The Aerial History Project: Studying Human Development with Aerial Photos

This spring marks the 10th anniversary of the David Rumsey Map Center, located in the Cecil H. Green Library. To commemorate this milestone, join us for a special presentation by the Doerr School of Sustainability’s Global Policy Lab and hear from the Rumsey Center's supporters and staff as they look back on the past ten years.

Solomon Hsiang of the Global Policy Lab will present his talk, The Aerial History Project: studying human development with 1.7 million aerial photos, about the international effort to restore, digitize, stitch, and study a massive collection of aerial photography collected by the United Kingdom beginning in 1946 across 65 countries in the then British Empire. The Global Policy Lab uses machine learning to transform this image-based record into structured geographic information to gain insights into human development throughout Africa and the Caribbean during the 20th century. We are excited to mark our 10th anniversary with discussion of a project that weaves archives and technology together, much in the spirit of the David Rumsey Map Center.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher David Rumsey Map Center