Impact case study database

Improving access to historical information held by national and international libraries

Over the last 20 years, Southall has delivered his pioneering vision for digital gazetteers, based on a deep understanding of how to link maps with searchable databases working on text. This has changed the way in which national and international libraries think about their geographical resources and prompted them to reconsider how geographical content within their collections can be discovered and searched. For example, Southall’s GBHGIS and ‘Vision of Britain’ projects (R1) made information on changes to administrative boundaries available in an accessible form as GIS Shape files (see Vision of Britain Data Access ) to the National Library of Scotland (NLS). The NLS is one of Europe’s major research libraries and holds one of the largest map libraries in the world. Access to this boundary data enabled the NLS to create a map of the boundaries of parishes, counties and unitary authorities in Scotland. Launched in December 2017, the NLS Boundaries Viewer has seen over 63,000 page views, with users on average spending 2 minutes, 19 seconds on the site. Similarly, in April 2018, the NLS used ‘GB1900’ data to create a searchable place-name index, maps.nls.uk/geo/find, for its online map collection that improved the indexing and retrieval of NLS maps by allowing people to search for historic names, gathered on maps from a century ago. ‘ For many of our users, this is a huge step forward, unlocking some of the rich content of our scanned historical maps, as the names on them often do not appear in standard modern gazetteers’ (S1). The ‘GB1900’ gazetteer is also available in NLS’s Explore Georeferenced Maps Viewer , which receives over 3.2 million page views per year, with users on average spending 4 minutes, 12 seconds on the site. ‘ These innovations have improved indexing and retrieval of NLS resources and enabled the NLS to expand the services it offers its users. These have raised the reputation and visibility of our Library and online maps, and allowed us to reach new communities and audiences’ (S1).

The Old Maps Online (OMO) project, led by Southall (G2, R6), created the broadest single virtual collection of historical maps in the world ( http://www.oldmapsonline.org/ ). This included contributions from 20 national and international libraries, including the British Library, the National Library of Wales, the NLS, the Dutch National Archives, the Moravian Library in the Czech Republic, the Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia in Bogota, the David Rumsey Collection in California, Harvard University and the New York Public Library. Using metadata in a prescribed format, OMO enables people to find a map of a specific location in a collection, without having to search for an individual map sheet by name or to know which library held the map and go to their website/database to find it. OMO, therefore, provided a simple and intuitive way for thousands of people to access old maps and map collections, whilst allowing map libraries to retain control of their collections and the way in which maps are viewed, accessed, copied etc. In doing so, it has supported national and international libraries to improve access to their unique collections, services and expertise. In 2020, the NLS received 11,868 direct referrals (5.86% of their user acquisitions) from Old Maps Online ( S1).

Engagement with public – enhanced cultural understanding

The ‘GB1900’ project ( R4, R5) pioneered the geographical application of ‘citizen science’, working with volunteer transcribers. Between September 2016 and January 2018, ‘GB1900’ recruited over 1,000 online volunteers, and the ten most active volunteers each worked the equivalent of six full-time months. An evaluation of ‘GB1900’ volunteer motivations identified that, unlike volunteers in physical science ‘citizen science’ projects, motivation was linked to personal interest in the maps, in places that held meaning for them, and in how places had changed ( S2). In particular, the names of places unlocked the social and linguistic history of the land, recalling local industries, changed landscapes and preserving a rich heritage of Welsh- and Gaelic-language forms from across Wales and Scotland. Volunteers tended to start transcribing in places that were known to them, but then moved to other areas, deriving great pleasure from learning about new areas and about cultural aspects that they were previously unaware of. For example, volunteers reported: ‘ As soon as we started working in Scotland, I became fascinated about how many things there were to do with water supply... and how much industry across the central belt had died off already by the late 1890s. It was extraordinarily interesting to uncover that’ (Volunteer 7734); ‘ I found the link between Welsh and Gaelic interesting. I didn’t realise there was so much overlap’ (Volunteer 7725); and ‘ You don’t know what you’re going to come across next, an interesting place or an historic aspect… so many trains, even under construction, but no airfields. I was constantly amazed… I think I have had a blinkered past where history is concerned…’ (Volunteer 8094) ( S3). Since its launch in June 2018, there have been a total of 1,044 data downloads from the ‘GB1900’ site by people with a wide variety of interests. These include: for personal research by local history organisations or individuals interested in their family history (56%); for academic or professional research (31%); and downloads from individuals working in libraries, archives and across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Preservation of culture, history and rights connected to place

