[Mapserver-users] new site: Historical Atlas of Amsterdam

[Jan Hartmann]

Hello list,

I am happy to announce the preliminary version of the

"Historical Atlas of Amsterdam"

at:

http://mapserver.sara.nl/atlas_amsterdam


(SARA is the computing center of the University of Amsterdam)

The atlas shows eighteen historical maps of Amsterdam from 1544 to 2003, 
referenced to the present-day national coordinate system. The scans are 
very detailed; when you zoom in very deeply, especially on the older 
maps, you can see how wonderful they are as works of cartography. When 
you pan around a bit, they really give the impression of flying very low 
over the city. If you are on a fast connection, you should certainly try 
this with a maximized map window.

The site is meant as a test-bed for the user interface I presented at 
the MUM. It shows:

- A menu based user interface
- Movable and resizable map windows with independent zoom and
   pan for each map
- A resizable and zoomable picture window, showing
   some eighty  pictures with their location in the adjacent map window
- Transparent overlaying with the base maps from 1832 and 2000
- A zoomable reference map
- A street clickable register
- Legends for every map that can be turned on and off
- A menu based help system

It's all very new, both the web-cartography and the user interface, so I 
don't expect everything to run smoothly at once. Also, in my experience, 
people need some time to get skilful with the user interface: you can do 
a lot with it, but it takes some learning. If things don't run as 
expected, please let me know.


Thanks to the Amsterdam Municipal Archive, SARA computing center, and, 
above all, to all who developed and supported MapServer.


Jan