Did I waste my flipping time?!

Look what I spent 2 hours making today!

It doesn't make any sense on first glance.

On further inspection, you might notice that most of the lines are aligned with present-day roads on the gray GoogleMap.

How about this version?

The map above shows the roads and major buildings of Newton Massachusetts (where I teach) in the year 1800, when it was a modest farming town of less than 2000 souls. Now it is a wealthy suburban city with a population near 90,000.

I made this map piece by piece, using Google's MyMaps to draw lines and add icons from historical maps. Some I found at http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/it/gis/historic_maps.asp, but I also benefited greatly from local historical society staff, who gave access to physical copies. I also added details from an 1831 document and an 1848 map to get this:

See how Newton grows?!  The red line on the 1848 map is the railroad was constructed a decade earlier. There are some changes in the northwest and northeast sections, where the train made regular stops.

Now see all the layers together, including the fragmented picture at the very top from the 1855 map:

Within just 7 years, another railroad line has been constructed [the orange line near the bottom].
In just 7 years, there has been so much growth in the northeast neighborhood that the icons crowd together.
In just 7 years, dozens of public roads have been extended or created to accommodate new business and settlements.
In the same period, Newton's population swells by about 2000 new residents, and by the same number again in the following decade.

Now I'm left with the question: how best to show this to my students? Explain it in a video? Let them explore the layers of the GoogleMap independently?  As some sort of scavenger hunt?  None of the above??