C/PA 2003 XIX"' International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey 
5. THE PROPOSED FLOWCHART 
5.1 The image acquisition 
As it is already stated, the flowchart of the new proposal (Figure 
1) concerns the transformation in digital form of old maps that 
are real artefacts parts of our “recent” cultural heritage. This ty 
pe of artefacts because of their intrinsic and extrinsic properties 
should be treated in a careful and delicate manner. Especially 
the generation of their dfs require the development of a new 
know-how based on concrete theory, targeting at the same time 
to Low Cost with Optimal Response (LCOR) management 
models because the worldwide possessors of old maps are not 
only wealthy maplibraries and prosperous individuals but also 
many institutions and collectors with less available resources. 
A new know-how in this direction is required for the rational 
generation of dfs from old map originals. Scanners that are used 
in DM to create dfs of printed old map documents -or even 
worse, of manuscript old maps- may produce severe damage on 
them, which is an impermissible situation in our cartographic 
heritage documentation and management. On the other hand 
taking snapshots of old maps in the frame of IM (IM-dc, IM- 
ac/d) photogrammetric skills are a prerequisite in order to avoid 
misuses in reducing the map images properly. 
For all the above reasons a careful implementation of a per-se 
scheme is necessary requiring the testing of all possible image 
acquisition modes concerning the transformation of old maps in 
dfs. 
5.2 The processing 
The testing of the relevant dfs acquired in DM or IM (IM-dc, 
IM-ac/d) is the processing step of the proposed scheme. Images 
of different dfs of the same old map (or versions of it) are 
treated in a quantitative environment by applying a variety of 
comparative studies of a manifold of geometric and non-geo 
metric (radiometric, etc.) features. The processing can be based 
on: 
■ Conventional and non-conventional transformations 
giving point-wise and areal measures of dfs differen 
ces, for further elaborations. 
■ The cartometric analyses and the connections of the 
old map dfs with modem relevant dfs, which is the 
cartographic component of the overall scheme. 
The latter opens a huge domain of research coupling digital 
image processing of old maps with modem digital cartography 
and allows a direct interaction between raster and vector carto 
graphic processing. 
In this processing context, it is clear that a new multidiscipli 
nary area of research and implementation is emerging relating 
historical cartography with image processing, photogrammetry 
and cartography plus digital numerical analyses. 
5.3 The LCOR concept 
The final part of the new scheme proposed here, is the articu 
lation of a protocol addressed to the possessors of old maps 
aspiring digital outlooks. The basic concern for this protocol is 
to keep a reasonable balance between a Low Cost in dfs acqui 
sition and relevant processing and an Optimal Response for 
outputs that meet the basics not only of the cartographic heri 
tage requirements but also the interest for modem cartographic 
research on old maps. 
6. THE CARTOGRAPHIC INSIGHTS 
Research on the digital treatment of old maps and their properly 
derived images was one of the targets of the EC-DG X 
CartoTech project (Livieratos and Myridis, 1999, see also, e.g., 
Guerra et al., 1999; Boutoura, 2000; Balletti and Boutoura, 
2001). In order to illustrate the proposed method some 
examples are given from the digital documentation of old maps. 
Two 300 dpi dfs of the same old map (Laurenberg, 1656, Col 
lection: Holy Mt Athos Map Library by the Hellenic National 
Map Library) have been obtained in two different modes: 
■ Applying the DM 
■ Applying the IM-ac/d. 
The two dfs have been conformally best fitted in order to elimi 
nate the small rotation and scale differences without alteration 
of the form of the map. From the two images a detail was 
cropped (the island of Limnos). In Figure 2 the detail is shown 
from the df derived by the DM and in Figure 3 the counterpart 
from the df derived by the IM-ac/d. 
Figure 2. A detail of Laurenberg’s map Insularum Archipelagi 
Septentrionalis, 1665 (here the island of Limnos) 
derived by DM scanning the original. 
Figure 3. The same detail derived by IM-ac/d after a conformal 
best fitting to the image of Figure 2. 
Now the two dfs are ready to be compared in a one-to-one cor 
respondence in order to depict graphically the overall statistical 
geometric differences due the different acquisition methods ap