk about the history of the L'Enfant map of Washington, DC and the efforts of the Library of Congress to preserve it. GeoDC meets on the first Wednesday of the month, every month, at Stetson's bar at 16th and U streets NW. We gather to socialize, network, and hear about the work people are doing with maps, GIS, geodata, and more. Join our meetup group and follow @Geo_DC (https://twitter.com/geo_dc) on Twitter for updates.

Stetsons is a 21 and over venue. If you are underage and want to attend, please contact us via the meetup page and we'll do our best to get you in.