By deciding to georeference the early twentieth century map of the Northfield Original plat, I encountered minimal problems with the overlay process as well as an overall satisfaction and increase of interest in completing the task of overlaying the two maps. There are many different uses for these types of maps and this one in particular. Of course, a simpler use of the map would be to see how the roads have changed over time, but more precise uses could be to look into how erosion altered the flow of the river or to see which owner’s land was taken for public use or is still residential. Without a doubt, the best thing to carry on with this map is to continue improving it by possibly expanding the 1905 map to show more area or build on more layers. However, with not just this map, but with georeferenced maps in general, the problem of legibility comes into play in the process of overlaying. Moreover, problems of distortion and inaccurate information pose jarring limitations on the concept of georeferencing. Therefore, if limitations like these are indeed known within the context of a study or research, then it would behoove the researcher to approach their tasks differently. With a distorted or incorrectly represented map, one would need to take extra steps to ensure the faults in the information they are using. Which could be done in a multitude of ways, including, but not limited to; referencing more than the two original maps within the incorrect map and looking further into many sources that may not be maps in order to cross-reference locations and landmarks. Overall, my understanding of DH projects has been improved by this experience since I now have added context to the steps one may want to take in order successfully complete a DH project such as Prof. Saladin’s project on ancient Mesopotamia.
