Research with us
The research program is coming. It will be a way to take part in the research behind the maps, and it is not open yet.
This page takes nothing for now: there is no form, no upload and no sign-up.
How the records were made
Most entries on the Atlanta map are records with their own sources. Dam figures come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' National Inventory of Dams. For the written entries, AI research agents searched public sources (encyclopedias, National Register nominations, historical markers, newspapers, court opinions and published scholarship) and drafted each entry with its citations. A second AI pass checked 4,167 claims against their sources and corrected 1,211 of them. AI agents also read the aerial photos and lidar for each of the 87 lakes with a history, and a second agent checked each reading against the images.
The records say how sure they are. Lake timeline entries are labeled documented, likely or uncertain. Other entries say when they are thinly sourced, when their sources partly disagree or are secondary, and when a location is approximate or only a general area. Where sources disagree, the text often says so.
Corrections already come in by email, from the link on every record page. A factual correction is not applied automatically, and any change to a record's text is logged in that record's history.
What is still open
Much of this history is thin. Most lake histories end their story with open questions and with leads under "Where to look next": 523 questions and 542 leads so far. Many could be settled by someone with time in an archive, old newspapers, historic maps, deed books or family papers.
How a contribution will work
When the pilot opens, it is meant to work like this:
- You bring something specific. A question, a claim, a new source, a name, a date for the timeline or a lead. Every contribution needs at least one citation: the document, page, map or link it rests on.
- An AI check comes first. It compares the claim with its cited source and with the existing record, flags any conflict, and suggests a label: documented, likely or uncertain. It changes nothing.
- A person decides. A reviewer approves it, turns it down or asks for more.
- Nothing is overwritten. An approved contribution is added to the record beside the existing text and shown under "Added by contributors", with its label. A correction to the existing text goes to the editor rather than being applied.
- Credit is your choice. A contributor is credited by a display name only if they agree to it. Contact details are kept out of the public record.
- Each contribution carries a license the contributor agrees to when they send it.
The pilot is planned for classes and historical societies, joining with a code from their teacher or society. There will be no open accounts.
What you can do today
- Read how the maps are made. Entries on the Atlanta map list their sources, and the Methods page explains where the aerial photos, lidar and records came from.
- Look at the open questions. The lake histories list what is still unknown and where to look next.
- See how AI was used. The About page says what AI agents did and what people decided.