Things to Do
How you can visualize Atlanta’s past
By Pete Corson
April 7, 2015Want to get a good look at what Atlanta used to look like? You don't need a flux capacitor. You just need to know where — and how — to see what came before. These resources will help put a lens on the city's past:
Historic photos (and more)
- Atlanta Time Machine: Currently on hiatus, this site collects then-and-now photography and an odd assortment of often hilarious cultural artifacts
- Christopher Moloney: Famous for holding up old photos and movie stills from the vantage point where they were shot. The FILMography Flickr page | Moloney's Instagram feed, which contains more local historical images
- David P. Henderson: A Flickr account of then-and-now images, often updating ones he shot 25 years ago
- Return to Atlanta: Henderson's blog on Atlanta's forgotten places
- Sunshine Skies: Henderson's deep look at the history of the Atlanta Airport
- Vanishing Georgia: 18,000 photos from a variety of sources
- The Atlanta History Center Album: The center's collection of digital images
- GSU's digital collection: Containing photos and other documents about Atlanta history
- Flashback Fotos: A collection of photo galleries from the AJC's own archives, now kept at GSU
Interactive maps
- Atlanta atlases: Zoom in on Atlanta's street maps from 1878 and from 1930. Another version of the 1930 map includes today's streets overlaid on top, which you can make transparent.
- Georgia's historical markers: You know, the roadside signs. This map from the Georgia Historical Society's shows where to find them.
- HistoryPin: A crowdsourced Google Map with geotagged historical photos, many of which come from the Atlanta History Center's collection
- The War in Our Backyards: A joint project by the Atlanta History Center and the AJC, showing where the Battle of Atlanta took place
The Google Map Street View can be used as a street-level time machine. In the street view, click a clock icon in the upper left box and see what other views from the same location are available from previous years. Here, a view of the new streetcar lines along Woodruff Park are contrasted with an earlier view of the street before the tracks were put in. (Google Maps)
Historic maps collections
- Emory's interactive collection: Includes a trolley map from circa 1950
- MARBL historic maps: MARBL is Emory's Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Library: An extensive collection of maps going back to the 1800s
- GSU's collection: This page collects the best sources for viewing Atlanta maps, past and present
- Planning maps of Atlanta (GSU collection): Outlining infrastructure projects such as road projects from decades past
HistoryPin is a crowdsourced Google Map with geotagged historical photos, many of which come from the Atlanta History Center’s collection. (HistoryPin)
Other visualizations
- Atlanta Explorer: A video presentation showing a 3D rendering of 1930 Atlanta, created by Emory's Center for Digital Scholarship
- Aerial photos: GSU's collection of aerial survey photos from 1949
- Waymarking.com: A crowdsourcing site that collects information on interesting landmarks and locations
- ARC's interactive maps: The Atlanta Regional Commission's maps, mostly visualizing current data and future projections
- Google Street View: This link explains how to turn Google Maps into a street-level time machine
About the Author
Pete Corson is a Presentation Specialist for the Digital Storytellers team and works closely with the Enterprise and Investigative teams. He has worked at the AJC since 1998. He enjoys bringing the best of the paper's journalism to life on your digital devices and finding new ways to tell the stories that make Atlanta unique.
