Friday 7 December 2012

Blitz Interactive Map Online

An interactive map showing the location of bombs dropped on London during World War II has been created.

http://www.bombsight.org/#15/51.5050/-0.0900

 It reveals the devastation caused by the Blitz over eight months. The year-long project, called Bomb Sight, was devised by a team from the University of Portsmouth using data from the National Archives.

Dr Kate Jones, the University of Portsmouth geographer who devised the project, said: "When you look at these maps and see the proliferation of bombs dropped on the capital, it does illustrate the meaning of the word Blitz, which comes from the German meaning lightning.
"It seems astonishing that London survived the onslaught."

Users can zoom in to specific streets on the map, which uses red symbols to illustrate where each bomb landed.

The project was funded by education and research charity Jisc which offers resources and expertise to educational organisations.

More than 20,000 people were killed and 1.4m people made homeless during the Blitz, which took place between 7 September 1940 and 11 May 1941.

"The original Blitz maps have been scanned and geo-referenced thanks to the National Archive and testimonials from the BBC have been incorporated together with historical images from the Imperial War Museum to create an interactive teaching and learning resource."


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