Intersecting Digital Archives and GIS Technologies:  Bringing IIIF Images to GIS Environments

1. Abstract

Since its publication in 2011,  International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) has been widely adopted by archival institutions in particular.  Among the image resources that are served on IIIF-compatible servers, many contain geographical references, whether images at or about certain places or historical maps for particular geographical regions. Due to the high cost of georeferencing, many archival institutions only digitize their resources and stop before georeferencing those images. Currently, IIIF does not address the issue of geo-referencing or geospatial metadata.

This paper describes a Web-based service that allows users to associate IIIF images with geographical coordinates in a much easier and more feasible way than georeferencing.

By associating IIIF images with geo-coordinates, it enables digitized cultural heritage images to be searched by their geographical locations rather than just by their metadata. It also enables them to be used with GIS technologies for geospatial observation and research.