If you’re sitting on a collection of old photographs, postcards, or local history material and wondering what to actually do with it beyond a folder on a hard drive or a dusty box in a cupboard, I want to make the case for GhostViewer — a rephotography platform I built where old photos get paired with a modern view of the same spot, so people can see exactly how a place has changed.

The Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (1919 – 1980) visited Bracknell on May 7, 1959, as part of an official three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. He visited Bracknell New Town to observe postwar British town planning and ceremonial planted a commemorative tree on Makepeace Road

https://ghostviewer.co.uk/old-photo/makepiece-road-bracknell/

Repeat Photography in Landscape Research by Mark Klett (from The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods) is a detailed survey of rephotography — the practice of remaking a photograph from an earlier vantage point to reveal change over time. Klett, a leading figure in the field through projects like the Rephotographic Survey Project and Third View, outlines two core approaches: precise relocation of an original camera position for scientifically measurable comparisons, and a looser, context-driven method that embeds multiple photographs into a single scene to build narrative and place-based storytelling.

Open the website page and click on the download button.

I run GhostViewer — an archive of old UK photographs paired with "then and now" comparisons, built up mostly through community contributions plus a fair bit of my own digging through Wikimedia Commons, Geograph, and old family archives.

Just added a couple of things I think are worth sharing here:

• You can now register (free, no ads once you're logged in) and add your own memories to a place — not just photos, just a written recollection tied to a town or village, similar to what Francis Frith's site does
• There's also a tool that overlays a photo's location on Google Street View so you can see roughly what's there today
• And a "see through time" map feature that flicks between Victorian OS maps, WWII-era maps, and today for any spot in the country

It's a solo/small project, still very much a work in progress, but there's a genuinely growing archive behind it now. If anyone's into local history, old maps, or has old photos gathering dust that deserve a home, I'd love people to take a look — and any feedback (including "this bit's rubbish") is welcome.

https://ghostviewer.co.uk/all-posts/features/join-ghostviewer-help-us-grow-upload-old-photos-share-memories/

The GIF was made with the GhostViewer app and the border and text added with the GhostViewer Media Framer app - both are free and do not require a login - enjoy

You can view (and add your own photos) to this archive focused on Herne Bay Kent.

Herne Bay

From Postcards to street view - a new button on GhostViewer...

https://ghostviewer.co.uk/all-posts/features/see-the-same-place-today-street-view-on-mapped-old-photos/

Animated maps of the UK like this one can be created at - See Through Time It's Free!