The Stanford Libraries Summer 2025 Map Bootcamp is open to anyone with an active SUNet ID interested in incorporating geographic information, spatial data, and historic map reading skills into their research. We welcome undergraduate and graduate researchers, Stanford summer interns, visiting scholars, postdoctoral candidates, faculty, and staff from any department, program, major, or discipline.

By the end of the workshop, participants will have created their own interactive web maps from images of paper maps.

​No prior experience with maps, spatial data, or GIS is required!

When & Where:

This workshop series consists of five sessions hosted in-person only in Hobach Hall (Green Library, East Wing).

• Mon. Aug. 04 - Thurs. Aug. 07, 2025 from 1:00-3:00 pm: Workshop + Q&A
• Friday Aug. 08, 2025, 1:00-4:00 pm: Map clinic (working time for map customization or project work in consultation with map and GIS librarians)
• Each day's session will build on previous sessions but you may also drop in as you are available!

Please register for this event.

This workshop series will guide participants through the process of transforming images of historical paper maps into computationally accessible geospatial data. Using web native tools and workflows, participants will learn to locate, georeference, extract data, and integrate images and data into interactive web applications. This hands-on experience is ideal for anyone interested in the use of historical cartography in research.

Participants will explore:  

• Finding maps in digital collections using various search strategies
• Working with map images served via the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)
• Georeferencing images of paper maps into modern coordinate systems.
• Extracting spatial data from georeferenced map images
• Building interactive web maps using modern web tools