In the interest of digitally preserving invaluable historical data for Prince William County’s Historic Preservation Division, WSSI researched and executed the project as a deliverable for the County GIS system. It is now available as a detailed, high-quality layer that illustrates how the County landscape has changed over time.
The Challenge
Digitize, restore, and georeference 1937 aerial images in poor condition for all 348 square miles of Prince William County, Virginia, to create a comprehensive historic data set to support cultural resources investigations and support understanding of changing natural resource in the landscape over time.
Our Solution
We began with 100 hard copy prints in disrepair in their four volumes bound in 1939. The images were in poor physical condition and could have been damaged during the data collection process, so WSSI contracted professional archivist services for unbinding, restoration, and – after WSSI digitization – rebinding the volumes.
We then worked with each of the 100 digital files, correcting any remaining damage and georeferencing them all in ArcMap using available data as control points, including historic USGS quads, current aerial imagery, as well as Prince William County planimetric GIS data. WSSI staff processed each file in ArcCatalog to create a Raster Catalog where the individual aerial images were grouped together into one seamless TIFF image file for all of Prince William County.
The County has this information available online in their public GIS platform: https://gisweb.pwcva.gov/webapps/countymapper/
Project Facts
- Owner
Prince William County - Location
Prince William County, Virginia - Size
348 square miles