Historical light aids to navigation 1514-1911

Buxton-Dunn, Oliver and Alvrez-Palau, Eduard and Bogart, Dan and Shaw-Taylor, Leigh (2020). Historical light aids to navigation 1514-1911. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-854172

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Data description (abstract)

This dataset for Historical Light Aids to Navigation (LAN) shows the development of historical lighthouses, lightships, harbour lights and beacons in England and Wales for several benchmark years between 1514-1911. The database was created using primary and secondary historical sources, including UK Admiralty publications and navigational charts, and the scholarly literature. Lighting systems found in these sources were recorded in a spreadsheet and manually located and given modern decimal coordinates using geographical information systems (GIS). This arrangement gives very good coverage of historical lighthouses and allows analysis of infrastructural change or otherwise at lighthouse locations over time. We recorded attributes for each named light, including number of lights, visibility range, and height of lantern. The data set is provided in shape-file and Excel spreadsheet file formats and is compatible with GIS.

Data creators:
Creator Name Affiliation ORCID (as URL)
Buxton-Dunn Oliver Cambridge University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5965-8654
Alvrez-Palau Eduard Universitat Oberta de Catalunya https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0368-9344
Bogart Dan University of California Irvine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0011-3190
Shaw-Taylor Leigh University of Cambridge https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3703-7689
Sponsors: Keynes Fund, Cambridge
Topic classification: Transport and travel
History
Economics
Keywords: LIGHTHOUSES, NAVIGATION RECORDS, HARBOUR AND COASTAL ENGINEERING, ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE, VISIBILITY, TRANSPORTATION
Date published: 29 Oct 2020 12:11
Last modified: 30 Oct 2020 11:04

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