ABOUT SCANNING & METADATA STANDARDS

William (Bill) Miller & Michael HowserUniversity of Connecticut Libraries

Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC

OUTLINE

• Introduction

• Scanning: A Holistic View

• Project Planning

•Metadata: A Three-fold approach

• Providing Access

WHAT IS MAGIC?

• University of Connecticut Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC

• 200,000+ maps, aerial photos, and atlases

• Focus on providing public access to maps and geographic information for Connecticut and surrounding region

2009

magic.lib.uconn.edu

MAGIC STAFF•William (Bill) Miller – Map Library Manager

• Michael Howser – Undergraduate Education & GIS Librarian

• George Bentley – Map Digitization

• Curtis Denton – Map Digitization

• Jeffrey Dunn – Aerial Imagery & Education

• Cary Lynch – NEH Digital Project Manager

• Joshua Strunk – Metadata Specialist

SCANNINGA Holistic Approach

COPYRIGHT & SCANNING

• Key things to consider :

• Government Agency vs Private Company

• Pre-1924 materials

• Copy or original

• Cartographer and Publisher

• Year of material

RESEARCH... THIS COULD TAKE AWHILE

•May need to contact libraries, publishers...

• Look for atlases, books and supporting materials

• Verify if an item has been scanned - Google Books, Internet Archive, OAIster, Google, David Rumsey, Flickr, Local Libraries

• Explore the drawers - could be part of a series

OAISTER

oaister.worldcat.org

GOOGLE BOOKS

DAVID RUMSEY?

davidrumsey.com

WHAT DOES RUMSEY OFFER?

• High quality historical maps

• Includes Metadata

• International Collection

•Downloadable images - in SID format

INTERNET ARCHIVE

archive.org

WHY INTERNET ARCHIVE?

• Atlases!

• Books which relate to maps

• Free, downloadable content

• Higher quality than Google Books - especially for maps!

READY TO SCAN?

WORKSPACE

• Create workspace with:

• space to spread out maps (may need to flatten)

• dim lighting (for flatbed scanning)

• some humidity - will help avoid damage to materials

• good ventilation - some maps may have an “aroma”

SCANNING EQUIPMENT

• Select the right equipment for the task

• Flatbed

• Large format continuous feed

•Overhead photography

FLATBED SCANNER

LARGE FORMAT SCANNER

OVERHEAD SCANNING

SOFTWARE

VUESCAN

http://www.hamrick.com/

WHY VUESCAN?

•Multiple scanners with one interface!

• Low-cost $79.95 (professional)

•Multiple export options - TIFF, RAW, PDF, JPEG....

•Mac & PC compatiable

EDITING SOFTWARE

• Gimp - Open Source image editing software

• Adobe Fireworks - basic editing & batch processing

• Adobe Photoshop - for advanced editing & batch processing

HARDWARE

WORKSTATION SETUP

• 4GB RAM or more

• 512MB video card (dedicated) minimum

• Consider dual screens (2 - 19” monitors)

• Hard drive space - minimum 320GB

STORAGE

• Short Term

• 1-3 days - local computer hard drive

• Long Term

•Networked, backed up storage solution

• Able to grow with your digitization storage needs

• Backup to remote location (tape or mirrored)

STORAGE CONCERNS

• Bit rot!

•DVDs, CDs, digital files all potential victims

• Important to have back-ups

•Migrate data to verify

• Think you don’t have this? Chances are you do or will soon!

