Comments on: UK history photo finder

By: Clive Maier

Clive Maier — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:04:10 +0000

I realise I am coming late to this and before I say anything adverse, let me say it is much better to have these photographs accessible than not so I applaud the effort. I imagine this is a test bed for an image portal that will eventually cover much more than Dixon-Scott. However, while geotagging is always useful and I love maps anyway, I don’t don’t think the map makes a good front end because it presupposes that the important thing for a researcher is place rather than topic. The tool as it stands is not much help if one wants to find, for example, war memorials or bridges. I take it this is a consequence of the original and inadequate cataloguing of the Dixon-Scott collection and I recognise that it would be a major task to tag 14,000 images with keywords. And having said that, I can’t get past the initial map anyway. A progress wheel spins indefinitely, accompanied by the legend ‘loading …’. Another box on the map states ‘no images at this location’ although I know that to be untrue for the location I entered.

By: Judy

Judy — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:22:38 +0000

I found it easy to navigate, and quality of images very good. Useful for remote research

By: The National Archives

The National Archives — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:25:24 +0000

Mary – thank you for your feedback. Could you please specify exactly what isn’t working in Firefox? We will aim to get this fixed if there’s an issue.

By: Mary Twentyman

Mary Twentyman — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 22:32:08 +0000

Doesn’t seem to work with Firefox

By: Ben Levick

Ben Levick — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:01:44 +0000

It’s a great idea, and I look forward to it expanding with more photos. However, in the area I was looking in (the Medway Towns in Kent) the locations of the photographs were wildly inaccurate, with at least one being in completely the wrong town!

By: Sylvia Walch

Sylvia Walch — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:04:55 +0000

Seems a good idea and works fine, but unfortunately there are no photos of my part of Lancashire.

By: The National Archives

The National Archives — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:10:39 +0000

Thank you for your feedback. The UK history photo finder application is still in beta, and will be adding more photographic resources in time. Please do keep checking back and let us know what you think of developments.

By: Maureen Lister

Maureen Lister — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:35:59 +0000

Can’t get it to work, every place I type in has “no photos at this location”

By: Webmaster

Webmaster — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:14:42 +0000

Lyn – thanks for looking and leaving feedback. Do you find this is an issue across the Labs site as a whole or with particular applications? Our Labs site is in beta, this means all of the applications are still in development stage and may not meet our usual standards of usability and accessibility. However, any that we do move up to the main site will first be tested and made usable for customers of all ages and abilities. Thanks again for commenting.

By: Lyn

Lyn — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 08:29:02 +0000

I have no doubt it is a good and worthwhile site but for visually impaired person the colours used for the site cause major problems.
Does the site have an alternate ‘Skin’ to enable people such as me to use it?

By: The National Archives

The National Archives — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:05:13 +0000

That’s great that you have found our application so useful. Thank you for your feedback. You are welcome to post this onto your website with the appropriate credit.

By: The National Archives

The National Archives — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:32:34 +0000

Thank you for flagging up this issue Roger, we will take a look. This application is still in development and we welcome your feedback to help improve the final version which we will send live. We hope you try again and let us know what you think.

By: landscaping Hockessin De

landscaping Hockessin De — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:56:42 +0000

Great post. I found what I was looking for. Do you mind if I post this on my website and give you credit? If not, it’s ok.

By: Roger

Roger — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 16:11:59 +0000

In the Bristol area, there is a photo of the Cabot Tower. This is shown on the map as near the M32 which is incorrect. The location of the tower is marked on the map correctly, about 5km to the south west of location shown, or about 1km south east of Clifton. Hope you can amend the position of the marker.

By: The National Archives

The National Archives — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:32:18 +0000

Hi Sarah, Thanks for checking out the application and letting us know what you think. The UK history photo finder is still in beta, and further development will be informed by user feedback – we hope you try again later as new developments and resources are added.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:56:33 +0000

I was hoping that I could use this website to help me identify locations in vintage photographs. But… unfortunately there is no keyword search feature.

By: The National Archives

The National Archives — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:42:27 +0000

Thanks for your comments. We will be adding more photographic resources in time, the application is still in beta and the current range is limited in geographical coverage to the Dixon-Scott collection. Your feedback will play a key part in how this resource is developed and expanded. Please do check back later.

By: Graham Bird

Graham Bird — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:58:05 +0000

The 14000 photos in the collection are actually spread pretty thinly over the UK, and seem to be primarily of smaller places. If you search Manchester, Glasgow and Liverpool there’s only one picture between them. Not much use if you’re interested in cities!

By: Sylvie Sillince

Sylvie Sillince — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:38:28 +0000

It just took longer than the time I had available to load the small photo. I waited for 3 minutes and then gave up.

By: John Dalton

John Dalton — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:00:59 +0000

Very difficult to find photos. If you don’t know where they were taken, you have no name to enter. There needs to be a master map of locations, or a list of towns used.

By: The National Archives

The National Archives — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 15:29:31 +0000

Derek – Many thanks for trying out the application and for giving us your feedback. We’re always looking to improve our location data, so thank you for flagging this particular detail up.

By: Derek Voller

Derek Voller — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 08:09:49 +0000

Very Interesting site. On some pictures I would like to see a more detailed location, ie a street name. However I realise you can only publish the information that is provided to you.
I would like to point out a mis-location. The pointer for Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood Essex brings up pictures of Ightham Mote at Sevenoaks, Kent. TN15 0NT.
Thank you for setting up this site. I shall use it quite a bit.

By: The National Archives

The National Archives — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:50:38 +0000

Trudi – thanks for your interest in the photo finder. We have a couple of suggestions that should help you. Firstly, make sure that Javascript is enabled so you can use the applications. There are instructions to enable Javascript on our main website. Secondly, check for popup blockers which might be blocking the popup window. If you are still experiencing problems, please let us know the browser you are using and we can work to resolve any issues as quickly as possible.

