Toponym-assisted map georeferencing: Evaluating the use of toponyms for the digitization of map collections

Abstract

A great deal of information is contained within archival maps—ranging from historic political boundaries, to mineral resources, to the locations of cultural landmarks. There are many ongoing efforts to preserve and digitize historic maps so that the information contained within them can be stored and analyzed efficiently. A major barrier to such map digitizing efforts is that the geographic location of each map is typically unknown and must be determined through an often slow and manual process known as georeferencing. To mitigate the time costs associated with the georeferencing process, this paper introduces a fully automated method based on map toponym (place name) labels. It is the first study to demonstrate these methods across a wide range of both simulated and real-world maps. We find that toponym-based georeferencing is sufficiently accurate to be used for data extraction purposes in nearly half of all cases. We make our implementation available to the wider research community through fully open-source replication code, as well as an online georeferencing tool, and highlight areas of improvement for future research. It is hoped that the practical implications of this research will allow for larger and more efficient processing and digitizing of map information for researchers, institutions, and the general public.

A Comparison of Cartographic and Toponymic Databases in a Multilingual Environment: A Methodology for Detecting Redundancies Using ETL and GIS Tools

“…All this does not undermine the fourth dimension, the temporal aspect present both in the historical testimony [31,32] and in the dynamism of the landscape, reflected in the labeling of maps [33] through the diachronic perspective in historical research [34]. Furthermore, with this temporal component, we cite its localizing capacity [35]. On the other hand, from individual work to distributed and networked systems, the way of accessing and exploiting geographic information, including cadastral information, has radically changed [36].…”

Fields Touched by Digitalization: Analysis of Scientific Activity in Scopus

“…The Scopus database represents the first research conducted on digitization developed by [16], which was initially oriented to the medical area and aimed to provide a procedure with which to achieve the rehabilitation of hands after the amputation of five fingers. There are numerous publications on digitalization, many of them closely related to the variables "analog conversion" [17], "image processing" [18], "digital libraries" [19], "algorithms" [20], "automation" [21], "digital storage" [22], "information management" [23], "cultural heritage" [24], "digital transformation" [25], "artificial intelligence" [26] and "digital technologies" [27], among others.…”