Historic Preservation
Geographic Information System Facilitates Preserving
Historic Places

A Geographic Information System (GIS) developed by the Ohio Historical Society's Ohio Historic Preservation Office is aiding researchers and professional archaeologists, historians, architectural historians, and others who work to preserve historic places throughout Ohio.

The system includes a customized ArcView software application, referred to as MAPIT, and a GIS-based Web site, referred to as the Online Mapping System. Together they offer quick access to information about properties throughout Ohio that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or that have been recorded on Ohio Historic Inventory or Ohio Archaeological Inventory forms. Users can easily search for digital information about historic properties in Ohio and create maps showing their location and distribution.

Synthesizes Maps and Data on History, Architecture and Archaeology
MAPIT is used by Ohio Historic Preservation Office professionals to manage information gathered through the Ohio Historic Inventory, Ohio Archaeological Inventory and National Register of Historic Places programs. They use the information in research to gain a better understanding of Ohio's history, architecture and archaeology, and in reviewing federal undertakings in Ohio for possible effects on historic properties as required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, a function that the society carries out for the State.

MAPIT synthesizes information about historic places with base maps showing data such as the locations of roads, environmental features, and U.S. Geological Survey quadrangles. Places that have been identified as historic are represented as color-coded points and polygons that are linked to PDFs of the corresponding Ohio Historic Inventory or Ohio Archaeological Inventory forms, letting users get detailed information about historic buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts within a chosen geographic area with just a few clicks of a mouse.

To share its GIS system with professionals beyond the society who are also engaged in preserving historic places, such as preservation consultants, state and federal agencies and academic researchers, the preservation office developed another Internet-based GIS application. While highly successful, it was limited in its capabilities and not as user-friendly as the MAPIT application used internally.

New Integrated Site Offers Improved Tools and Information
Earlier this year, using capital funds, the preservation office redesigned the GIS site, combining the two applications into a single integrated system that offers other users tools and a level of information similar to that available to the society's preservation staff. With funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation, customized mapping tools have been developed to help users easily capture precise geographic reference points of known historic places and import maps into survey forms and reports.

A larger viewable map area lets users see and create maps of bigger geographic regions. Enhanced and streamlined search tools allow quicker and easier searches. A wider variety of base map information helps users locate areas of interest and get a better understanding of historic, architectural and archaeological resources in the vicinity. New tools aid users in plotting and labeling sites to create their own maps, collecting UTM coordinates, and saving, importing, exporting and e-mailing data.

Currently, access to the site is by paid subscription and is limited to qualified professionals who have demonstrated need for the information. In the future, the new Online Mapping System is expected to allow various levels of access, enabling the Ohio Historic Preservation Office to offer some of the site's resources to a broader audience.