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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: Greenland on Saturday 11 January 14 14:38 GMT (UK)

Title: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Saturday 11 January 14 14:38 GMT (UK)
I have not tried to access mapco.net over the past few months but used to make use of it very frequently some while ago.  During the last few days I have been able to call up the home page but maps are not presenting on screen when selected.  I receive the following message:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Apache Server at london1864.com Port 80

I am not a techie so do not understand the message presenting each time.  I haven not had similar problems before and I am wondering whether the website is being upgraded or whether it no longer has free access.  There is no indication of what the problem might be on the website itself.

Thank you for any help given.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Ruskie on Saturday 11 January 14 14:44 GMT (UK)
I am getting the same message. No idea what the problem is.
Is there any particular map you are looking for?
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Saturday 11 January 14 14:57 GMT (UK)
I was hoping to view a map of Southwark, London during the 1860's and there are at least three on the website I know of, Cross, Stamford and Whitbread.   I have clicked on the London tab and the results are the same.  No access.  It will be so sad if this website is no longer functioning!  It has been very, very useful for people with London ancestors.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: california dreamin on Saturday 11 January 14 15:06 GMT (UK)
What a disaster.  I have made alot of use of the 1860 map also.  In fact, it was the most helpful tool I used in tracing my Brown ancestors around London.  I hope it is up and running again soon.  Maybe it is just under maintenance.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Saturday 11 January 14 15:21 GMT (UK)
Let us hope it is undergoing maintenance but it has been out of action for several days and usually a notice is inserted somewhere on the website to this effect.  The website has always called for donations so perhaps there is a financial problem in maintaining a webside like this with free access.

Thank you for the responses anyway as I now know it is not my pc.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: stanmapstone on Saturday 11 January 14 16:54 GMT (UK)
There is the Ordnance Survey Map, London, Five feet to the Mile, 1893-1896 at http://maps.nls.uk/os/london-1890s/index.html?

Stan
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Saturday 11 January 14 17:09 GMT (UK)
Thank you Stan.  That is an excellent one which I have used often but is just a bit late for my purposes.  Another fairly good one for Southwark can be found here

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200212/egovernment/1776/old_maps_of_southwark/
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: sarah on Sunday 12 January 14 15:26 GMT (UK)
I find this website great for Maps..

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genmaps/index.html

I have linked to all the different counties it covers under the Resources pages  :)

Sarah
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Midase on Sunday 12 January 14 15:51 GMT (UK)
Re the Mapco site. It seems that the site is either undergoing a rebuild or has been taken off the server.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Trishanne on Sunday 12 January 14 18:06 GMT (UK)
Thanks for the link Sarah, I have added it to my favourites.
Title: Re:mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning? COMPLETED
Post by: Greenland on Sunday 12 January 14 20:09 GMT (UK)
Thank you Sarah for the link you included in your response.  It is a good site too with many, many maps.  I was hoping to use a close up of an 1860s Mapco.net map of the streets of Southwark to compare a street layout with a modern map.  Normally when wanting to make a comparison, I have always gone to the Mapco website which provided the excellent means for doing so.

It looks as though 'Midase' has interpreted the error message correctly:  The site is either no longer available, is being upgraded or has been moved to another server.  I am not sure whether this means it will be available in the future under a similar name so that it is clearly identifiable.   Thank you too for your thoughts on this 'Midase'.

Trishanne, I too have Sarah's link in my Favourites and agree, it is most useful.

I am hoping to track down Mapco again though, I think it is hard to beat for people with London ancestors.  Thank you all.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Koromo on Monday 13 January 14 09:30 GMT (UK)

There are some maps at http://www.motco.com/map/ (http://www.motco.com/map/) including a 6 inches to the mile edition of a London map (1861 with Southwark).  I do find that the site navigation is not very intuitive and it aways confuses me.

Meanwhile, I'm crossing fingers, etc. in the hope that mapco.net resurfaces soon.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning? COMPLETE
Post by: Greenland on Monday 13 January 14 09:55 GMT (UK)
Thank you Koromo, that has been most helpful.  It was a little difficult to navigate on the site, as you suggested, but I it has helped me to achieve my objective so that is great.  Many thanks - I have added this to my Favourites.
Title: mapco gone away?
Post by: bugbear on Tuesday 21 January 14 09:31 GMT (UK)
My favourite (by far *) source of historic London maps is currently showing errors on all pages, including the home page.

Anyone know anything?

 BugBear

(*) in fact the only other one I use is London Ancestor's boundary commission maps, 1885

http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/maps.htm


Topics merged , please see previous posts.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: sarah on Tuesday 21 January 14 10:20 GMT (UK)

I found an email address for Mapco yesterday, so sent a little message lets hope we hear back with some good news.

Regards

Sarah :)
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Tuesday 21 January 14 11:27 GMT (UK)
Sarah, yes, let us hope we have a positive response from Mapco.  Thanks for taking this on.

Bugbear, you too are missing Mapco!  It really was a fantastic interactive resource for the genealogist.  Thank you for your link to the maps on LondonAncestor.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: bugbear on Tuesday 21 January 14 11:34 GMT (UK)
Sarah, yes, let us hope we have a positive response from Mapco.  Thanks for taking this on.

Bugbear, you too are missing Mapco!  It really was a fantastic interactive resource for the genealogist.  Thank you for your link to the maps on LondonAncestor.

You might find this interesting:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=666647.msg5117872#msg5117872

Although I think this:

http://maps.nls.uk/os/london-1890s/index.html?

makes it unimportant.

