Tracing orchards in QGIS
We used the free and powerful QGIS software tool to layer historical and contemporary maps, search for the orchard symbol, and trace the results.
What is QGIS?
QGIS stands for Quantum Geographic Information System. You pronounce it by spelling out each letter of the acronym: "Q-G-I-S".
It's a piece of free software that lets you view, create, edit, visualise, analyse and publish spatial data - all of which has been vital for the Luton Orchards project.
QGIS lets you draw polygons onto a map and capture data points for a location. QGIS Cloud is the technology that lets us publish the map with all the historical orchards we found.
I installed QGIS on my laptop with a lot of help from the Orchard Biodiversity Officer of the People's Trust for Endangered Species, Steve Oram, who showed me how to use it.
A video demonstrating how we used QGIS to map Luton's orchards
Where to get the maps?
For the purposes of this project only, I was provided with the OS County Series 1:2500 base layer maps for Bedfordshire through the Orchards East project / People's Trust for Endangered Species. They had done extensive mapping of orchards across the whole East of England region.
Several of the map layers are freely available to be loaded into QGIS from the National Archives of Scotland, which also provides extensive guidance on how to use their maps in GIS.
I imported the Luton tithe map layer and georeferenced it myself. Then I got permission from the National Archives to make the 1842 Tithe Map of Luton available in low resolution on this website.
What is georeferencing?
Georeferencing means aligning geographical points with real-life data, for example a recent satellite image. This way, you can layer multiple maps on top of each other that are all congruent. It's important if you want to be able to, for example, trace the development of a specific location over time.
Where to get QGIS?
You can download QGIS free from their website. Although the development of QGIS has been largely carried out by volunteers, the organisation does encourage donations to keep it going.
More about maps and how we used them