Interactive Nolli Map Website of Rome
The goal of this project is to revitalize, preserve, and assure universal open access to the Interactive Nolli Map Website, a pioneering but nearly 15-year-old website that is reaching its end of life.
The “Nolli Map”—a highly accurate ichnographic plan (as opposed to a bird’s eye perspective typical of earlier representations)— was a milestone in the art and science of cartography, and a touchstone for Roman and urban studies and a prototype for the study of spatial history. Today, advances in geospatial web technology bring new opportunities to reinvigorate this important resource. We are developing a new site that features a redesigned user interface and interactive map consistent with current web design, coding, and accessibility standards. We are transforming the graphical presentation of the map into a geospatial web app, allowing us to overlay a trove of already georeferenced data spanning from antiquity to modern days. Included in this is a renewed effort to digitize the outlines of some 1320 historic building plans, develop richer metadata records, and link them to open data authorities.
The Interactive Nolli Map Website of Rome is affiliated with the Spatial History Project.