A Race Through Time

As I watched Mo Farah power his way from Newcastle, through Gateshead and ultimately cross the finish line in the coastal town of South Shields at this weekend’s Bupa Great North Run, it made me wonder how the area has changed over the years. 

The region has seen rapid development in recent times, moving away from its industrialised past, and the regeneration of the area is clear to see as we watched the runners make their way along the half marathon route.   I’m sure that if the same route was followed 50 years, 100 years or even further back in time, the runners would have certainly seen a completely different ‘north east’ from what we see today.

Starting in Newcastle, the course takes in the iconic Tyne Bridge which was opened in 1928.  As runners descend down the A167(M), historic maps show us that a reservoir was located on the exact same spot as the route back in 1864 – a swimming costume would certainly have been needed for this leg of the route. 

1864 OS map and Open Street Mapping

Dodge a reservoir

Carry further along and runners may have had to hold their noses back in 1864, as the Corporation Manure Depot was located en route.   Residential housing would have made the route impassable, with Alma Street residences located on what is today the main route towards Gateshead. 

1864 OS map and Open Street Mapping

Alma Street residences would make this impassable

The main ‘Newbridge’ station was located in what today is a motorway out of the city, and this was surrounded by coal depots, unstable ground and yet more residences, which has since made way to accommodate for the main arterial route around the city.

As the runners continue through the route, approaching South Shields on the A1300, it would have become a much more ‘cross country’ affair, as much of the surrounding areas were simply farmer’s fields.   A view towards Simonside Hall would have been clearly visible – according to reports, this was the seat of Robert Wallis who opened the first shipyard in South Shields in about 1720. After his death, his second son John developed Simonside Hall in 1784, which had fine views of Jarrow Slake.  South Shields A.F.C took a lease on the estate in 1947, and the main block of the Hall was eventually demolished in about 1973 – today the site is made up of residential housing.

As we approach the finish line in South Shields on the coastal A183 road, the ‘cross county’ theme would have continued back in the 1800’s.  There were virtually no roads in place in 1858, and instead the area consisted of marsh land, quarry land, tracks and wells.

The Great North Run route would certainly have been difficult, in fact near impossible, back in the history books and it really helps to demonstrate just how the lay of the land, industry and urban development has really changed in the last century.

Andy Noble

Head of Data

Landmark Information Group

Images: Ordnance Survey © Crown copyright and/or Database Right. All rights reserved. Licence 100022432

Dataset Focus: Historical Maps

From 1843 to 1999: Get the full picture

Welcome to the first in a series of  'Dataset Focus' articles.  Today, we focus on our digital archive of historical maps, which happens to be the UK's largest and is designed to give you the most in-depth view of how your site has transformed over time.

We also provide some background to our Russian Maps, which were initially created by the USSR during the Cold War, and cover 103 UK towns and cities from 1950 to 1997.

Click here to access the further information.

What do ‘Avatar™’ and ‘Minority Report™’ have in common?

They all present augmented reality as fiction, but it’s fast becoming a fact

Hollywood technology predictions have either come true or fizzled into a distant memory, relived only on movie nights. The ’Back to The Future™’ trilogy correctly predicted wireless video games, hand held computers, video conferences and wall mounted widescreen televisions. Sadly, some technological dreams depicted in the movie have yet to become reality - such as the hover board Marty McFly used to escape the clutches of his father’s school bullies.

Augmented reality is another technology that some people may class as purely science fiction. It’s certainly not something they would expect to use in everyday working life. However, the technology behind augmented reality is gaining traction and is increasingly being used in consumer facing industries.

Augmented reality provides a digitally enhanced view of the world in real time, and because of this the technology’s potential has not gone unnoticed in the commercial world. Companies are increasingly using its ability to bring real-time solutions to practical problems.

With augmented reality apps you can overlay sets of information on top of a live, real-time environment picture of your surroundings.  In the building and construction industry, such technology is already revolutionising the process in which site assessments and construction projects are managed. For example, current mapping applications allow users to overlay information, so that, for example you can plot route and distance information on existing area maps. The British Geological Survey has already developed the iGeology App that allows users to explore the rock geology beneath their feet using the camera on a mobile phone.

We have also recently enhanced our Envirocheck Analysis online mapping software. This is designed to deliver significant time savings and improved accuracy when analysing historical mapping for Phase 1 environmental site assessments, providing a quick and easy way to overlay current and historical maps and aerial photography.

It is currently only available on the desktop platform, but future technological enhancements using mobile technology are being investigated.

Augmented reality, once a dream of science fiction writers and fans, is  becoming a reality which will transform the way you work.  Perhaps we should still hold some hope for Marty McFly’s hover board after all.

Landmark Information Group unveils enhanced map analysis software

In response to increasing market demand for Phase 1 desk studies to be conducted faster than ever before while still delivering tangible efficiency gains, Landmark Information Group has enhanced its Envirocheck Analysis online mapping software. Designed to deliver significant time savings and improved accuracy benefits over manual historic map analysis for Phase 1 environmental site assessments, Envirocheck Analysis provides a quick and easy way to overlay current and historical maps and aerial photography.

As James Carlisle, Technical Director at RPS Health, Safety & Environment, which is a regular user of Envirocheck Analysis, explains: “Envirocheck Analysis is a key part of our assessment process for environmental reporting on UK sites and enables our team to produce fast, accurate and comprehensive reports to meet our clients' typically urgent timescales. Gone are the days when our consultants were surrounded by piles of paper and scale rulers, or making frequent trips to local libraries.”

As one of the leading providers of historical mapping, Landmark Information Group launched the first Envirocheck product in 1996, and since then has established a large customer base of environmental consultants in the UK, who see Envirocheck as an essential part of their Phase 1 reporting. According to a survey of Envirocheck Analysis users, well over a third of respondents (37.5%) use the software  at least once a month, with 75% citing time savings and greater accuracy as among the key benefits of using Envirocheck Analysis over manual historical map analysis.   

Historically preparing a Phase 1 desk study was time consuming, inefficient and reliant on consultants visiting local libraries and manually comparing numerous differently scaled maps. Landmark Information Group’s Envirocheck product was the first service to collate the information in a single place, with the online analysis software delivering dynamic map overlaying, drawing and measuring tools bringing further efficiencies and helping to streamline the map analysis process. The vast majority (94%) of users now spend less than three hours carrying out map analysis; resulting in average time savings of 25% when compared with manual analysis.  

David Mole, Business Development Director at Landmark Information Group, says: “The latest enhancements to our Envirocheck Analysis software have come as a direct result of our extensive research and consultation with the industry. As technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, it’s important that we innovate and build added-value services that make a difference to our client’s bottom line. The days of sourcing hard-copy maps from libraries are long behind us, and the speed and flexibility of the Envirocheck Analysis platform means that Environmental Consultants can be even more rigorous in their approach to land appraisal.”

“Our ultimate goal is to respond to the needs of Environmental Consultants,” David adds. “With no need for a traditional software licence or subscription, this new technology will enable consultants to save time & money and lead to improved accuracy in reporting, which will in turn deliver swifter appraisal of sites through to planning consent.”