Meet the 2019 StoryMapper of the Year Contest winners

This incredible story shows views of the Comstock Lode and historical maps of Virginia City mining claims. It uses engaging text and handsome images of historical maps to set the historical context. Then, the authors describe how old maps were digitized and combined with elevation data and mine depths to generate bird’s-eye views from above—and miner’s eye views from beneath the surface.

To create this story map, librarians at Stanford University combed through nearly 1,500 mining maps and extracted data to make digital three-dimensional (3D) models.

By Andria Olson and Julie Sweetkind-Singer of the Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections at Stanford University