EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Contents
Contents ..................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2
Start Ancient Roam .................................................................................................... 3
Ancient Roam overview.............................................................................................. 4
Searching for a location.............................................................................................. 5
Viewing Historical Maps ............................................................................................. 9
Overlapping maps .................................................................................................... 14
Measurement tools ................................................................................................... 17
Viewing two maps side by side ................................................................................ 20
Map Information ....................................................................................................... 21
Map details ............................................................................................................... 22
My Maps ................................................................................................................... 23
Print .......................................................................................................................... 24
Understanding Ancient Roam map views ................................................................. 26
Town Plans .............................................................................................................. 29
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Introduction
Ancient Roam enables you to view and print historical Ordnance Survey maps, dating from
the 1840s - 1990s, at 12 pre-defined scales, or map views.
Ancient Roam uses three different sets of Historic map data:
 County Series maps at 1:2,500 and 1:10560 scales published between 1843 and
1939,
 Town Plan maps at 1:500, 1:528 and 1:1056 scales published from 1848 and 1939,
for towns with a population in excess of 4000 at the time of survey,
 National Grid maps at 1:1,250, 1:2,500 and 1:10560/10,000 scales, published from
1945 – 1990s (before the introduction of the Ordnance Survey's digital Land-Line
product).
For more detail on the pre-defined scales, or map views, see the section Understanding map
views.
In addition, there are 5 pre-defined small scale map views of contemporary mapping for
reference, to help you locate your area of interest.
Ancient Roam maps cannot currently be printed. However, you can save an image of your
map which you can then insert into documents.
Objectives
By the end of this guide you will be able to to:

Search for map locations using place names and postcodes

Use the timeline to switch between maps from different periods

Zoom in and out of your map to a different view

Move around to change the area covered by your map

Measure distances or areas on your map

Select between overlapping maps

Print your map
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Start Ancient Roam

Go to: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap

Follow the login process

Select Historic Digimap

Select Ancient Roam
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Ancient Roam overview
This image highlights the key features of Ancient Roam:
Map tools: zoom,
navigate, view 2 maps,
next/previous map
Task menu:
Search, Overview
map, Map Info,
MyMaps, Over
lapping maps
Map pane
Hints & Tips
Note: To hide or display the Task Menu or Hints & Tips click the
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or
icons.
EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Searching for a location
You can search for a location in Ancient Roam using a place name, postcode or grid
reference.
To search using a place name, or postcode:
Searching for a location using a place name or postcode will generate a historic map.

Click Search in the Task Menu on the left.

Type the place name1 or full postcode in the search box and click Find.

If there is more than one match for your place name, the search results
will be displayed.

Click once on the place name you require, e.g. Canterbury :
1
The place name database used is the Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 Scale Gazetteer. You
cannot use street names.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
The first search after you login generates the earliest map available for that location, e.g.
for Canterbury the earliest map available is from the 1870s (highlighted in red on the
timeline):
We can now view maps from different time periods by selecting decades in the Timeline. We
can also zoom in and out to view more, or less, detailed maps. See Viewing Historical Maps
for more information.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
To search using a Grid Reference
8 figure grid references will generate the earliest historic map available for that location,
e.g.:

Type the 8 figure grid reference, TQ245648, in the box and click Find:
We can now view maps from different time periods by selecting decades in the Timeline. We
can also zoom in and out to view more, or less, detailed maps. See Viewing Historical Maps
for more information.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Grid references and Contemporary mapping
Note that the map view returned will depend on your grid reference.
Only 8 character grid references return a historical map view. Less detailed grid references
will return a contemporary map.
The Contemporary mapping views help you confirm you are in the right area. You can now
zoom in to find Historical Maps for that area.
Example grid
reference
View generated
View type
Scale
TQ
Metropolitan View
Contemporary
1:280 000
TQ26
District View
Contemporary
1:70 000
TQ2464
County View
Contemporary
1:28 000
TQ245648
Shire View 3
Historical
1:15 000
TQ26 generates a District View – note that the Contemporary button is highlighted in the
Timeline:
From this Contemporary view, we need to zoom in a historical map view to activate the
Timeline and start to view maps from different time periods. See Viewing Historical Maps for
more information.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Viewing Historical Maps
Timeline
The Timeline is located above the map pane. The timeline is not activated until a historical
map is generated.
It shows the availability of historical maps over each decade, for the current location and
view level. Simply click on a decade to view the available map.

The currently selected decade is highlighted in red e.g.

Decades highlighted in blue
mean there are maps available for that decade.
Where there is more than one map available in a decade, the earliest map is
shown.

