Web Services and Historical Cadastral Maps: the first Step in the Implementation of the Web C.A.R.T.E. System

Abstract

The State Archive of Como in Northern Italy has begun a process of digitization of its map heritage, with the support of interested municipalities. In its archive approximately 15000 historical cadastral maps of Como province are preserved: the Theresian cadastral maps (1718-1722), the “Lombardo-Veneto” ones (1854-1858), the “updates” (1898) and for some locations the maps of 1905. Besides their artistic value, those maps describe with great accuracy the status of the territory and therefore they are a valuable tool for scholars and professionals working on this area.

Italian reference system and warped to make them overlap as much as possible the recent maps (used as references). In the paper some methods to fulfil this task are discussed, describing all the related problems and the solution proposed. Maps must also be accompanied by metadata, conformed with the Italian standard; in the project metadata are managed by a Web Catalogue Service and therefore they are searchable on the Internet. Simultaneously in recent years Internet GIS tools, for instance Web Mapping Services, have been developed to serve distributed maps and geographic information. In the prototype of the system, named Web C.A.R.T.E. (Catalogo e Archivio delle Rappresentazioni del Territorio e delle sue Evoluzioni) and presented in the paper, such a kind of solution is proposed: the publication interface uses a map server and an ad hoc client that allows users to quickly and easily interact with the maps.