Wikimapia

DECk37 Jan 21, 2013 4 Comments

It’s kind of a weird name, it’s something that I discovered while doing “armchair” history research, and it’s become a hobby of sorts. Wikimapia is sort of like Wikipedia + Google maps, or as they put it; “a multilingual open-content collaborative map, where anyone can create place tags and share their knowledge.”

So basically if you sign up, (which it’s free), you can draw polygons around locations like a building, park, or historical places and then add the information about it, add photos, tags and what have you. Once it’s saved, others can view it, comment on it, or even update it as well if they have something new to add. You can add lots of other information too, like roads or railroads.

I know that there are some people here who dig history and know a lot of facts about our area, so I just thought it’d be cool to share and hope that maybe they will share their knowledge on the site as well, or at the very least, simply just looking around it.

Wikimapia

Recommended Links:


History, Recommendations

4 Comments

DECk37

about 12 years ago 

What I mean to say at the end there is; or at the very least, simply just enjoy looking around it. (got to love late night writing!)

Here's an example of a place I added:
 

Les F

about 12 years ago 

Very cool!  Thanks for the tip.

burnettd

about 12 years ago 

I've been surfing wikimapia for some time now, and it's a pretty neat resource.  Over the last few years I've noticed more information added to our area. 

Also of potential interest to an 'armchair historian', if one isn't already aware of it, is the Library of Congress Image Search.  I recommend setting a timer or something; it is way too easy to blow an hour or two hunting for historical images.  

Some interesting search examples:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=duluth%20elevator

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=ore%20docks%20duluth

Additionally, one can access the Minnesota Sanborn Maps through UMD.

DECk37

about 12 years ago 

Thanks for the link! I love historic photos, looks like the search is better then Minnesota Reflections, (http://reflections.mndigital.org/), & I'm already seeing things I haven't yet with just those 2 examples!

I also dig:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/landview/index.html?layers=lakes+roads+cent_popplpt1

Arial photos going back to the 1930s!

Leave a Comment

Only registered members can post a comment , Login / Register Here