Mapping New York's Shoreline, 1609-2009: Hudson River Historic View Flyover

September 24, 2009

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September 2009 marks 400 years since Henry Hudson sailed into New York Harbor and up the Hudson River, almost to what is now Albany, performing detailed reconnaissance of the Hudson Valley region. This video, a Google Earth flyover integrated with historic maps, shows what the Hudson River area looked like 400 years ago compared to today. It belongs to the exhibition "Mapping New York's Shoreline," on view through June 2010.

This video was produced using cutting-edge mapping technology developed collaboratively by staff of The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division and the Digital Experience Group of The New York Public Library and by Entropy Free LLC. Historical maps, cited below, from NYPL collections have been digitally stretched onto a virtual globe using the toolkit available to the public at maps.nypl.org. The video was scripted using Google Earth Pro and composited using Final Cut Pro.

William F. Link. The Hudson by Daylight Map. New York, 1878. The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division.

Johannes van Keulen. Pas-Kaart vande Kusten van Niew Nederland … [Nautical Chart of the Coast of New England …] Amsterdam, 1685. The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection.