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Ian Spangler edited this page Aug 12, 2024 · 1 revision

Processing new Atlascope layers

1. Georeference the atlas

Georeference the target atlas using Allmaps. Track its progress using the Notion database for Geotransformation Progress. When it’s done, proceed to next step.

2. Creating directories and metadata for atlas layer

  1. Mint a new ARK ID for the layer at https://geoservices.leventhalmap.org/identifier-mint
  2. Create a new directory, using that ARK ID as the name
  3. From the terminal, cd into that directory

2. Atlascopify script

When you’re in the directory, run atlascopify.py.

See this repo for instructions on setting up and using the script: https://github.com/bplmaps/atlascope-utilities/tree/master/modern-workflow

3. Hand-update the tilejson

You must manually update metadata in the tileset.json file. This file will be located in the output directory after Atlascopify finishes running. You must update these fields:

Field Description Example
name Short name sanborn 1913
description Full title of atlas, creator, and publication date Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts (Sanborn Map Company, 1913)
tiles Endpoint of XYZ tiles---update the ARK ID with new LMEC mint https://s3.us-east-2.wasabisys.com/urbanatlases/{{ARK_ID}}/tiles/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
data Endpoint of plates.geojson file---update the ARK ID with new LMEC https://s3.us-east-2.wasabisys.com/urbanatlases/alzlfodgx/plates.geojson
bounds Extent of plates.geojson file---retrieve these using, e.g., QGIS [-71.0884748428381528, 42.4150678821869533, -71.0369536836220732, 42.4361320871470866]

4. Hand-update the volume extents file

You must manually update the volume extents file, which involves adding a new object to the GeoJSON in an editor such as VS Code or QGIS. To do so:

  1. Ensure you’ve cloned LMEC’s digital metadata library repository: https://github.com/bplmaps/lmec-digital-library-metadata/tree/main
  2. From that repository, open boston-volume-extents.geojson in VS Code
  3. From your working repository for the new atlas layer, open /tmp/plates-precise.geojson in VS Code
  4. Replace all the metadata in the properties object
  5. Confirm everything looks okay by loading and examining the geojson in QGIS

Once you’re done, push it to GitHub.

5. Hand-copy the output files from Atlascope into cloud storage

Make sure that you have installed and set up the FTP client Cyberduck in order to access LMEC’s Wasabi cloud storage. To add a fully geotransformed urban atlas layer and its attendant metadata to Wasabi:

  1. Create a new directory in the urbanatlases folder of Wasabi, named after the newly minted ARK ID
  2. Hand-copy everything in the output folder, which should just be
    1. plates.geojson
    2. tiles directory
    3. tileset.json

This can take a while—a long, long while, like 24-48 hours—for some larger atlases.

6. Test everything in a local instance of Atlascope

❗ Make sure you are working on the staging branch of `atlascope-v2`

Make sure the new layers look good by testing them in a local instance of Atlascope. To do this, cd into your local repo of atlascope-v2 and run:

npm run dev

Once it’s running, open /src/instance.json in the Atlascope repository and replace the value of historicLayersFootprintsFile with:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bplmaps/lmec-digital-library-metadata/main/atlascope/atlascope-boston/boston-volume-extents.geojson

Then look at the new layer and make sure it looks right (sometimes this can be buggy and take a minute). If something doesn’t look right, you may need to open a browser inspection and check what kinds of errors are being thrown.

7. Push

Once it’s done, merge staging into main and wait for approval.