4 ms·

ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World

86 points by seanhandley 5y ago

dang 5y ago
Some past threads: Orbis: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21301851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21301851 - Oct 2019 (6 comments) ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20569454 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20569454 - July 2019 (1 comment) ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8007134 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8007134 - July 2014 (13 comments)
- phreeza 5y ago
  > July 2014 (13 comments) More than half of the comments complaining that it doesn't work in Firefox. Some things never change...
  - Jiocus 5y ago
    Except that, today, it works fine in Firefox.
puzzlepursuer 5y ago
Thanks for sharing. The level of detail enabled by technology is always remarkable. Check out figure 15 in the geospatial section "restricted sea zones based on wave height." The diligence to create something like this is laudable as well.
captainpiggies 5y ago
This was surprisingly underwhelming. Also I can 100% guarantee you that you will not travel across the alps in the same amount of time in January as you would in July despite this page suggesting you will, so quite frankly I don't see what the season selection even does. For example Penne Locos to Augusta Praetoria leads over the great St Bernard Pass (yes where the dogs come from) has an elevation of about 2400m over sea level and in January an average temperature of -7°C and a couple of meters of snow covering it.
- adamjb 5y ago
  Calculating flow in winter reroutes around the Alps
- dangrover 5y ago
  And why isn't "elephant" an option for mode of transit, especially for this route?
  - verst 5y ago
    Hannibal marched across the Alps with African war elephants
mtmail 5y ago
Similar in a different time period https://www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstrassen/index.php?lang=EN https://www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstrass... "online street map of late medieval and early modern northern Europe (1350-1650)" includes routing
- mhd 5y ago
  I've always been fond of the sheer nerdiness of http://www.avespfade.de http://www.avespfade.de, a route planner for the German fantasy RPG "Das Schwarze Auge" (The Dark Eye).
hasmanean 5y ago
That user interface is quite historic too. It’s not ancient but it’s like Web 2.0. Doesn’t quite work on my phone. One question is, does it show where all the pirates and robbers are? Where and when storms are likely? Shipwrecks? This is the sort of local knowledge that is usually lost. Suetonius says Augustus led his fleet into many storms and lost a lot of ships. Sounds like the type of guy who relied on a map and not the advice of experienced sailors.
jasunflower 5y ago
Isn't it really interesting that news would take weeks or months to traverse the whole of the Roman empire? Novel information is still not uniformly distributed in our era, but thinking to back then, even news of a new emperor or something did not happen automatically. You could have a departing army coming across a retreating army, or something like that.
- iso1631 5y ago
  Not even back then. It was only 150 years ago that the transcontinental telegraph allowed messages to pass from one side of America to another in hours rather than a "couldn't be done" 10 days for the Pony Express. in the 1856 election it took weeks or even months for the news of the new president to reach across the country.

86 points by seanhandley 5y ago

dang 5y ago

Some past threads: Orbis: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21301851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21301851 - Oct 2019 (6 comments) ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20569454 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20569454 - July 2019 (1 comment) ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8007134 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8007134 - July 2014 (13 comments)

phreeza 5y ago
> July 2014 (13 comments) More than half of the comments complaining that it doesn't work in Firefox. Some things never change...
- Jiocus 5y ago
  Except that, today, it works fine in Firefox.

puzzlepursuer 5y ago

Thanks for sharing. The level of detail enabled by technology is always remarkable. Check out figure 15 in the geospatial section "restricted sea zones based on wave height." The diligence to create something like this is laudable as well.

captainpiggies 5y ago

This was surprisingly underwhelming. Also I can 100% guarantee you that you will not travel across the alps in the same amount of time in January as you would in July despite this page suggesting you will, so quite frankly I don't see what the season selection even does. For example Penne Locos to Augusta Praetoria leads over the great St Bernard Pass (yes where the dogs come from) has an elevation of about 2400m over sea level and in January an average temperature of -7°C and a couple of meters of snow covering it.

adamjb 5y ago
Calculating flow in winter reroutes around the Alps
dangrover 5y ago
And why isn't "elephant" an option for mode of transit, especially for this route?
- verst 5y ago
  Hannibal marched across the Alps with African war elephants

mtmail 5y ago

Similar in a different time period https://www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstrassen/index.php?lang=EN https://www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstrass... "online street map of late medieval and early modern northern Europe (1350-1650)" includes routing

mhd 5y ago
I've always been fond of the sheer nerdiness of http://www.avespfade.de http://www.avespfade.de, a route planner for the German fantasy RPG "Das Schwarze Auge" (The Dark Eye).

hasmanean 5y ago

That user interface is quite historic too. It’s not ancient but it’s like Web 2.0. Doesn’t quite work on my phone. One question is, does it show where all the pirates and robbers are? Where and when storms are likely? Shipwrecks? This is the sort of local knowledge that is usually lost. Suetonius says Augustus led his fleet into many storms and lost a lot of ships. Sounds like the type of guy who relied on a map and not the advice of experienced sailors.

jasunflower 5y ago

Isn't it really interesting that news would take weeks or months to traverse the whole of the Roman empire? Novel information is still not uniformly distributed in our era, but thinking to back then, even news of a new emperor or something did not happen automatically. You could have a departing army coming across a retreating army, or something like that.

iso1631 5y ago
Not even back then. It was only 150 years ago that the transcontinental telegraph allowed messages to pass from one side of America to another in hours rather than a "couldn't be done" 10 days for the Pony Express. in the 1856 election it took weeks or even months for the news of the new president to reach across the country.