GIS and Predictive Modeling: Identifying North Carolina s Historic Archaeological Resources

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1 Environmental Services, Inc. GAI Consultants, Inc. GIS and Predictive Modeling: Identifying North Carolina s Historic Archaeological Resources Ben Resnick (GAI) and Scott Seibel (ESI)

2 Historic Archaeological Predictive Models GIS Applications Generally Model Prehistoric Site Locations GIS and Historical Archaeology Display of Cartographic Data Post-Survey Site Classification Data Analysis Model of Historic Archaeological Sensitivity Determine potential impacts to historic cultural resources Section 4(f) Resources Enhances Effectiveness of Overall Model 2

3 Project Sources OSA Database (26,010 archaeological sites) Statewide Historic Archaeological Sites (n=6,513/3084 multi-component) 7-County Project Area Historic Archaeological Sites (n=1,334/576 multi-component) Historic Maps County, Statewide Roads, Railroads, Buildings, Taverns, Stores, Mills, Etc. Future Sources Division of Historical Records (DHR) Surveyed Architectural Resources (n=50,000+ buildings, districts) 2,100+ buildings and districts listed in National Register of Historic Places 3

4 Historic Maps Historic Map Review NC State Library and Archives OSA, Library of Congress, UNC North Carolina Collection, Old Salem 7 Counties 4

5 USGS and Historic Map Scanning Xerox color scanner--200 dpi Scanner at OSA Nov Real time quality control 5

6 Number of Historic Maps Scanned 298 County Historic Maps (386 scans) 69 Statewide Historic (113 scans) 2 Old Salem Maps (2 scans) minute USGS Quad Maps (52 scans) TOTAL: 421 Historic Maps (553 scans) 7 County Project Area SCANNED HISTORIC MAPS FOR ALL 100 NORTH CAROLINA COUNTIES 6

7 1733 Moseley Map of North Carolina 7

8 1775 Mouzon Map of North and South Carolina 8

9 1795 Lewis Map of North Carolina 9

10 1870 Ramsey Map of Chatham County 10

11 1878 Nichols and Gorman Map of Wake County 11

12 1879 Dumont Map of Mecklenburg County 12

13 Criteria for Selection of Historic Maps (Digitizing) Coverage of 7-County Project Area Representative of land-use/time period Utility for Modeling Scale Legibility Type/Number of Features Potentially Useful County Maps ( ) N=26 Potentially Useful Statewide Maps ( ) N=18 13

14 Historic Maps Selected for Digitizing COUNTY CABARRUS CHATHAM FORSYTH GRANVILLE GUILFORD RANDOLPH WAKE YEAR County Maps MAP 1910 Soil Map 1933 Soil Map 1913 Soil Map 1880 County Map; 1910 Soil Map 1920 Soil Map 1913 Soil Map 1878 County Map; 1914 Soil Map State Maps MAP BRAZIER MAP OF NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD MAP OF NORTH CAROLINA 14

15 20 th Century County Soils Maps GIS Data Towns Buildings Churches Schools Roads Railroads 1910 Soil Map of Cabarrus County 15

16 Statewide Maps GIS Data Towns Roads Ferries Mills Churches Bridges Railroads 1833 Brazier Map of North Carolina 16

17 Examples of Land Use Types/Features Military LAND USE CATEGORY Agriculture Religious Commercial Residential Resident/Commercial Transportation Industrial Institutional/Civic Manufacturing Native American Tavern, Inns, Stores, Hotels, Other Battles, Engagements, Earthworks, Reservations, Other House, Other HISTORIC FEATURES Farm, Farmstead, Barn, Outbuildings, Other Church, Cemetery/Graveyard, Rectory, Other Village, Town, Crossroad Communities, Other Trails, Roads, Bridges, Tunnels, RR, Ferries, Canals, Other Mills, Manufacturing Plants, Mines, Quarries, Other Group Home, Community Center, Meeting Hall, School/Campus, Library, CCC/YCC Camps, Other Potteries, Furniture Mfg., Other Small-Scale Industry, Other Indian Lands, Settlements, Trails, Other 17

18 DIGITIZED HISTORIC MAPS Digitized County Maps COUNTY CABARRUS CHATHAM FORSYTH GRANVILLE GUILFORD RANDOLPH WAKE MAP 1910 Soil Map 1933 Soil Map 1913 Soil Map 1880 County Map; 1910 Soil Map 1920 Soil Map 1913 Soil Map 1878 County Map; 1914 Soil Map YEAR Digitized State Maps MAP BRAZIER MAP OF NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD MAP OF NORTH CAROLINA 18

19 Georeferencing and Feature Extraction of Historic Maps Digital Georeferencing Manual Transcription Digitization/Feature Extraction 19

20 Digital Georeferencing Historic Maps were Georeferenced to Modern Digitial 1:24,000 USGS Maps Features used to correlate Historic Maps to Modern Maps were: Corners of County Boundaries Crossings of County Boundaries by Railroads Road and Streams (Used only once) The Digital Georeferencing process was only partially successful. Need for better accuracy led to the Manual Transcription process. 20

21 Example of Map Click Section to edit with Master Low Error title style Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level» Fifth level 21

22 Example of Map Section Click with to edit High Master Error title style Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level» Fifth level 22

23 Manual Transcription Click to edit Master title style Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level» Fifth level 23

24 Manual Transcription for 20 th Century Soils Maps Process utilized Georeferenced Soils Maps printed at 1:24,000 scale, semi-transparent USGS Quad Maps, and a light table. Basically a form of tracing, whereby the transcriber aligned the Quad Map over a small section of the Soils Map, identified common points, and traced the historic features onto the modern map. An effort was made to not force features (especially roads) on the Soils Maps to conform to those on the Quad Maps. However, it was often obvious that a modern road was merely a paved version of the historic road. 24

25 Manual Transcription Click to Feature edit Master Keytitle style Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level» Fifth level Main Feature Types: Road Building Church Mill/Plant School Railroad 25

26 20 th Century Soil Map and Manually Transcribed USGS Map

27 19 th Century County and Statewide Maps The Digital Georeferencing process was much more unsuccessful for the 19 th Century County and Statewide maps. We developed a Manual Transcription process similar to that for the 20 th Century Soils Maps, but using them (and not the modern USGS maps) as a baseline for the locations of roads. The working assumption was that the Early 20 th Century road system is an artifact of the 19 th Century road system). 27

28 After a Quality Review of the transcribed maps, the maps were scanned and all features onscreen digitized and attributed into ArcGIS. A final Quality Review of the digitized features completed the process. Digitization and Feature Extraction 28

29 Digitized Features from Click 1833 to MacRae-Brazier edit Master title style Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level» Fifth level 29

30 Digitized Features from Click 1878 to Wake edit Master County title Map style Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level» Fifth level 30

31 Digitized Features from Click 1914 to Wake edit Master Co. Soils title Map style Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level» Fifth level 31

32 Lake Wheeler USGS Click (1993) to with edit Master 1914 Features title style Click to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level» Fifth level 32

33 Conclusions Results: Scanned 421 Historic Maps Digitized 20 th Century Soils Maps (7), 19 th Century County Maps (2), and Statewide Maps (2) Benefits: Digital data for preparation of historic predictive model. Front-loading of impacts analysis for NCDOT. Creation of digital archive for research. 33

ACTON COMMUNITY WIDE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY. Town of Acton and PAL, Inc.

ACTON COMMUNITY WIDE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY Town of Acton and PAL, Inc. Objectives and Scope of Work Four phase study; (1. research, 2. draft report outline, resource protection bylaw, 3.