OverviewFor information on current developments please see: http://www.nla.gov.au/digicoll/ The Rare Maps Digitisation Pilot Project investigated the most effective means of creating high quality digital scans of rare maps and map series indexes from the Library's collection. During the Project, 25 maps from the Rex Nan Kivell rare map collection were selected and captured at 300 dpi using a Phase One digital scanning back with a scanning resolution of 6,000 x 8,400 pixels and a 36 bit internal colour depth. Seven maps were greater than 50.8 cm x 71.1 cm (20" x 28") and had to be captured through a number of image tiles. Image processing and stitching was carried out using Adobe Photoshop on a dual processor 500 MHz PC with 1 GB of RAM. Resulting master image files for the maps in TIFF format were between 100 and 600 MB in size. Five map series indexes relating to the ACT were also digitised during the project. The master TIFF images were compressed using the MrSID software at a compression ratio of 22:1 for delivery over the Internet. A web site was created for the project with Catalogue records for each map, thumbnails and links to the MrSID versions which can be zoomed and panned to reveal map image details. The technical recommendations of the project are:
See also the Paper presented by Maura OConnor, Map Curator, National Library of Australia at the Australian Map Circle 27th Annual Conference, Brisbane, 5-8 April 1999 |
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