{"id":1814568,"date":"2023-05-19T08:04:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T12:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1814568"},"modified":"2023-05-19T08:04:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T12:04:24","slug":"geotiffs-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/05\/geotiffs-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"GeoTIFFs Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Neueste<\/a>
Neueste General- Post- und Strassen Karte der Oesterreichischen Monarchie<\/em>, 1854. Map, hand-coloured, 71 \u00d7 104 cm. Library of Congress.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The blog of the Library of Congress\u2019s Geography and Maps Division isn\u2019t the first place you\u2019d expect an explanation of the GeoTIFF<\/a> format (basically, an image file in TIFF<\/a> format that includes georeferencing metadata, so that the image can be projected on a map grid). But georeferencing old maps so that they can be placed on a modern map grid is definitely a thing, and Carissa Pastuch\u2019s piece, \u201cThe Secret Life of GeoTIFFs<\/a>,\u201d looks at GeoTIFFs through the lens of an experimental dataset of georeferenced late 19th- and early 20th-century Austro-Hungarian maps<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The blog of the Library of Congress\u2019s Geography and Maps Division isn\u2019t the first place you\u2019d expect an explanation of the GeoTIFF format (basically, an image file in TIFF format that includes georeferencing metadata, so… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[922,1598,1619,59],"class_list":["post-1814568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-antique-maps","tag-austria-hungary","tag-georeferencing","tag-geotiff","tag-loc","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1810752,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/12\/georeferencing-familiar-places\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814568,"position":0},"title":"Georeferencing Familiar Places","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 December 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"On the Leventhal Map Center\u2019s website, Ezra Acevedo describes what it\u2019s like to georeference a century-old atlas of your hometown.\u00a0\u201cSpending many hours poring over maps of such a well known place was really exciting. My knowledge of the town coupled with its resistance to change meant that the historic maps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1814571,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/05\/leventhals-urban-atlas-explorer-atlascope-is-expanding-seeking-sponsors\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814568,"position":1},"title":"Leventhal’s Urban Atlas Explorer Atlascope Is Expanding, Seeking Sponsors","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 May 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Speaking of georeferencing old maps, the Leventhal Map Center at Boston Public Library has a collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century urban atlases. Their Atlascope platform presents 101 of them in a web interface overlaid on a modern street map. The Leventhal is now looking to expand Atlascope\u2019s coverage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A screenshot of the Leventhal Map Center's Atlascope platform, which presents late 19th- and early 20th-century urban atlases in a web interface overlaid on a modern street map.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/atlascope-screencap-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/atlascope-screencap-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/atlascope-screencap-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/atlascope-screencap-1024x576.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1843344,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/06\/allmaps-loses-digital-humanities-grant\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814568,"position":2},"title":"Allmaps Loses Digital Humanities Grant","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 June 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"The Leventhal Center has posted a statement on the future of the Allmaps project\u2014Allmaps is a georeferencing tool for digital images\u2014now that its Digital Humanities Advancement Grant from the NEH has been terminated, like so many other NEH grants. \u201cAlthough we\u2019re disappointed that the U.S. government is backing away from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2709,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/08\/a-problem-with-population-density-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814568,"position":3},"title":"A Problem with Population Density Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"29 August 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Reddit user joostjakob posted the above map to MapPorn with the\u00a0following caption: \"Why population density maps are hard to read: exactly the same amount of people live in the black and in the blue areas.\" [Maps on the Web]","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"euro-pop-density","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/euro-pop-density.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/euro-pop-density.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/euro-pop-density.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1790935,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/05\/a-guide-to-the-library-of-congresss-collection-of-fire-insurance-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814568,"position":4},"title":"A Guide to the Library of Congress’s Collection of Fire Insurance Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 May 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Fire insurance maps are an invaluable tool for history research: they give a detailed snapshot of a city\u2019s built environment at a given point in time. And they were made for just about every city, town and village. The Library of Congress has 50,000 fire insurance maps (700,000 individual sheets)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788848,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/05\/maps-of-antarctica-at-the-british-library\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814568,"position":5},"title":"Maps of Antarctica at the British Library","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 May 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Two recent posts at the British Library\u2019s Maps and Views Blog provide \u201ca whistle-stop tour through maps held in the British Library that chart Antarctica\u2019s gradual emergence from obscurity into light.\u201d The first covers maps of Antarctica through the nineteenth century, when the continent went from unknown to unexplored; the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/bl-antarctica-150x134.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1814568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1814570,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814568\/revisions\/1814570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1814568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1814568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1814568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}