WesGIS Workshop Series 30 October 2014 K.

Diver

GEOREFERENCING

About Georeferencing
A multitude of data types can be input into a geographic information system (GIS) for
subsequent data analysis and visualization. Some data (e.g. shapefiles) have a spatial coordinate
system attached allowing the data to align with geographic space. A spatial coordinate system
(e.g. map projection) is a method by with the curved surface of the Earth is portrayed on a flat
surface. Other data can be transformed to project correctly in geographic space (e.g. geocode
street addresses). Some data, such as scanned maps, do not have spatial reference information
and the data do not align properly in geographic space. Subsequently, the data do not align with
other spatial data in your GIS. Unreferenced data can be aligned, or georeferenced, to a spatial
coordinate system. The geographic location of the data is assigned to its correct geographic space
using control points in ArcMap’s Georeferencing toolbar.

In general, the steps for georeferencing a dataset are to (1) assign a projection to the map
document’s data frame, (2) add the projected data that will serve as your reference map, (3) add
the dataset that you want to align, (4) add links that connect known dataset positions to known
positions in the reference data, (5) save, or register, the georeferencing information.

Workshop Data
File Name About Data source
UConn MAGIC,
roadct_37800_0000_201
http://magic.lib.uconn
0_s100_census_1_nad83 Connecticut roads 2010 shapefile
.edu/connecticut_data
_feet
.html
ArcMap, add
World_Imagery 2011 aerial image
basemap feature
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an open collaborative project ArcMap, add
Open Street Map
to create a free editable map of the world basemap feature
Empty feature class
Buildings Polygon file for inputting building footprints. created in
ArcCatalog.
Middletown+Nov.+1924, Sanborn fire insurance map (Middletown November http://sanborn.umi.co
+Sheet+4.tif 1924, Sheet 4) m/

Procedure
1. Open the Georef_Sanborn ArcMap document.
a. This map document’s data frame has a Connecticut State Plane Projection (NAD
1983 feet).
b. If conducting a georeferencing session from scratch, be sure to assign a projected
coordinate system to the data frame before adding data. (Data frame properties,
coordinate system tab.)
c. I included layers to the map that we can use as reference information for aligning
the ungeoreferenced data. Files included in the map document are listed in the
above table.

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WesGIS Workshop Series 30 October 2014 K. Diver

2. Add a Sanborn fire insurance map for Middletown from http://sanborn.umi.com/.

Wesleyan has access to the digital versions of the Sanborn map collection.
a. Downloaded Sanborn maps are in pdf format. To use the image in ArcMap, save
the image as a tiff.
b. Sanborn maps are accurately drawn maps, which is essential for accurate
georeferencing results. Georeferencing spatially inaccurate historic and/or hand
drawn maps or maps with features that differ from contemporary features are
difficult to accurately align.
3. Optional: Zoom to the Sanborn map layer. (Right click map layer, choose Zoom to Layer.)
Notice that the Sanborn map is nowhere near its correct geographic location.
4. Open properties for the Sanborn map layer. Under the Display tab, change the
transparency to 50% (or whatever % works for you). This allows you to see the Sanborn
map features and the reference features.
5. Open the Georeferencing toolbar.

The Georeferencing Toolbar in ArcMap.

a. Zoom into your area of interest. In the georeferencing toolbar, click

Georeferencing  Fit to Display. This tool brings the Sanborn map into the
current view, which is close to the location that you wish it to be.
b. Optional: Use the Rotate, shift, and scale tools to manually line up the Sanborn
map image around with the reference data. This is a rough approximation –
adding control points creates more accurate alignment.
6. Add control points.
a. On the Georeferencing toolbar, click the Add Control Points tool.
b. With the Add Control Points tool activated, click a location on the Sanborn map
image first. A line will appear. Drag that line to the corresponding location on the
reference data. (You must click on the unaligned image first for this to work.)
This is control point 1.
c. Continue to add control points throughout the image. Zoom in/out and pan the
image in order to see features more clearly. Optional: Use the magnifier window.
7. Review control points. Open the link table ( in the Georeferencing toolbar).
a. Scroll right in the table and notice the residual column at the end. This indicates
how closely the data are aligned. A total score is given in the upper right corner

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and in the Total RMS Error column. (RMS = room mean squared.) The closer that
the number is to zero the better. You can delete high RMS error control points
from the table. Note that a low value does not mean that you’ve necessarily
georeferenced the image well; it means that you’ve georeferenced consistently.
8. Update Georeferencing
a. Once you are finished adding points, click the Georeferencing button on the
Georeferencing toolbar. Click Update Georeferencing.
i. Update Georeferencing stores the transformation information with the
raster (Sanborn map image). In other words, the tool saves auxiliary files
with the spatial coordinates to use in conjunction with the raster. Next
time you add the image to an ArcMap document (or any ESRI product), it
will align correctly. Note: the new files .aux.xml and .ovr and maybe .tfwx
store the map coordinates. These files must accompany the original image
file (.tif) in order for the image to align properly.
1. If you want to redo the georeferencing, delete the auxiliary files.
ii. Optional: Rectify the image after updating georeferencing. Rectify creates
a new raster dataset with the transformation and projection information. I
have found that the new file created with rectify option has poor resolution
compared to the original image. The advantage of rectify is that non-ESRI
products recognize the spatial coordinates.
9. Create data from the georeferenced image.
a. You cannot transform a digital image into vector data. You can create a new
shapefile (or feature class) and digitize (sketch, edit) features based on the
information in the image. The buildings polygon layer in the map document is to
practice digitizing building footprints using the Editor toolbar.
10. Optional: When you've created enough links, you can transform—or warp—the raster
dataset to permanently match the map coordinates of the target data. You have the choice
of using a polynomial, a spline, an adjust, or a projective transformation to determine the
correct map coordinate location for each cell in the raster.
See http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.2/index.html#/Fundamentals_of_georefe
rencing_a_raster_dataset/009t000000mn000000/GUID-E0959E92-489D-4956-BF2B-
B50170242E22/ for more information.
11. Note: the above is for georeferencing image files (rasters). To align vector data (ponts,
lines, polygons) use the Spatial Adjustment toolbar.
12. A good tip from ESRI: Keep in mind that your georeferenced data is only as accurate as
the data to which it is aligned. To minimize errors, you should georeference to data that is
at the highest resolution and largest scale for your needs.
Other Georeferencing Tutorials
• http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.2/index.html#//009t000000mp000000
• http://blogs.library.duke.edu/data/2011/11/14/arcgis-tutorial-georeferencing-imagery/
• http://cms.bsu.edu/-
/media/WWW/DepartmentalContent/Library/GISMaps/GISMedia/GEOREFERENCING%20HIS
TORIC%20MAPS%20USING%20ARCGIS%20DESKTOP%2010.pdf
• http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/gis/manual/georeferencing/
• http://www.library.yale.edu/MapColl/files/docs/Georeferencing%20of%20Scanned%20Maps.pdf