On 10 March 2010 22:15, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
This is an "Ask Slashdot" on how to digitise large, fragile old maps that are too fragile to just put on a scanner:
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/10/03/10/2041245/Digitizing-and-Geocoding-Old-...
Anyone want to go there and help?
How would you approach this problem? Say you've gotten your hands on a serious ancient map collection and want to scan them and put them on Commons before they turn into dust.
While very large flatbed scanners do exist the only way to do it with a reasonable budget is to place on a flat surface and photograph straight down. Getting the lighting right is an absolute pain though. That can be kept good enough for rough and ready results by moving the camera further back and relying on distance to diffuse the flash. Alternatively long exposure times and rely on natural light. Post processing can help a lot with B&W maps. Colour would present a major challenge.
Heh problem those on a budget are more likely to face is how to do this with maps in a library where tripods and the like are unlikely to be an option.