Promoting the heritage of the city of San Cristobal de La Laguna through a temporal link with a 16th century map

  1. Pérez Nava, Fernando 1
  2. Sánchez Berriel, Isabel 1
  3. Pérez Nava, Alejandro 1
  4. Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Virginia 1
  5. Pérez Morera, Jesús 1
  1. 1 Universidad de La Laguna
    info

    Universidad de La Laguna

    San Cristobal de La Laguna, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01r9z8p25

Journal:
Virtual Archaeology Review

ISSN: 1989-9947

Year of publication: 2022

Volume: 13

Issue: 26

Pages: 62-75

Type: Article

DOI: 10.4995/VAR.2022.15322 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Virtual Archaeology Review

Sustainable development goals

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in the conservation of historical cities since they provide a link to the roots of their communities and bring cultural and economic benefits to their inhabitants. In this paper, we present an approach to promote the knowledge of the UNESCO World Heritage city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Islands, Spain. The city was founded in 1496 and has a unique value due to its urban design. In this work, we present a web application that allows a user to locate places and addresses of the current city in its first known map authored by Leonardo Torriani in the 16th century. To build this application we have georeferenced the ancient map in the current cartography. The georeferencing process needs the identification of homologous ground control points in the coordinate systems of both the old map and the current cartography, and the definition of a transform between them. Best results were obtained with the non-parametric natural transform interpolation leading to a global mean error of 4.9 m that reduces to 3.2 m in the historical city centre. To provide a fast response to the user of the web application, a technique to precompute offline the natural transform is presented. The web application has a simple front-end where the user fills the current city address in a form. This activates a query to obtain the geographical coordinates of the address that are transformed to map coordinates using the pre-computed transformation. These map coordinates are used by a map viewer in the front end that locates the user address in the ancient map. To test the performance of the web application, the load of the system has been analysed obtaining a latency of 1.4 s in 50 concurrent users. Results show that the web application provides accurate results in the historical centre while providing satisfactory response times.Highlights:- This study investigates the issue of georeferencing the first historic map (16th century) of San Cristóbal de La Laguna and the possibility to geolocate current city addresses.- By using the natural interpolation method, the georeferencing errors were diminished below 4 m in most of the historic city.- A user-friendly web application has been designed which precisely locates current directions in the old map providing a valuable tool for the promotion of the heritage of the city.

€ View funding

Funding information

This work was supported by the Fundación Caja Canarias and Fundación Bancaria “La Caixa” under “Patrimonio Cultural en Canarias: del legado aborigen a la nueva sociedad canaria”

