Historic Ruston Map Viewer Tutorial
This web map application is designed to offer a glimpse of Ruston, Louisiana as it existed
in the early 1920s. An accurate and detailed depiction of early Ruston is made possible by a set
of fire insurance maps from 1922 that were obtained from the Library of Congress. These maps
include building outlines and structural information, addresses, property boundaries, and much
more. In addition, Federal Census records from 1920 and 1930 were used to determine the
owners and residents of many of Ruston's first houses, the majority of which no longer exist.
The inclusion of historic photographs that are linked to the map further serve to recreate
scenes from the early years of Ruston, Louisiana.
The following guide will cover basic map navigation techniques and demonstrate how
the various buttons and tools present on the site function. A quick read through this tutorial
will help you get the most out of the web map. If further assistance is required, please contact
the Lincoln Parish GIS Office at (318) 513-6450 or send an email to
[email protected].
To access the web map, please go to the following address in your Internet browser:
http://arcgis.lincolnparish.org/gisviewerhistoricruston/index.html
Click on the “Click to continue” button that is circled in red below to enter the web map.
Navigation
Map navigation tools are located in the upper left portion of your web browser. The
tool currently being used is colored in blue while the inactive tools are green. By default, the
hand tool is selected when you first enter the site.
With the hand tool, you can left-click anywhere on the map to grab it and pan around
the map. Most of the time, you should have this tool activated.
There are two sets of zoom tools represented by plus and minus signs. In almost all
cases, you will want to use the bottom set of zoom tools that are circled in red in the picture.
To zoom in to an area of interest, click the plus sign button that is circled in red to the left.
Next, left-click on the map and drag a box around the area you would like to zoom in to.
When you release the mouse button, the map will zoom in and reveal more detail. To zoom
out, follow the same procedure with the minus sign button activated instead.
Alternatively, you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in or out. Hover
your mouse cursor over the area of interest and scroll forward to zoom in. Often times it is
much easier to keep the hand tool activated constantly and use the scroll wheel exclusively
for zooming purposes.
Accessing Additional Data
Upon entering the web map, you will see an overview map of Ruston from 1922.
Zooming in to a particular area will automatically reveal the more detailed map for that area.
These old fire insurance maps are extremely detailed and can provide a wealth of information
about Ruston in 1922, but they are still only georeferenced images. The main focus of the web
map is the accompanying GIS data that has been created from the source images. This GIS data
is what provides access to dozens of historic photographs of Ruston.
To access the GIS data and links to the historic photographs, click the box shown on the
next page. Checking this box will turn on many GIS layers that have been digitized from the
source documents.
Once the GIS layers are turned on, you may wish to turn off the underlying maps or turn
on the current aerial photography. The buttons that control these functions are in the upper
right portion of your web browser. The image below shows these buttons.
Accessing Historic Photographs
Assuming you have the GIS layers turned on and you are at a sufficient zoom level, you
should see many camera symbols with yellow spotlights pointing in various directions. Each
camera point represents an available photograph, and each spotlight is pointed in the direction
that the photograph was taken. To view a photograph, you will need to use the identify tool
that is shown below. This tool can be found at the top middle of your web browser.
First click on the identify tool, and then click on one of the camera symbols on the map.
Finally, click the symbol shown below that should be displayed in the identify box portion of
your screen.