Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway
The project is run by the University of North Carolina. It takes the form of a website that provides access to primary source documents about the North Carolina and Virginia sections of the Parkway in one place. These primary sources can be organized and viewed in several ways. It is possible to look at sources specific to a specific region, date, or subject. If I wanted to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway and wanted to know about a specific region of it when planning the trip, I could GeoBrowse the Parkway and select a specific region from the map and view all of the documents that concern that region.
The project also has numerous maps from throughout the history of the Parkway that can be viewed using Google satellite imaging or Geographic Information System (GIS) software. When viewing the maps with Google, they are aligned with and overlay current maps from the region. It is possible to change the opacity of the overlay map. Adjusting the opacity shows how the maps from the past compare to the current topography.
This project provides a unique resource for numerous groups of people. Travelers and tourists can view the project to explore the Parkway as it is today before visiting. It also provides a central location for all of the primary sources pertaining to the Parkway from its creation to present. Local historians could view the documents and see how the construction of the Parkway affected the people and economy of the area.
The project is almost ten years old so it does have its downsides. The interface is not as accessible and does not look up to date compared to current projects. However, it is still fairly easy to navigate. There are tabs along the top of the page that provide information about the Parkway. The explore tab allows the user to select how they view the documents concerning the Parkway. There is also a tab about the various overlooks on the Parkway.
Overall, it is a unique and interactive tool that expanded my understanding of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Despite having been there numerous times, I wasn't aware of much of the history until viewing this digital humanities project.