Thanks to an unparalleled access to historical aerial photographs, Time Flies offers a new history of Prince Edward Island (PEI) Canada from an aerial perspective. The book presents images of iconic landscapes on the island province, and traces how those communities and natural ecosystems have changed over 85 years (1935-2020). Each site history illustrates and reflects on the nature of modern land use and land cover change in one of four chapters organized around primary resource economies, rural communities, urban development, and islands and coastal change. Time Flies offers a visually rich discussion of one island as the world and offers lessons that we can learn from the social and ecological transformation of PEI.
To purchase the book visit the publisher’s page at Island Studies Press or order it from Nimbus.ca, from local bookstores, or online at Indigo or Amazon.
Time Flies, Online Edition. A web companion to the book (February 2025)
Click here for Time Flies, Online Edition, an interactive StoryMap that features the Time Flies study sites and at least ten new sites. This web companion was launched on 6 February 2025. Check back in the future, as more sites may be added to the same StoryMap. The full url to Time Flies, Online Edition is:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d0dba1035b21445791e992737421ff77
To skip the explanatory text and explore maps of any of these sites on your own, use the GeoPEI Historical Map Viewer, below. GeoPEI includes map series for the entire province of Prince Edward Island including the 1765 Samuel Holland map, the 1840s Bayfield charts, the 1880 Meacham’s Atlas, the 1928 Cummin’s Atlas, the c. 1967 NTS Topographic Maps, and air photos from 1935, 1968, 2000, and 2020.
GeoPEI: The Prince Edward Island Historical Map Viewer
The GeoPEI Prince Edward Island Historical Map Viewer
Click the image above to try out GeoPEI, a portal for exploring maps, atlases, aerial photos, and geospatial data pertaining to the history of Prince Edward Island. The GeoPEI portal takes maps that have been digitized on digital repositories like UPEI Robertson Library’s Island Imagined platform, and it overlays them on modern maps of PEI such as satellite images, street grids, and the latest aerial photos produced by the province. It also provides access to the Province’s aerial photographs going back to 1968 and 1935.
Users may toggle between seven historical maps and aerial photo layers, as well as the 2020 aerial photos and a number of basemaps in the ArcGIS Online viewer. Search for an address or location using the glass at the top left. Next to it are tools for measuring features and changing the basemap. Note, the default basemap (imagery hybrid) keeps the roads and place name labels above the historical layers. This is often helpful for identifying land use change. If you prefer not to see the labels, change the basemap to the plain imagery option. Happy historical mapping! The full url to GeoPEI is https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/9870ec990eaa40069f772b7025fbd18c/
Time Flies in Media and Reviews
Josh MacFadyen and D. Bailey Clark discuss Time Flies and other mapping projects with Matthew MacRae on the Hidden Island podcast of the PEI Museum & Heritage Foundation. February 6, 2025. “Charting the past: historic Island maps with Josh MacFadyen and D. Bailey Clark.” https://mjmcrae.podbean.com/e/charting-the-past-historic-island-maps-with-josh-macfadyen-and-d-bailey-clark/
Josh MacFadyen discusses Time Flies with David Cyrus MacDonald on the Chattel Fixtures podcast. January 16, 2024. “PEI History from the Sky! w/Joshua MacFadyen.” https://www.chattelfixtures.com/post/pei-history-from-the-sky-w-joshua-macfadyen
Josh MacFadyen discusses Time Flies with Matt Rainnie on CBC PEI’s Mainstreet radio show. November 14, 2023. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-130-mainstreet-pei/clip/16023092-joshua-macfadyens-book
Review of Time Flies by Mathias Rodorff, Atlantic Books, 98 (Fall 2023), p. 38 https://issuu.com/atlanticbookstoday/docs/abt_98-hr/38