A Geo-enabled Learning and Discovery 

Florida International University (FIU) Library’s GIS Center and Digital Collection Center (DCC) teamed up with FIU’s Department of Landscape Architecture to create a Coral Gables Virtual History in a geospatially enabled web environment. A geo-database was constructed to host digitized and rectified historical building prints, property parcels, aerial photographs, boundaries, streets, vegetation, landscape and architectural landmarks of the City of Coral Gables. A virtual walking tour of Coral Gables was created with photographs, audio narration of history, and auto-pilot navigation tools. 3D simulation of significant landmarks provides the façade of the historical buildings and landscape. A navigation and retrieval system was built upon Google Earth and Google Maps to deliver the most intuitive and familiar interface. Over 8,000 existing digitized historical documents, photographs, oral histories, and maps were spatially registered to their relevant locations and time.

View a presentation of the project