Decades that are greyed out like this
mean there are no historical maps
available for that decade, at that location and map view.
Note: The decade selection is retained as you zoom and pan around the maps. This means
you may end up in an area where there are no maps available for the selected decade at
that view level.
If that happens, you will see this message:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Your options are:
1. Select a different decade
2. Zoom in or out to a different view – see Navigating Ancient Roam
3. Pan around to a new location - see Navigating Ancient Roam
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Navigating Ancient Roam
You can navigate in Ancient Roam in four ways:
1. Panning (moving the map in any direction)
2. Zooming in and out of the map
3. Using the contemporary overview map in the Tasks menu
4. Using the GB, back and forward icons.
1. To pan you can either:

Click and drag the map i.e. click and hold the left mouse button, then drag to move
the map.

Use the navigation control to move north, south, east or west:
2. To zoom in/out of the map, you can:

Double click to zoom in

Use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in or out.

Use the drag and zoom tool
to zoom to a specific area. Select the tool, then click
on the map and drag to draw a box where you want to zoom.

Use the zoom slider bar to zoom in or out:

Click the

Click and drag the blue marker

Or click anywhere on the slider bar to zoom to that map view.
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to zoom in and click the
to zoom out.
to zoom in or out.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
3. The Overview Map uses contemporary data to show your current location in a larger
geographical area and to quickly pan the map to a different area.
To use the overview map:

Click Overview Map in the Task Menu.

Click and drag the red outlined box to pan to a new location. The main map will
update to reflect the new location.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
4. GB, back and forward icons.

Click the GB map icon

Click the back icon

Click the forward icon
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to return to GB view (the most zoomed out view).
to return to previous map.
to move to the next map.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Overlapping maps
What do I do when maps overlap?
When you hit an area with overlapping maps in Ancient Roam, the Overlapping Map
Selection in the Task menu will be highlighted in red.
In some cases, the overlap doesn't cause any problems and you may not need to select
which county to view.
In other cases, the overlaps will cause the map to look very messy and blurry (as shown
below). This is because the area has been surveyed and mapped several times and all the
individual maps for that single area are displayed on top of each other.
Selecting a single county to view will display a clearer map.
To view a single county:

Click on Overlapping Map Selection. Select a single county either by clicking on the
map or the county name, e.g. Middlesex.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
The list will update to reflect the map selected. Your map should become less blurry, as in
this example:

To clear the selection and see all overlaps either click the 'All' link or click on the map
outside the county boundaries. Panning to an area out with the overlap will also clear
the county selection.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Why do maps overlap?
Ancient Roam uses three different sets of Historic map data:
 County Series maps at 1:2,500 and 1:10560 scales published between 1843 and
1939
 Town Plan maps at 1:500, 1:528 and 1:1056 scales published from 1848 and 1939;
 National Grid maps at 1:1,250, 1:2,500 and 1:10560/10,000 scales published from
1945 until the 1990s (before the introduction of the Ordnance Survey's digital LandLine product).
Overlapping maps occur in the County Series mapping as these maps were produced from
individual county surveys, rather than national surveys.
Please see the County Series Map Overlaps help page for a detailed explanation of why
these maps overlap.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Measurement tools
Ancient Roam’s measurement tools allow you to easily check the distance between two or
more points and find out the area of a polygon you draw on the map.
Activate the Measurement tools by clicking the icon at the top right of the Roam window:
The tools open in the Roam window.

Option – click and drag on the Measurement Tools box to move the tools to a
different location in the Ancient Roam window.

Click the Measure Distance icon to activate the tool:

Click on the map at the point where you wish to start measuring.

Continue to click at each point of the line/shape you wish to measure.

Double click to finish measuring – the distance of your line/shape is given in the
Measurement Tools box, in red text.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Distance of your line
shown in the
Measurement tools
box
Pink dotted
line is created
from your
clicks
NOTE: the line is not retained when you print your map.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Measure Area

Click the Measure Area icon to activate the tool:

Click on the map at the point where you wish to start measuring.

Continue to click at each point of the shape you wish to measure – an area of
pink shading is drawn on your map.

Double click to finish measuring – the distance of your area is given in the
Measurement Tools box, in red text, in m2 or km2.
Pink shaded
area reflects
area
measured
NOTE: the shaded area is not retained when you print your map.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Viewing two maps side by side
The 2up View feature of Ancient Roam shows two historical maps of the same location but
from different decades.
This allows places to be shown side by side to see how the landscape has changed over
time.
To view a place in the 2up View:

Search or navigate to your chosen location.

Click the 2up View icon
in the top right of the window. The same map will appear
in both map panes of the 2up View.

Select the decades for the maps that you wish to view by clicking the decades in the
Timelines. Each Timeline controls the decade selection for the map beneath it.

You can change the view level and pan in either of the map windows. Changing the
view level or panning in either map will also change the other map. Both maps will
always be of the same location.