By: Trudi

Trudi — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:30:54 +0000

I tried to access your photo library, unfortunately the get started button but it did not work. I was looking forward to using the service for my work so please help.

By: Peter Clare

Peter Clare — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:04:42 +0000

Think this will be very useful as more photos are loaded up. Seen to recall that the London Metropolitian Archives had loads of London based photos They would be nice!!

By: Tony Richards

Tony Richards — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 17:30:22 +0000

Disappointing. Very few photos of the Deal region in Kent and no photos of Lambeth in London. The 2 regions where my family ancestors lived.

By: Barrie Brinkman

Barrie Brinkman — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:08:02 +0000

I would hope that the final version will allow browsing through a group of photos by creating albums I can step through the photos. Generally I think this is an excellent use of resources

By: Clive Watson

Clive Watson — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 19:37:22 +0000

Total time-waster as no picture of the location I live in was available

By: David Thomas

David Thomas — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:59:23 +0000

The system is working ok today, so try again. We have got a heat map which shows the coverage of the photographs. Mr Dixon Scott clearly liked to concentrate on the south east.

By: Caroline Webber

Caroline Webber — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 05:07:46 +0000

I was excited that I might be able to view some historical photographs of places my parents lived in but alas it did not work – every time I clicked on yellow camera I got a message about the link not working. Disappointed but love the concept

By: Michael Green

Michael Green — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 17:53:52 +0000

“Page not found” comes up every time that I click on one of the symbols. What a shame!

By: John Reid

John Reid — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:46:37 +0000

I tried this following encouragment at Catalogue Day but everylibk I tried on the ao gave file not found error. Using Firefox

By: Chester Forster

Chester Forster — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:56:53 +0000

A county index would be most useful or even a list of how many images there are for each county. To say the coverage of Cumbria is sparse is an understatement.

By: K Mary Voller

K Mary Voller — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:06:19 +0000

I tried clicking on the Photographic Images collection several times. Nothing happens, but the screen takes a big jumpback to where it was.

By: Gerry Hayward

Gerry Hayward — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:09:52 +0000

Went to look at Eltham Palace but it brought up Sussex Downs!

By: David Thomas

David Thomas — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:28:56 +0000

Where are you looking for? Try Stamford Lincolnshire if you want to see some good photos.
David

By: thomas steel

thomas steel — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 11:10:07 +0000

Whatever I try, I get ‘No photos at this location’.

By: Joy

Joy — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:43:04 +0000

It would be good if there was a ’start again’ button to take you back to the beginning at any time. Also, it seems pointless being able to search parts of the map where there just aren’t any photos of that area – just makes it frustrating for the user. Unless, of course, you are planning on adding lots more images from all areas. e.g. I live in Belfast and closest image I could find was on Isle of Man.
Really fun, interesting idea though, think it would be great as educational tool for schools.

By: A Moffitt

A Moffitt — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 21:29:48 +0000

Firefox/Windows XP Home Edition:
Can only access one photograph. Noresponse when I try to do another search. Just keeps recycling the “Get Started” link.

By: Sue

Sue — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 17:48:31 +0000

Tool did not work. Unable to view any photographs, waste of time!

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:12:54 +0000

No use for my family history research – but the maps come up quickly- better than Google Maps for a quick ord. survey of a location.

By: Roberta

Roberta — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:42:53 +0000

Great to see the pictures and look forward to a wider collection as time goes by. Would much prefer older photos though if possible. I found it hard to get back to the map after I’d double clicked on a photo collection and had to start the application again. Perhaps I am doing something wrong? Opening the photos up in a separate screen would work better so the map was always available.

By: Patricia Lovell

Patricia Lovell — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:34:12 +0000

Looking through the site on Portsmouth there is a picture labelled HMS Victory – D.S.592/9?. This is from Gosport looking at Portsmouth – you can see the Dockyard and Cathedral, but not the Victory! Not your fault, bad attribution in the first place – but someone hoping for a picture of Gosport Ferry stage would not get this.

By: Anne Major

Anne Major — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:31:22 +0000

Can’t open it. These sort of photos are available online anyway. Would rather see the money spent on putting more records online. A lot of us over the other side of the world can’t get to the Archives.

By: Tony Abbitt

Tony Abbitt — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 17:44:44 +0000

I have always been fascinated by historical photographs and this collection is an evocative snapshot of times past. I have found the website easy to use and have experienced minimal problems navigating between photos (using Firefox and Windows XP). Where available, I would like to see the year in which the photo was taken. It would also be useful if it were possible for users of the website to leave comments against each photo, perhaps pinpointing its exact location, recording some local knowledge or highlighting any errors. A great facility which I hope to revisit regularly.

By: E Currie Jones

E Currie Jones — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 22:26:40 +0000

Pics are difficult to see and to enlarge – have to copy them onto own computer first. Nothing for the area I was interested in – Batley, Yorks. Ans why modern maps – why not comtemporary with the pics? But yes, great to have them.

By: Bernadette

Bernadette — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 16:53:47 +0000

My areas for research were not listed. However, to view that moment of history captured is thrilling and humbling. Any more ??

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:17:33 +0000

No coverage in our area Hutton Brentwood and error Igtham Mote, Kent show just out side Brentwood Essex!!

By: Russell Ridout

Russell Ridout — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:04:06 +0000

Great effort – but could do with a button to report an image problem – the first one I looked at (Herstmonceux Castle, near Hailsham http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/labs/INF/9/1161/4/watermark.jpg) is upside down.

By: John Bailey

John Bailey — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 11:12:43 +0000

Not easy to find pictures.