Transforming Past Into Present: A Registration Approach to Using Old and New Topographic Information to Improve the Fidelity and Value of Legacy Geologic Maps

We propose a pilot program to evaluate alternative approaches to registration of the digital versions of 1960-1978 legacy geological maps to current airborne LiDAR digital elevation models (DEMs) in areas of straightforward geology—in particular, unfaulted areas underlain by nearly horizontal Paleozoic sedimentary bedrock in central and eastern Kentucky—in order to correct for positional errors in the topographic base maps available at the time of mapping. Our approach will be to develop a non-affine mathematical transform between the legacy topographic base and currently available Kentucky statewide LiDAR topographic data, and then apply the same transform to the map polygons defining geologic formation contacts. We will consider 1) manual identification of a small number of points for transformation within standard GIS software, 2) use of image correlation functions within commercial software such as Matlab and Mathematica, and 3) use of fully-developed image correlation software such as COSI-Corr. Three 7.5’ geologic quadrangles from topographically distinct parts of Kentucky will be evaluated and field checked as part of the pilot project.