American Water Resources Association
The City's Underground Revealed
Presented by:
Adam Levine
ABSTRACT:
Few people know that historic topographical maps are available for a part of Philadelphia, in a GIS layer. Some of these maps are more than 200 years old, and they reveal hills and valleys, buildings, quarries, hundreds of miles of buried stream beds, original shorelines and tidal marshes, and many other features that were buried as the city was leveled for development. Besides providing a fascinating peek at the city’s historical landscape and being beautiful artifacts in themselves, these plans have helped the Philadelphia Water Department site its GIS structures, and could offer a variety of other uses for anyone doing any excavations in the city as part of their work. Adam Levine will talk about the five year project in which these plans were discovered, and share some of his favorites.
SPEAKER BIOS:
Since 1998 Adam Levine has done extensive research into the historical topography of Philadelphia, mostly as a consultant to the Philadelphia Water Department. As part of this work, he manages the PWD Historical Collection, and maintains an extensive website of watershed and water supply material at WaterHistoryPHL.org. He has lectured widely on this research, and is currently working on a book documenting Philadelphia's landscape history. He is also curator of an exhibit, “Lost Creeks of Philadelphia: Burying the Streams, Building the City,” on display at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia until May 16.
Engineers:
This seminar qualifies for 1.0 Professional Development Hour (PDH). A Certificate of Attendance will be available for AWRA-PMAS members only. The meeting price for non-members who wish to receive a Certificate of Attendance for the PDH is $10.00 ($3.00 for meeting + $7.00 for certificate).
Please note:
Thank you!