Georeferencing and digitizing a historical Sanborn fire insurance map

• Question. What did a block of Hollywood look like in 1950, building by building?

• Data. 1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map (Los Angeles, vol. 10).

• Methods

  • Georeferenced the scanned Sanborn sheet to modern coordinates using street intersections as control points.

  • Digitized 287 building footprints and coded each by construction type and use from Sanborn symbology.

• Findings. The result is a GIS-ready historical building inventory that can be compared with today’s land use.

• Tools. ArcGIS Pro (Georeferencing, Editing)

• Images. Sanborn sheet with digitized buildings overlaid