A System for the Management, Visualization and Annotation of Digital Collections of Handwritten Historical Documents

Abstract

[Abstract] Today, there are huge amounts of handwritten documents accessible in digital collections. However, working with these documents for research purposes is limited due to the lack of appropriate technological tools to read, transcribe and analyze them in the same digital environment. This paper presents a web-application that allows a dynamic interaction with a particular collection, the so-called General Answers of the Cadaster of Ensenada. The app was designed to give access and support the analysis of these historical handwritten documents that are crucial to study the natural and human environment of the 18th-century Spain. The app allows parameterized searches, the visualization and annotation of digitized documents, and its integration with other applications through an API. In addition, it includes a functionality to segment and classify handwritten numbers automatically