[ISHMap-List] High-resolution images of the Lenox Globe (c. 1510) available

[Chet Van Duzer]

In January of 2015 together with my colleagues Gregory Heyworth of the
University of Mississippi, and Ken Boydston of MegaVision, I
participated in a project to image the Hunt-Lenox Globe of c. 1510 at
the New York Public Library. The three of us are members of the
Lazarus Project, which brings advanced imaging to cultural
institutions all over the world
(http://www.lazarusprojectimaging.com/). The imaging of the globe was
generously funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and was
coordinated at the NYPL by Matt Knutzen, then Geospatial Librarian,
and Michael Inman, Curator of Rare Books, to which division the globe
belongs.

The ultimate goal of the project is the generation of a very accurate
and high-resolution 3D digital model of the globe, which will permit
users to rotate and zoom in on the digital facsimile however he or she
chooses, to study even the smallest detail. The 3D model, which will
soon be released by the NYPL, was created by David Kelbe (Rochester
Institute of Technology) using a mathematical technique called
Structure from Motion. In the meantime, the NYPL has released
high-resolution 2D images of the northern and southern hemispheres of
the globe projected onto a plane, which we generated as part of this
project. Here are the links:

Northern hemisphere:
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/16891d60-66fc-0133-fbd6-00505686a51c

Southern hemisphere:
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f7a0eb50-66fb-0133-9c56-00505686a51c

On both of these pages one can zoom in on the globe to a certain
extent, but by clicking on “Original” in the “Download Options,” one
can access – for free – a 300 MB jpg of each hemisphere, and by
clicking on “All Download Options” and then “High Res (TIF format)”
one can access a very high-resolution TIF image of each hemisphere
(the TIF files are very large). With these images one can examine the
globe in great detail.

In the past, the globe’s status as one of the NYPL’s treasures has
meant that access to it was restricted, and the available images of
the globe were less than satisfactory. It was a pleasure working with
the NYPL on this project, and we hope that these images will help
scholars address current questions about the globe, and also inspire
new ones.


Best wishes,

Chet

Chet Van Duzer
The Lazarus Project
University of Mississippi