On December 7th, I gave the OSU Arts and Sciences Science Sundays lecture, “Using AI and GIS to create virtual worlds from old maps.”

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and Geographic Information Science (GIS) enable researchers to unlock the rich historical information trapped in old maps. The Ghost Neighborhoods of Columbus project is applying AI and GIS to old Sanborn Fire Insurance maps to create immersive, virtual worlds of how neighborhoods in Columbus looked in the past, prior to urban highway construction and urban renewal projects. In this presentation, I highlight the incredibly detailed data in these old fire insurance maps, the 3D virtual worlds we have built from these maps, and our partnership with the community to ensure the historical virtual worlds are authentic. 

View a recording here

I was a guest on a recent edition of the OSU Arts and Sciences Voices of Excellence podcast, hosted by Prof. David Staley. In this podcast, we talk about CURA’s Ghost Neighborhoods of Columbus project which uses AI, machine learning, and GIS to extract data from historic Sanborn fire insurance maps and construct 3D virtual models of neighborhoods that have been altered or destroyed by urban renewal, highway construction, and redlining.

Listen to the podcast