Research Blog : maps, evansville

1888 Bird's Eye View of Evansville

just_renny@evpl — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:18:00 GMT

To help celebrate the Bicentennial of Evansville and Historic Preservation Month, EVPL has enlarged an 1888 Bird's Eye View map of Evansville! The map is 10 feet by 15 feet, so you can see a lot of detail. It is located at Central on the 2nd Floor just outside the Indiana Room. Be sure to sign the guest book and share what you like about Evansville! Dennis Au, Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Evansville will be leading a "walking" tour of the map pointing out key features while giving some history of Evansville in 1888. His tour starts at 6:30 on May 31st.

The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Known also as bird's-eye views, they are nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle. Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective. Preparation of panoramic maps involved a vast amount of painstakingly detailed labor. For each project a frame or projection was developed, showing in perspective the pattern of streets. An artist then walked in the street, sketching buildings, trees, and other features to present a complete and accurate landscape as though seen from an elevation of 2,000 to 3,000 feet.

Check out the Library of Congress American Memory Map Collection for other types of maps and another Bird's Eye Views of Evansville.

We also have several other programs planned as part of the Bicentennial and Historic Preservation Month. Be sure to mark you calendars for Do You Know Your Local History on June 5th at 6:30 in the Browning Room B and come by and check out Home Movies of the Great Flood of 1937, narrated by Dr. Robert Reid on June 7th at 6:30 in Browning Room B.

Let's get Evansville on the (Google) map!

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:31:00 GMT

Evansville is one of 6 international finalists in Google's 2012 "Model Your Town Competition."

Evansville native Randall Crane created a 3D model of Evansville's downtown using Google SketchUp and Google Earth. Google selected Randall's model as one of 6 finalists from a pool of 200+ entries submitted worldwide.

It's now a popularity contest, with the public being able to vote for their favorite. The winner will receive a $25,000 prize for local schools from Google, Inc. The deadline for voting is May 1st, so let's get those votes in!

How to Vote

Go to http://www.google.com/intl/en/sketchup/competitions/modelyourtown/vote.html.
Select Evansville.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page & click the "Vote for this town" button.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

More Info

Google Earth: Tour the model yourself! Requires the Google Earth program.
Evansville one of six finalists in Google's 3D Initiative: Evansville Courier & Press article.

Indiana Memory

lotech@evpl — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:42:00 GMT

Many books, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, and maps have and are being digitized to make them viewable online on the relatively new website, Indiana Memory, http://www.in.gov/memories. You can search by broad topic or by keyword. The Indiana State Library coordinates this project, but the items are from library collections all over the state. This is Indiana's version of the on-going project of the Library of Congress, American Memory, http://memory.loc.gov.