Mapquest, Google Earth, Terraserver as research tools...

[Neil in West Jersey]

While doing a mapquest search recently for directions to my son's friend's house, I realized there were placenames I did not recognize in my immediate area. While most of them were names of subdivisions, there were a few that were unknown to me. Locust Grove in particular stood out, having never seen or heard the name used locally. After some searching for the placename on the net, it turns out there was once a train line that ran right through the area, from Haddonfield to Medford, NJ with multiple stops along the way. Lodi (also known as Orchid), Springdale, Locust Grove, Cropwell to name a few.

As it turns out, Mapquest can give you door to door directions to places long gone. Take for example Washington, in Burlington County NJ*. Once the center of commerce for the area in colonial times, now nothing remains but a number of cellar holes. The nearest paved road is two miles away, yet a Mapquest search of Washington in Burlington County can get you nearly the entire way there.

Using a historic map from 1859 one is able to see where the structures once stood in Washington, and who the land owners were. Google Earth gives an accurate birds-eye view of the area from as low as 350 feet to see what the area looks like today. TopoZone - The Web's Topographic Map, and more! and TerraServer-USA are useful sites as well with both aerial maps and topographic maps going back many years. Some of the older topo maps on these two sites show structures long since gone.

I have not had the opportunity to check out the areas that the railroad stations once stood, but I pass at least one of these locations nearly every day, and one of these days I will bring my detector.

If you have not downloaded Google Earth (Google Earth ) I highly recommend it. It has led me to some of my best finds to date. And it is FREE!!!

Happy Hunting!

*Washington, Burlington County, NJ is located in the Wharton State Forest in New Jersey's Pine Barren's. It is unlawful to metal detect in the NJ State Forests. This location was used for demonstrative purposes only. It is a fascinating place to check out, along with other Pine Barrens ghost towns such as Martha, Harrisville and Mount

[Boobird]

Good tips Neil...Thanks for the info......I'm from the Franklinville area in southern NJ...Do you do any beach metal detecting....?



Boobird...

[Neil in West Jersey]

Originally Posted by Boobird

Good tips Neil...Thanks for the info......I'm from the Franklinville area in southern NJ...Do you do any beach metal detecting....?
Boobird...

I am not much of a beach hunter. In fact I detest it! Sometimes I will so it if I am on vacation, if I have no other choice. I have some good sites planned in my future in GloCo, so lets get out and do some relic hunting!!!

[rip]

US Cities Gazetteer: Data for 42,500 US Cities, Towns & ZIP Codes This is another that i like to use. It also has maps,airuel photos,and info on parks,trails etc.

[abmm]

Even the basic consumer level version of Google earth is awesome. We usually use a program called ERMapper (ER Mapper - Geospatial Imagery Solutions GIS) to do old map and aerial photo overlays onto current topo maps and aerial imagery for geocoding, but it is quite difficult to use and it takes time.

I find that you can do a similar thing with Google Earth depending on how good your eye is. You can import old aerial photos or maps and stretch them to fit the current topography shown in Google Earth. 10 minutes later you have a set of coords you can punch into the GPS or convert to map coordinates. I usually get down to GPS level accuracy on any known feature (say 10m) so it's an excellent quick and dirty way of locating a target site. Best of all, it's free!

[Neil in West Jersey]

I have been using MSN's Live Maps (Live Local Search) in conjunction with Google Earth. While it does not offer any of the features found in GE, it does have amazing high resolution low altitude photos in the Birdseye View. just find a location and click on "birdseye view". You can even view these amazing photos from different directions!

[Steve in PR]

Nice info, guys, in an area that is changing.

I use GE for beach research. I have found some new beaches to hunt from pictures that people post of a particular beach. I am seeing pictures of a lot of activity on beaches I never thought were busy or would have hunted otherwise!

[crbhood]

Rip,
I'm liking it

[Buster]

Good site Rip, Thanks a bunch...Buster....

[EPC Guy]

Great tip on Mapquest...thanks!