The Development Of Mapping: Portuguese Cartography And Coastal Africa, 1434-1504

FAIN: HD-50106-07

Regents of the University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA 92617-3066)
Patricia Seed (Project Director: November 2006 to September 2010)

The creation of an interactive GIS (Geographical Information System) database of early maps of the African coastline, 1434-1504.

Digital technology applied to a historically significant collection of maps will not only allow collective display, but will create a research resource enabling entirely new modes of scholarly investigation. New knowledge can be gained through use of GIS software. The project is significant to many humanistic fields and will be openly available to scholars and teachers.

Associated Products

ESRI Map Book (Book Section)
Title: ESRI Map Book
Author: Patricia Seed
Editor: ESRI
Abstract: Originally a map of the vulnerability of Portuguese slave forts to storm surges, this map also demonstrated something unexpected--the dramatic loss in reproductive habitats for the fishing-birds of Greenland, Northern Europe and Siberia discovered in a little known region on the African coast.
Year: 2010
Publisher: ESRI Press
Book Title: ESRI Map Book 25th Anniversary edition

The Slave Fort at Elmina: a 3D reconstruction (Computer Program)
Title: The Slave Fort at Elmina: a 3D reconstruction
Author: Magda ElZarki
Author: Patricia Seed
Abstract: We have completed a 3d reproduction of the interior and exterior of the slave fort at Elmina in present day Ghana that can be explored on a computer or in 3D using Oculus Rift glasses.
Year: 2015
Access Model: Requires computer running Unity Pro.
Programming Language/Platform: Unity
Source Available?: Yes

Life in an African Slave Fort (Game/Simulation)
Title: Life in an African Slave Fort
Author: Magda ElZarki
Author: Patricia Seed
Abstract: This project is underdevelopment as we recreate ethnographically accurate dress and physiognomy for slaves and African laborers at the fort.
Year: 2015
Access Model: Demonstration at University of California Games Day (most popular game)
Programming Language/Platform: Unity, 3dSMax
Source Available?: No

Rising Sea Levels and Oil Production in the Niger Delta (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Rising Sea Levels and Oil Production in the Niger Delta
Author: Patricia Seed
Abstract: Nigeria's oil is transported for export through marshy lands subject to inundation. The potential for loss of additional coastline disappearance and loss of livelihood is great.
Date: 03/15/2014
Conference Name: Knowledge Production, University of Western Sydney (Australia)

Prizes

ESRI international competition for innovation in GIS software and outstanding design in a map
Date: 1/1/2015
Organization: Environmental Systems Research Institute
Abstract: The map that I produced won the ESRI international competition for innovation in GIS software and outstanding design in a map. The competition was for the hundred best maps produced that year, and was the only one not from a corporate or national Geographic organization such as the US Geological Survey.

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