Visualizing Land Reclamation in Hong Kong: A Web Application
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Ngo, V.; 2Chiang, Y.; 3Swift, J.
1USC Email: vivianngo@gmail.com
2USC Email: yaoyichi@gmail.com
3USC Email: jswift@usc.edu
Abstract
Abstract. Hong Kong’s natural terrain is extremely hilly and developable land is scarce. In order for it to become a metropolitan city that it is today, numerous land reclamation projects were carried out to create buildable land. It is estimated over 35% of its developed land area has been reclaimed from the sea [1]. These reclamation projects significantly altered the coastline and buried important heritage artifacts. Although there are reference texts and books writ-ten for this subject, and most visualizations found are not comprehensive and only focus on one area at a time. The most recent official paper map of reclamation authored by Hong Kong Lands Department is dated 1996. Therefore, a tool for visualizing spatial and temporal datasets of HK land reclamation is needed to give the full picture of the evolution of the Hong Kong coastline. This paper presents Hong Kong Coastline Web Map - an interactive map application that utilizes spatial temporal data for understanding the location and extent of each reclamation project, as well as related historic photographs that reveal the forgotten stories of the city’s changing coastline. Hong Kong Coastline Web Map: http://www.oldhkphoto.com/coast/