1. Preserving Welsh Historic Place Names

In October 2013, a consortium of Welsh agencies, the People’s Collection of Wales, University of Wales’ Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies, National Library of Wales and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), together with the citizen science platform, Zooniverse, launched ‘ Cymru1900’. Between 2013 and 2015, using historical Ordnance Survey maps of Wales, online volunteers recorded and geo-located over 294,000 transcriptions of text, i.e. the names of towns, villages, woods, farms, rivers and dwellings. In 2015 and led by Southall, ‘Cymru 1900’ was scaled up into ‘GB1900’: higher quality map scans and an enhanced interface enabled volunteers to verify place names, and to identify and include additional Welsh place names ( R4, S4). Recognising the importance of historic place names to the history and culture of Wales, the Welsh Government included a provision for a statutory list of historic place names in the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016. In May 2017, the RCAHMW created the List of Historic Place Names of Wales : this contains 675,000 names of which 43% were contributed by ‘Cymru1900’ and ‘GB1900’. This List has:

• raised public awareness of the rich legacy of historic place in Wales: in one month alone (September 2019), 5,450 public users conducted 6,642 sessions on the website (S5);

• informed decisions on the management of the historic environment. Incorporation of the List into the 2016 Act mandated that local authority Planning and Street Naming and Numbering departments must use the List to review development proposals and recommend the use of Welsh names on properties and streets. Local Councils have readily complied (see, for example, instructions on property naming by Ceredigion , Powys and Gwynedd Councils) and Ceredigion Council specifically encourages homeowners applying to rename properties to retain historical Welsh names, even if the new suggested name is also in Welsh.

1. Extending Britain’s footpath network

Walking is the most popular recreational activity in the UK, with over 20 million adults in England walking for leisure each year ( Sport England, October 2020). Such mass activity is only possible through an extensive network of rights of way across the country. In 2000, the UK government set a deadline of 1 January 2026 for all historic paths to be registered for inclusion on official maps; non-registration will mean that the rights of way will be lost forever. Southall recognised the value of the ‘GB1900’ data in this context, based as it is on computerised, historical maps of England and Wales and including over 300,000 footpath (F.P.) and 15,000 bridle road (B.R.) markers, and contacted the Ramblers Association (RA) in 2018. Southall provided the RA with access to the ‘GB1900’ data, as well as his experience of running a crowd-sourced mapping activity. The RA launched a ‘citizen geography’ campaign, ‘ Don’t Lose Your Way’ (DLYW) in January 2020. DLYW used an online platform that combined the ‘GB1900’ data, historical maps of England and Wales from the NLS, and current Ordnance Survey maps. Members of the RA and the public were asked to compare the historic and modern maps, paying particular attention to F.P. and B.R. markers from the ‘GB1900’ data, and to use these abbreviations to build a more detailed vector layer, showing the actual routes of the footpaths and identifying paths that were missing from the modern rights of way network.

The DLYW campaign was launched in February 2020 and attracted 260 pieces of press coverage, with a total circulation of 52,641,646, and over 2,000,000 impressions on social media. It was covered by national newspapers (Daily Mail, Times, Guardian), magazines (Country Living, Waitrose) and TV and Radio (BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Radio 4), supported by the National Trust and Cycling UK and endorsed by high profile environmental campaigners, such as Chris Packham, CBE. Over a 6-week period, a total of 154,298 1km² squares of England and Wales were reviewed (each square reviewed twice) by 3,447 volunteers. ‘This (response)... has shown us that this issue isn’t just of interest to Ramblers members, it inspires people far more widely. It’s about becoming a detective, delving into history to reclaim a right of way and safeguard it for generations’ (DLYW Programme Manager, S6). As well as being individually useful as evidence of an historic right of way, the F.P. and B.R. markers from ‘GB1900’ helped to identify areas where previous path registration was particularly inadequate, enabling the DLYW project to better target resources for further investigation.

As a result of DLYW, more than 49,000 miles of potentially missing rights of way have been identified, nearly five times the original estimate. According to the DLYW Programme Manager, ‘The F.P. and B.R. markers from the GB1900 project were a central element of our criteria for identifying potential lost rights of way and, without them, I am sure we would have overlooked many of these lost paths’ ( S7). Further work is now underway to collate documentary evidence of these missing rights of way and to lodge applications with local authorities. If reinstated, these will increase the path network in England and Wales by 30%.