I’m working on a complex omeka project on local cemeteries. I have three georeferenced maps that
are in separate neatline exhibits. Here are my issues:
These are tiny areas on the map. I’ve set the maximum zoom levels to 50 but we seem to have reached the
limits of the basemaps themselves. Only Stamen Toner can zoom in far enough to make these small maps visible. One of ours is too small even for toner. Is there a way to include a different set of map tiles beneath? Is there a setting
I’m missing? http://digilab.libs.uga.edu/cemetery/neatline/show/baldwin
We’re using Neatline so that we can have students draw polygons onto the map. However, we’d like to save the
geographic information they’re recording in each record. Is there a way to extract the coordinates of a polygon from the records, and if yes, is there then a good way to convert the WKT to web Mercator or another coordinate
system.
In this instance, it might be better to use your scanned map as the base of your exhibit, rather than superimposing it on top of a base layer. To do this, you can save the map image to your Omeka archive, and use the URL for the full size of that image in the Exhibit Settings dialog. If you can send the image you’re using for the cemetery map, I’m happy to test some things out here.
We’re exploring your second question, and we’ll have an answer for you soon.
I ended up using the map as an image, which then means I can’t collect any geographic information if students draw points and polygons, but at least we can duplicate their work on a georeferenced map later.
Do you instead mean adding it as a custom WMS layer in Exhibit settings? I couldn’t get that to work. If I use the same WMS address and layer name to point to the GeoTiff as I did in a record, I just get a blank screen. I’m sure I’m not doing that right since I’ve never been able to get that function to work.
Keep me posted. Not being able to get that information back out has been a reason I’ve opted to use other mapping services for other digital projects.
I actually lost track of your need to get the geographic info back out when I composed my first answer, so what I meant was to use it as an image only, but you’re right, of course, that a better option would be to use it as the WMS base layer from the beginning.
The problem is that once you’ve allowed your browser to position a Neatline exhibit where your computer located, Neatline will always position itself over those coordinates, even if there’s no baselayer. So all you see is a giant field of white. Not very helpful.
I’ve had luck in the past using the Open Street Map default layer initially in Exhibit Settings, zooming in to the location of the custom map layer and setting a default zoom level and map focus for the exhibit there. Once the exhibit is set for that location, you can go back and edit your exhibit settings to use your custom map layer.
re: getting geographic information out
Eric thinks that it may be possible to use Python to create a script that can parse the database to retrieve this information, but I need to check in with him about this again.
Thanks Ronda,
Still getting a white screen when trying to use the georeferenced map as the base layer. Any luck on that Python script? Crazy no one else has needed this before.
I’ve started looking at the Python script, but haven’t had much time to work on it. I’ll try to look at it this week, but realistically, it will probably be next week.