LET’S DISCUSS YOUR DIGITIZATION SETUP

IMAGE FORMATS

FORMATS - TIFF

• Lossless (uncompressed)

• Readable in Photoshop and most image editing programs

• Enables Exif data storage

• Gold standard for archival master copies

• GeoTIFF includes geo-location data

FORMATS - JPEG2000

• Lossy and Lossless file format (depending on settings)

•New standard for JPEG images - preserves color varations

• Reduced file size

• Requires Adobe Photoshop and other image software to view

• Exif data supported

FORMATS - PNG

• Improves upon and replaces GIF format

• Supports transparency

• Lossless image format

•Does not support Exif data

• Good for derivatives, not for archival masters

FORMATS - PDF

• Lossy or lossless format (depending on settings)

• Includes GeoPDF option - includes coordinate data

• Can include multiple layers

•Optimized for vector data (text)

• Good for deliverables depending on setting

LET’S DISCUSS YOUR DIGITIZATION SETTINGS

PROJECT PLANNING

PLANNING THE PROJECT

•Material Selection

•What area(s) are the focus?

• High Use Items?

• Potential High Use Items?

•Digitize to Preserve?

• Equipment & Costs

• Student labor?

• Scanning equipment

• Storage?

• Timeline?

• Funding Options?

USAGE

• Use Google Analytics to determine frequently searched for items

•What are users asking for most frequently?

• Are there unique items you want to showcase?

•Digitization can lead to increased usage and help preserve the original

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

USER INPUT

• Survey to find out what users want to see

• Provide a series of options - help prioritize

• Colorful maps will likely generate more interest initially

• Think about themes... transportation, census, topographic...

COLLABORATIVE DIGITIZATION

• Share scanners

•Divide and conquer faster!

• Avoid gaps in the collection

• Share archival maters

LET’S DISCUSS PROJECT IDEAS

METADATA

WHY?

•Data about data to help others understand the map, dataset or resource

• Creates a “digital history” for the dataset

• Enables Web 3.0?

THOUGHTS?

METADATA - OPTIONS

•MARC Records - traditional option for maps, integral part of library catalogs

• FGDC Metadata - includes details on data attributes, data creation notes, and in-depth details

• Exif data - available for some image formats (TIFF, JPEG, JPEG 2000)

MARC RECORDS

MARC - PROS AND CONS

• Essential for library catalog

• Enables bounding box data to be added

• Can be migrated to other formats (XML)

• Flexible - multiple subjects, coordinates, and other location related data options.

• Good place to start!

MARC TO XML

http://www.lib.umn.edu/apps/maphappy/

FGDC METADATA

• Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) guidelines for metadata creation

• FGDC Quick Guide (9 pages) includes key elements

• Provides flexibility for creating metadata for datasets, aerial photos, satellite images and more

• Use others examples to guide development

FGDC METADATA TOOLS

• ArcCatalog is the preferred FGDC metadata creator for GIS professionals

• Becomes part of the “workflow” and establishes good practices

LIVE DEMO - ARCCATALOG 9.3

EXIF DATA

WHY EXIF DATA

• Enables you to embed:

• Author

• Usage restrictions

•Notes

•Date

• Add location data

• Editing options

• Adobe Photoshop

• Some open source solutions

• Can be batch processed

EXIF DATA LIVE DEMO

WHAT ARE YOUR METADATA NEEDS?

PROVIDING ACCESS

CONTENT DM MODEL

CONTENT DM PROS & CONS

• Are you using Content DM?

• Likes/Dislikes

•Map limitations?

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

DAVID RUMSEY MODEL

http://www.davidrumsey.com/

MAGIC’S HYBRID MODEL

http://magic.lib.uconn.edu

FLICKR FOR MAPS?

• $24.95 / year for unlimited space (20 MB per file or less)

• Includes creative commons licensing options

•Metadata can be added

• Usage Statistics per item & per 28 days

• Excellent “Discovery” tool

• Can enable download of maps

FLICKR

RETHINK COPYRIGHT

http://creativecommons.org/

ACCESS OPTIONS?

• How are you providing access now?

•What are the limitations?

•What would you like to enable your users to do?

LET’S PLAN A PROJECT

QUESTIONS?

THANKS!

• Contact us at:

•magic@uconn.edu

•William (Bill) Miller

•Michael Howser

Interested in Collaborating on a Digitization Project? Contact us