Bomb map of Britain during WW2. Anybody had any joy with this please??

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by Mark Potts, Jan 18, 2023.

  1. Mark Potts

    Mark Potts Well-Known Member

    Hi all, been trying to access the bombing of Britain map during WW2 which seems a fantastic research tool for amateur historians. Has anybody got a working link for the map please, as I would love to research my local area of Crewe. Thanks for reading, best wishes, Mark.
     

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  2. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  3. ARPCDHG

    ARPCDHG Member

    At first, they teased viewers with making it free - then it was so popular it crashed. Shortly afterwards they stopped the free access and now they only seem to make it available to institutions such as universities for a hefty price.
     
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  4. Mark Potts

    Mark Potts Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the replies guys. Mark.
     
  5. Reid

    Reid Historian & Architectural Photographer

    Yes, I asked my uni if they could subscribe and to date (6 years later) never been signed up for. It was a great site and I enjoyed looking at various places on the map for info when it was first released, now it's a simply resource that is lost to the masses only available to the few. :(

    Completely in conflict with their original edict:

    "This map will be a fantastic resource, not only for military and social historians, but for anyone interested in the impact of wartime air raids across the UK."
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2023
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  6. S Hayward

    S Hayward Well-Known Member

    They don't have a data portal or WMS portal for the map data at all do they?
     
  7. Reid

    Reid Historian & Architectural Photographer

    The original site had the datasets, but this has disappeared and visitors are redirected to "History Commons". There were, however, a lot of articles from the NA relating to bombings which I believe was used to create said datasets originally, but you have to be affiliated with an institution to access the files..:rolleyes:
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2023
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  8. S Hayward

    S Hayward Well-Known Member

    Thanks, and yeah shame about the affiliation requirement does make me wonder if they were forced to take it down for some reason.
     
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  9. Mark Potts

    Mark Potts Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the replies guys. Mark
     
  10. Reid

    Reid Historian & Architectural Photographer

    I might be cynical, but I'm thinking they're looking to make some return on the work they put in. And I'm kicking myself that I didn't keep the darn spreadsheet when I downloaded it ages ago.o_O
     
  11. Reid

    Reid Historian & Architectural Photographer

    After reading this thread a couple of weeks ago, I decided to contact the NA about their (misleading) webpage and disappointment that the original information had been lost. I also enquired if they might be aware of the who had the original datasets and if these might be accessible.

    My enquiry was promptly answered and the questions raised were passed to a team at NA who would have a better idea of how to tackle them. Today I receive a reply that their webpage pertaining to the datasets and other information had been updated, and they also provided links to the datasets and other information that may be useful.

    I hadn't actually thought of using The Wayback Machine, which is a superb way of seeing how websites (defunct or still in operation) transformed from their first incarnation until today. Incredibly, the datasets are still accessible and can be downloaded as an Excel file!

    For anyone interested, these are the links the NA provided and for those who aren't interested in the extra material, I've attached the dataset spreadsheet separately.

    Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements - War, State and Society (archive.org)
    Methodology: Methodology - War, State and Society (archive.org)
    Data set: (downloads as a excel file) Wayback Machine (archive.org)
    Essay: Essay - War, State and Society (archive.org)
    Archived version of the main website: Bombing Britain - War, State and Society (archive.org)
     

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  12. S Hayward

    S Hayward Well-Known Member

    Well Done asking and finding out!

    Just to double check there are no grid references in that spreadsheet are there? I cant see any. We can probably use a UK gazetteer to plot them based on the place names if need-be but just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious.

    BR,
    SH
     
  13. ARPCDHG

    ARPCDHG Member

    Well done for asking. But I have to say, the data sets are not that great and are very general. The interactive map was much better/useful.
     
  14. Reid

    Reid Historian & Architectural Photographer

    I agree, the map was far more useful and much easier to navigate.

    Such a great pity they pulled it - seems their promise that: "This map will be a fantastic resource, not only for military and social historians, but for anyone interested in the impact of wartime air raids across the UK." was nothing more than clickbait and wishful thinking . . .
     
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  15. Reid

    Reid Historian & Architectural Photographer

    It appears not; I thought the original list did have grid references but I can't currently find to check.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2023
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