Funders

Bibliographic References

  • Alvares-Sanches, T., Osborne, P. E., James, P. A. B., & Bahaj, A. S. (2020). Tracking a city’s center of gravity over 500 years of growth from a time series of georectified historical maps. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 47(6), 524–536. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230406.2020.1774420
  • Aznar Vallejo, E. (2008). La época fundacional y su influjo en el patrimonio histórico de San Cristóbal de La Laguna. Patronato de la Casa de Colón. Retrieved from http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=2900633
  • Bachiller, Á., Soteres, C., Sánchez, J., Sánchez, A., Abad, P., Cano, G., Andrés, G., Ruiz, C., & López, E. (2020). Web Map Services publishing Ancient Maps. Merging past and new technologies. E-Perimetron, 15(3), 213–225. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_15_4/Bachiller_et_al.pdf
  • Baiocchi, V., & Lelo, K. (2005). Georeferencing the historical maps of Rome between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. CIPA 2005 XX International Symposium-International Cooperation to Save the World’s Cultural Heritage. Torino, 1, 114–118.
  • Balletti, C. (2006). Georeference in the analysis of the geometric content of early maps. E-Perimetron, 1(1), 32–39. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/vol_1_1/Balletti/Balletti.pdf
  • Bekele, M. K., Pierdicca, R., Frontoni, E., Malinverni, E. S., & Gain, J. (2018). A survey of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality for cultural heritage. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 11(2), 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1145/3145534
  • Bitelli, G., Cremonini, S., & Gatta, G. (2009). Ancient map comparisons and georeferencing techniques: A case study from the Po River Delta (Italy). E-Perimetron, 4(4), 221–233. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/vol_4_4/bitelli_cremonini_gatta.pdf
  • Bitelli, Gabriele, & Gatta, G. (2012). Georeferencing of an XVIII century technical map of Bologna (Italy). E-Perimetron, 7(4), 195–204. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/vol_7_4/bitelli_gatta.pdf
  • Bordoni, B. (1534). Isolario di Benedetto Bordone nel qual si ragiona di tuttel’Isole del mondo. per Nicolo d’Aristotile, detto Zoppino Zoppino, Niccolo Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliográfico. Retrieved from http://bvpb.mcu.es/i18n/catalogo_imagenes/imagen_id.cmd?idImagen=3948440
  • Bower, D. (2009). The accuracy of Robert Saxton’s survey and map of Manningham, dated 1613. The Cartographic Journal, 46(2), 115–125. https://doi.org/10.1179/000870409X459833
  • Buonora, P. (2009). Digitization, online utilization and preservation of cadastral very large format cartography. E-Perimetron, 4(3), 192–198. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/vol_4_3/buonora.pdf
  • Cabrera, M. L. (1987). La población de Tenerife en el siglo XVI. Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos, 1(33), 379–416. Retrieved from http://anuariosatlanticos.casadecolon.com/index.php/aea/article/view/534/534
  • Cajthaml, J. (2011). Methods of georeferencing old maps on the example of Czech early maps. In 25th International Cartographic Conference, (pp. 1–16). Paris, France.
  • Cajthaml, J, & Janata, T. (2017). Georeferencing of First Military Mapping survey maps in the area of Bohemia using polynomial method. E-Perimetron, 12, 181–188. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_12_4/Cajthaml_Janata.pdf
  • Cartociudad. (2021). Visor de Cartociudad. Retrieved March 02, 2021, from http://www.cartociudad.es/visor/
  • Cascón-Katchadourian, J., Ruiz-Rodríguez, A.-A., & Alberich-Pascual, J. (2018). Uses and applications of georeferencing and geolocation in old cartographic and photographic document management. El Profesional de la Información, 27(1), 202–212. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2018.ene.19
  • Cascón-Katchadourian, J.-D., Cascón-Katchadourian, J., López-Herrera, A.-G., Ruiz-Rodríguez, A.-Á., & Herrera-Viedma, E. (2019). Proyecto Histocarto: Aplicación de SIGs (georreferenciación y geolocalización) para mejorar la recuperación de la documentación histórica gráfica. El Profesional de la Información, 28(4), 4. https://doi.org/10.31229/osf.io/nzuqw
  • Catastro. (2021, May 28). Sede Electrónica del Catastro. Difusión de datos catastrales. https://www.sedecatastro.gob.es/Accesos/SECAccDescargaDatos.aspx
  • Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica. (2021, May 28). Centro de Descargas del CNIG (IGN). http://centrodedescargas.cnig.es
  • Dávila, F. J., & Camacho, E. (2012). Georreferenciación de documentos cartográficos para la gestión de archivos y cartotecas ‘Propuesta Metodológica’. Revista Catalana de Geografia, 17(46). Retrieved from https://www.raco.cat/index.php/RCG/article/view/284276
  • de Abreu de Galindo, J. (1977). Historia de la conquista de las siete islas de Canaria (A. Cioranescu, Ed.). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Goya Ediciones.
  • de la Beaujardiere, J. (2006). OpenGIS® Web Map Server Implementation Specification. Version 1.3.0. Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.25607/OBP-656
  • de Santa Cruz, A. (1560). Islario general de todas las islas del mundo [Manuscrito. Retrieved from http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000149359&page=1
  • Fernandes, V. (1506). Descriptio Africae. Retrieved from https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/bsb00007891/images/index.html
  • Fernández, C. I., Haddadi, A., Leblon, B., Wang, J., & Wang, K. (2021). Comparison between three registration methods in the case of non-georeferenced close range of multispectral images. Remote Sensing, 13(3), 396. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13030396
  • Fiddler. (2021, May 28). Fiddler. Web Debugging Proxy and Troubleshooting Solutions. Telerik.Com. Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://www.telerik.com/fiddler
  • Fischler, M. A., & Bolles, R. C. (1981). Random sample consensus: A paradigm for model fitting with applications to image analysis and automated cartography. Communications of the ACM, 24(6), 381–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-051581-6.50070-2
  • García, R., de Castro, J. P., Verdú, E., Verdú, M. J., & Regueras, L. M. (2012). Web map tile services for spatial data infrastructures: Management and optimization. In C. Bateira (Ed.), Cartography - A Tool for Spatial Analysis, 26–48. https://doi.org/10.5772/46129
