This is a guest post by Rachel Trent, Digital Collections and Automation Coordinator in the Geography and Map Division. The image below is of a TIFF file, but not just any TIFF. Hidden inside are coordinates that bind the image to a specific place on Earth. For every pixel in the image, an estimated latitude …
In 1899, British geologist Henry G. Lyons (1864–1944) began a systematic reassessment of the cadastral surveys conducted in Egypt under Ottoman Turkish rule. His updated survey was built upon 90 years of work—starting in 1813 when Muʿallim Ghali, a finance minister appointed by Muhammad ʿAli Basha (1769–1849), reorganized the finances of Egypt to optimize taxation. …