To view one of the 2up View maps back in the main map pane, click the View this
map 1up icon

below the map you wish to view.
You can also switch back to the main map pane by clicking the 1up View icon
the top right. This will load the map from the left hand pane into the 1up View.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Map Information
The map information option in the Task Menu tells you the geographical coordinates for your
current map. It also identifies the coordinates for your cursor.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Map details
Click once anywhere on the map panel to get information about the map you are viewing:

Click the X at the top right of the Map Details pop up, or press Esc on your keyboard,
to close the pop up.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
My Maps
My Maps enables you to save maps for later; to redraw either in this session, or next time
you login. You can store up to 200 maps.
Save a map

Click My Maps in the Task Menu.

Click Save Current map

Enter a map title – map titles can only be 30 characters long:

Click OK.
.
Your saved map will now be listed:
Saved maps - options

Click once on any saved map to view it.

Sort the list of saved maps by clicking the column headings.

Rename any map by double clicking the map title and entering a new name.

Check the box next to a map, then click Delete Selected to remove it.
NB: My Maps does not save Overlapping County Selection. If the saved location contains
Overlapping Counties, you need to reselect the county you wish to view.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Print

Click the Print icon at the top right:

A new browser window opens – do not close your Ancient Roam window.

Check that you are happy with the area covered by your map – click and drag in the
preview window to move the area:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Set Print Options in the left hand column:

Option – input a Title.

Option – check the National Grid Lines box to have national grid lines on your map.

Select your size and orientation, e.g. A4 Landscape.

Click Generate print file.
A box will open when your PDF print file is ready, where you can select to open the file or
save it to your computer:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Understanding Ancient Roam map views
Ancient Roam has 17 different map views, or pre-defined map scales.
Modern map views
The 5 smallest scale views (i.e. the 5 most zoomed out views) consist of contemporary
Ordnance Survey map data. These views are intended as reference for you to locate your
area of interest more easily. These views are highlighted by the 'Modern' section of the zoom
slider.
Modern View
Map Product
Display Scale
GB
Digital Chart of the World
country outlines
1:6000000
Regional
OS Miniscale®
1:850000
Metropolitan
OS Miniscale®
1:280000
District
OS Miniscale®
1:70000
County
OS 1:50 000 Colour Raster
1:28000
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Historic map views
There are 12 historical map views. The views are created from three sets of historical map
data. The map data selected to create a view is based on the scale of the map view.
Ancient Roam uses three different sets of Historic map data:
 County Series maps at 1:2,500 and 1:10560 scales published between 1843 and
1939
 Town Plan maps at 1:500, 1:528 and 1:1056 scales published from 1848 and 1939;
 National Grid maps at 1:1,250, 1:2,500 and 1:10560/10,000 scales published from
1945 until the 1990s (before the introduction of the Ordnance Survey's digital LandLine product).
Overlapping maps occur in the County Series mapping as these maps were produced from
individual county surveys, rather than national surveys. Please see the County Series Map
Overlaps help page for a detailed explanation of why these maps overlap.
Shire views are the least detailed. Plan views are the most detailed.
The historical map views are highlighted by the 'Historical' section of the zoom slider.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Historic View
Shire views 1-4
Map Products
Display Scales

1:10560 County Series
Shire View 1, 1:20000

1:10560 National Grid
Series
Shire view 2, 1:15000
Shire view 3, 1:10000

1:10000 National Grid
Series
Shire view 4, 1:7500

1:2500 County Series
Parish view 1, 1:5000

1:2500 National Grid
Series
Parish view 2, 1:2500

1:2500 County Series
Street view 1, 1:1800

1:2500 National Grid
Series
Street view 2, 1:1250
Plan views 1-4

1:1056 Town Plans
Plan view 1, 1:1000
(see Town Plans)

Plan view 2, 1: 750
N.B. Plan views only
available pre WWII
1:1250 National Grid
Series

1:500

1:528 Town Plans
Parish views 1-2
Street views 1-2
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Plan view 3, 1:500
Plan view 4, 1:250
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EDINA Digimap Training: Historic Digimap – Ancient Roam
Town Plans
Town Plans are the earliest, most detailed, maps produced by Ordnance Survey. They were
produced from 1848 – 1939, for towns with a population in excess of 4,000 at the time of
survey. A list of the towns covered by Town Plans is available in the Historic Digimap Help
Pages.
In Ancient Roam, Town Plans comprise the four most detailed Historic map views (Plan
Views 1, 2, 3 and 4).
To view the Town Plans:

Search for or navigate to your location of interest

Zoom into the most detailed historical map views (Plan View 1, 2, 3 or 4)

Select 1930s or earlier from the timeline (if those decades are available)
Hint: Some towns were only surveyed at the most detailed scale (1:500). If you zoom to the
Plan View 1 and there are no maps available, keep zooming in. It may be that the maps are
only available at the most detailed map views (Plan View 3 & 4).
Example Town Plan map
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