Visualizing Early Baltimore

Visualizing Early Baltimore is a fully three-dimensional, interactive digital model of Baltimore, circa 1815, that provides connections between the past and today. The IRC has been working on various aspects of this digital visualization since 2012, combining historical research with cutting-edge modeling and mapping technologies to re-create an ac... curate 3D model of the city, its terrain, land use, and buildings in the early 1800s. The Bicentennial of the War of 1812 provided a catalyst and funding for the IRC to use the experience gained from its Visualizing Early Washington, D.C. project to develop this accurate map and 3D depiction of the Baltimore cityscape shortly after the famous bombing of Fort McHenry that inspired the words of the Star-Spangled Banner. With fundamental support from the Maryland Historical Society and its network of scholars, the IRC collected the data necessary to initiate the visualization. The research effort also received major support from the Maryland Division of Tourisms 1812 Bicentennial Commission and the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation. The IRC worked with GIS experts in UMBCs Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) to create an accurate topography on which to build the city. The project team researched the correct maps to use, as verified by scholars, and geo-referenced them to existing coordinate systems. Along with a typical 2D map, this became the base map for creating the visualization. The six-month effort resulted in an accurate 3D digital elevation map (DEM) of the original landscape of the city in 1815. The IRC also consulted local historians and did extensive research to determine where specific buildings existed back then and how they would have appeared. With that information, a team of IRC artists modeled and textured the buildings, wharves, and other structures that defined Baltimore during the economic and population boom that accompanied the height of the harbors role in commerce, privateering, and shipbuilding. In September 2014, the first ...Read More