On 9/23/06, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
Some dedicated fools, I expect.
Microfilm scanning should be easy but I can't even figure out where to get the kit.
There *must* be efforts to this end.
A complete scan of maps around 1900 exists but the people who did it claim copyright and they do it in a way that that would probably hold up even if there was a Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp equiverlent in the UK. They base their claim on cropping and swiching over to modern grid references.
The people who are trying to create maps from GPS didn't get very far.
If not, it'd be an ideal project for Wikimedia UK to look at when it's operational.
The main problem is cost and amount of material. Remember OS has maps of up to 25 inches to the mile. and maps dateing back to 1801
The other is cost. The type of scanners required are not cheap. Somewhere in the £10,000s of thousands.
Geographicaly it might be worth seeing if southampton or solent university had one we could use but it gets somewhat complex.