 BugBear
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Tuesday 21 January 14 11:57 GMT (UK)
Bugbear, the National Library of Scotland map is fantastic and has been of great help to me in the last couple of months since I became aware of it and would recommend it to anybody doing London research for that time period.  However, London has changed and the fantastic thing about Mapco was that it allowed one to see the city's growth and changes over hundreds of years through its map collection.  You are obviously a techie  and while I much admire your teaser map, I am not confident that I would be able to achieve a similar result even after downloading the appropriate software!

Thank you for your contribution to this topic.  I am sure others will find it of interest.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: allmat on Saturday 25 January 14 19:01 GMT (UK)
I emailed David Hale (the site owner) on 13 Jan and he replied later in the day (he's in Australia) saying

"Yes, the MAPCO website is down, for both technical and financial reasons. It is generating too much traffic and server load, and the only way to address this was to close the site.
At this stage I am uncertain when, or if, it will return."

I replied saying

"Hello David
I'm truly sorry to hear that.  I've been using and recommending your site for several years - it's invaluable.  Clearly the technical issues of traffic and server load are a consequence of its success.
Sadly I didn't think (as I suppose did most others) that there might be a funding issue.  Is there anything that can be done to assist?  I'm quite certain I wouldn't be alone in saying that I'd happily contribute (either once off or more regularly) if that would help."

I haven't had a reply.

Dick Mathews
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Saturday 25 January 14 20:22 GMT (UK)
Dick, thank you for taking this up with David Hale.  The amount of traffic speaks for itself - a successful site indeed and popular because of its generous free access and perhaps therein lies the problem, as you suggest.  Thanks to David Hale anyway for all the help his maps gave me in the past!
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: jackhonour on Tuesday 04 February 14 18:19 GMT (UK)
How did the maps on Mapco come about and did copyright have to be paid?

If not, could some of us make a Picasa page or something and put them all on there - it would be better than having them permanently offline.

Just a thought.

Jack
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Tuesday 04 February 14 21:40 GMT (UK)
Jacki, I am not sure how the website owner managed to give people access to such an array of maps and therefore cannot say how your idea would work especially with regard to copyright.  In reply #18 posted, you will see that Dick Matthews has been in touch with the website owner and for the moment it does not look as though it will be up and run shortly, if at all.  So disappointing. 
Glynis
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: tezzer on Thursday 06 February 14 07:09 GMT (UK)
What a pity MAPCO.NET is down. I used to use the London maps all the time in my family history research. There was a couple of maps of London which where quite highly detailed, covering the period between 1830 and 1890. Does any one know if copies of these great maps are available to buy
                                Thanks
                                             Tezzer 
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: bugbear on Thursday 06 February 14 08:52 GMT (UK)
What a pity MAPCO.NET is down. I used to use the London maps all the time in my family history research. There was a couple of maps of London which where quite highly detailed, covering the period between 1830 and 1890. Does any one know if copies of these great maps are available to buy
                                Thanks
                                             Tezzer

1830(ish) is still online

http://users.bathspa.ac.uk/greenwood/

http://www.motco.com/Map/81003/

 BugBear
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: tezzer on Friday 07 February 14 07:33 GMT (UK)
Thanks for the link bugbear     I have used the Mapco site for ages now and getting used to it not being there will be hard it was so easy to find an address on a record or cert then find the address on the corresponding map of around that time .     I read an old post of yours concerning Tottenham lido I went to school next door in the 70s and used it most dinner times while at school but I must admit I don't remember a restaurant 
                                                      Tezzer
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: dawnsh on Friday 07 February 14 09:31 GMT (UK)
Hi Sarah

Could you suggest to David Hale a way of getting the Mapco site some help?

It would be a great shame if it disappeared forever.

Dawn
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Greenland on Friday 21 February 14 19:54 GMT (UK)
Great news everyone - mapco.net (click on London Maps tab for London) appears to be up and running again.  What a relief and thanks to the owner of this website for allowing the public access again.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Koromo on Friday 21 February 14 21:36 GMT (UK)

I was quite depressed about the loss of Mapco so it is wonderful news, and all kudos to the owner. Providing such hi-res images must really hammer the bandwidth costs.  I'm delighted and very, very grateful.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: Gaie on Friday 21 February 14 21:57 GMT (UK)
Hooray  ;D

Thanks to the mapco site owner and thanks for keeping us updated.

Gaie
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: osmposm on Sunday 02 March 14 15:41 GMT (UK)
Yes, like others here I am surprised and absolutely delighted to find that the Mapco site is up and running again. It really is the most superlative resource, and I have used it in innumerable research projects. I am deeply grateful to the owner for creating it in the first place, for adding to it so energetically over the years, and now for bringing it back to us after a deeply depressing absence.

Its free access has been a joy, of course, but perhaps we are not being realistic. I, for one, would be happy to subscribe to it, assuming the cost is low. Perhaps the model of the IHR/Univ of London's excellent British History Online website is one to consider: some maps could be free, but a premium subscription - say £30 p.a. - could give access to the full range.

Meanwhile I am off there now to make a donation: it is richly deserved.
Title: Re: mapco.net - is this free, wonderful old map site still functioning?
Post by: osmposm on Monday 10 March 14 13:43 GMT (UK)
Further info about the site, and some concerns still, at least in the short-term. I, too, wrote to David Hale in South Australia, who replied thus:

Thank you for your very kind message, and for the donation to the MAPCO website. It is greatly appreciated! MAPCO is an entirely self-funded project, and I need to cover costs through any donations provided. Every little bit helps. Sincere thanks!

I have managed to secure the continuation of the site for the moment. I have been in constant contact with the U.S. host provider who were emailing every 2 days saying that the site would be closed again. For the moment things appear to be OK, but there will be changes behind the scenes in the next 3-4 months to secure the long-term future of the site.


I do urge anyone who regularly uses Mr Hale's wonderful collection of maps to contribute voluntarily to the site's upkeep.