[PRCo] Re: Pittburgh Railway Company Map Draft

[Stephen Titchenal]

This version of the map is for a forthcoming book on the Pittsburgh Railway
Company and will be printed as an overview map. At this time I am most
interested in corrections that are obvious at the current resolution. The
book deadline is fast approaching, and street level detail is not needed.
Once I have finalized the map, I will post a slightly higher resolution
version of the digital elevation layer.

The original data is in various GIS formats and in various stages of
completion when you get to the street level of detail. At some point in time
I will look at how to make the various layers available in a consumer GIS
such as Google Earth. Some layers are rather large in file size and will
probably need to be shared via a DVD and copied to a hard drive for speedier
display.

I occasionally place updated kml (Google Earth) versions of the route paths
in the "My Places" area of Google Maps. I have made them shareable so you
can add them to your personal Google Maps "My Places" area. Google Maps does
not organize a large number of paths very well, but they display in the
smart phone version of Google Earth. This allows you to go in the field and
explore.

http://maps.google.com/maps/user?uid=204661335735556483333&hl=en&gl=us

If you save the map to your own "My Places" area of Google Maps, you can
view them in the smart phone version of Google Earth.

You can also view the paths in the personal computer version of Google
Earth. Be sure to check for and reload any updated version. Unfortunately my
path naming organization is lost in this shared version. Hopefully Google
Maps will eventually support folder organization.

At "street level" these paths still need a lot of work and organization. The
tricky part is changes to trackage and street location over time. Various
layers also have different levels of geographic accuracy, making street
level comparisons less than exact. I am struggling with how to manage these
types of changes in a useable way. The more you research at this level of
detail, the more questions you end up with. It is a never ending project.

I am indebted to members of this mailing list, Ed Lybarger (Pennsylvania
Trolley Museum Archive), and various sources of historic maps for the
research so far.  

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org] On Behalf Of Herb
Brannon
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 9:11 AM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pittburgh Railway Company Map Draft

I had no problem with the layers loading.......everything came up on the
screen in a second or two. I too, however, have the problem of lost detail
when zooming in on a specific area to check detail. Will streets be labeled
in future drafts?
On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 08:04, <eskuchas at comcast.net> wrote:

> Thank you. A great way to visualize why lines were routed as they were. Is
> there a file with a higher background resolution? I enlarged some areas to
> look at details an I lost resolution.
> Ed
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stephen Titchenal" <stephen at titchenal.com>
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
> Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 7:47:53 AM
> Subject: [PRCo] Pittburgh Railway Company Map Draft
>
> I have posted a draft of a geographically correct map of the Pittsburgh
> Railway Company and surrounding area at its peak in the early 20th
Century.
> The background digital elevation image is low resolution to keep the
> document size reasonable while in draft form. Because of the number of
> vector layers, it may take awhile to load in Acrobat Reader. You can use
> the
> layer navigation panel to turn individual layers on and off.
>
> http://railsandtrails.com/pdf/index.html
>
>
> A number of list members have helped me trace some of the lines shown.
> Thanks for all your help.
>
> I would appreciate any feedback on missing or misplaced lines. I have not
> tied the map to a specific date, but tried to show lines that were in
place
> at anytime in the early 20th Century.
>
> A couple of questions:
>
> 1. I assume the WP Oakdale and McDonald line followed Noblestown Road
> between the named cities. Where did it end in each city?
>
> 2. Did the WP enter Brownsville on 6th Ave and take Market to about 3rd
> Ave?
>
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park