Local tech firm creates interactive, digital atlas of Civil War events

    The University of Richmond Digital Scholarship Lab enlisted the help of Philadelphia based tech company, Azavea to build an interactive map documenting the end of slavery in America.

     

    Visualizing Emancipation” pinpoints the locations of 3,000 different events during the Civil War, creating the first volume in what will become a “digital atlas” of American History.

    According to TechnicallyPhilly.com, events were sourced from newspapers, letters, diaries, and The University of Richmond‘s digital newspaper archives.

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    Azavea’s specialty is in geospatial analysis software. For this project, the company used its technology to create a “heat map” showing the density of events throughout the American South. Pinpointed events can be searched by keyword. And clicking on a specific event will bring up a summary, and a link to the primary source.

    Try out the Visualizing Emancipation tool here.

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