  • GDAL. (2021). GDAL documentation. Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://gdal.org
  • Guarducci, A., & Tarchi, G. (2020). The first geodetic map of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany georeferencing and applicated studies. E-Perimetron, 15(3), 168–182. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_15_4/Guarducci_Tarchi.pdf
  • Gutiérrez, J. M. P. (2000). El reflejo de las Canarias en la cartografía anterior al siglo XVI. In F. Morales Padrón (Coord.), XIII Coloquio de Historia Canario-Americana, 3305–3322. Retrieved from https://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/ref/collection/coloquios/id/855
  • Hill, L. L. (2009). Georeferencing: The Geographic Associations of Information. The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/3260.001.0001
  • Jenny, B., & Hurni, L. (2011). Studying cartographic heritage: Analysis and visualization of geometric distortions. Computers & Graphics, 35(2), 402–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cag.2011.01.005
  • Camacho, J. A., Granado-Castro, G., & Barrera-Vera, J. A. (2019). Urban mapping of Cadiz during the War of Spanish Succession: A paradigm of the cartography enterprise undertaken by the Military Engineer Corps. Disegnarecon, 12(22). https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.22.2019.1
  • Koussoulakou, A., Dimitriadou, M., Kontozi, C., & Mitzias, Y. (2020). Telling of a city’s invisible past through georeferenced historical documents and web map technology. E-Perimetron, 15(1), 44–56. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol15_1/Koussoulakou_et_al.pdf
  • Livieratos, E. (2006). On the study of the geometric properties of historical cartographic representations. Cartographica, 41(2), 165–176. https://doi.org/10.3138/rm86-3872-8942-61p4
  • Long, T., Jiao, W., He, G., & Zhang, Z. (2016). A fast and reliable matching method for automated georeferencing of remotely-sensed imagery. Remote Sensing, 8(1), 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8010056
  • Manzano-Agugliaro, F., Martínez, J., & San-Antonio, C. (2012). GIS analysis of the accuracy of Tomas Lopez’s historical cartography in the Canary Islands (1742-1746). Scientific Research and Essays, 7(2), 199–210. https://doi.org/10.5897/SRE11.1271
  • Mas, S., Rubio, J., & Velasco, A. (2013). Especificaciones del producto CartoCiudad v 13. Instituto Geográfico Nacional. Retrieved from: http://www.cartociudad.es/recursos/Documentacion_tecnica/CARTOCIUDAD_Especificaciones.pdf
  • Materialize. (2021, May 28). Materialize Documentation. Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://materializecss.com/
  • Musin, O. R. (1991). Fast geometric transformations for image processing. International Journal of Imaging Systems and Technology, 3(3), 257–261. https://doi.org/10.1002/ima.1850030311
  • Navarro Segura, M. I. (1999). La Laguna 1500: La ciudad-república. Una utopía insular según las leyes de Platón. San Cristóbal de La Laguna: Ayuntamiento de San Cristóbal de La Laguna.
  • Navarro Segura, M. I. (2006). Las fundaciones de ciudades y el pensamiento urbanístico hispano en la era del Descubrimiento. Scripta Nova, 10(218). Retrieved from http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/sn/sn-218-43.htm
  • Octoperf. (2021). OctoPerf. SaaS and On-Premise Load Testing. Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://octoperf.com/
  • Pindozzi, S., Cervelli, E., Capolupo, A., Okello, C., & Boccia, L. (2016). Using historical maps to analyze two hundred years of land cover changes: Case study of Sorrento peninsula (south Italy). Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 43(3), 250–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230406.2015.1072736
  • QGIS. (2021, May 28). QGIS project. Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://qgis.org/en/site/
  • Sancho Mir, M., Agustín Hernández, L., & Llopis Verdú, J. (2017). Análisis y generación de cartografías historiográficas en el estudio de la evolución de la forma urbana: El caso de la ciudad de Teruel. EGA. Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica, 22(30), 180–189. https://doi.org/10.4995/ega.2017.7845
  • Santamaria Varas, M., & Martinez Diez, P. (2019). The Historic Charter of Barcelona (CHB). E-Perimetron, 14(1), 38–50. Retrieved from http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_14_1/Santamaria-Varas_Martinez-Diez.pdf
  • Sibson, R. (1981). A Brief Description of Natural Neighbor Interpolation. In Interpreting Multivariate Data (pp. 21–36). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
  • Soto Martin, O., Fuentes Porto, A., & Martin Gutierrez, J. (2020). A digital reconstruction of a historical building and virtual reintegration of mural paintings to create an interactive and immersive experience in virtual reality. Applied Sciences, 10(2), 597. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10020597
  • Talich, M. (2020). Digitization of Old Maps and Possible On-line Tools for Their Use. In Digital Cultural Heritage (pp. 331–341). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15200-0_22
  • Torr, P. H., & Zisserman, A. (2000). MLESAC: A new robust estimator with application to estimating image geometry. Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 78(1), 138–156. https://doi.org/10.1006/cviu.1999.0832
  • Torriani, L. (1590). Alla Maesta del Re Catolico, descrittione et historia del regno de l’isole Canarie gia dette le Fortvnate con il parere delle loro fortificationi. Retrieved from https://digitalis-dsp.uc.pt/bg6/UCBG-MS-314/UCBG-MS-314_item2/UCBG-MS-314_PDF/UCBG-MS-314_PDF_24-C-R0120/UCBG-MS-314_0000_Obra_Completa_t24-C-R0120.pdf
  • Torriani, L. (1959). Descripción e historia del reino de las Islas Canarias antes Afortunadas: Con el parecer de su fortificaciones (A. Cioranescu, Tr.). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Goya Ediciones. Retreived from https://mdc.ulpgc.es/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/MDC&CISOPTR=44103&filename=80586.pdf
  • Tucci, M., Giordano, A., & Ronza, R. W. (2010). Using spatial analysis and geovisualization to reveal urban changes: Milan, Italy, 1737-2005. Cartographica, 45(1), 47-63. https://doi.org/10.3138/carto.45.1.47
  • UNESCO. (1999). Ensemble historique de San Cristóbal de La Laguna. Proposition d’inscription comme bien culturel dans la liste du patrimoine mondial. WHC Nomination Documentation, vol. 1. Retrieved March 2, 2021, from http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/929.pdf
Data source: Dialnet