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I've always been fascinated by old cartography. How did they even have such precision? Which tools did they have? And how did they store the information?

gelatocar 4y ago
just in case you haven't already seen it, David Rumsey's website is the most amazing collection of historical maps. https://www.davidrumsey.com/ https://www.davidrumsey.com/
- bjarneh 4y ago
  Superb website, very cool!
- pbowyer 4y ago
  Also https://maps.nls.uk/ https://maps.nls.uk/ is a great place to explore old maps
- m_eiman 4y ago
  The Swedish government has about a million (literally!) historical maps available online, unfortunately it seems the interface is only in Swedish… https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/ https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/ Here's an example, a regional map from 1654 including Gothenburg: https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/hk/viewer/internal/O12/4c4d535f4f3132/lms2/LMS/H%C3%A4radskarta/H%C3%A4radskarta https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/hk/viewer/internal/...
- pachico 4y ago
  No, I wasn't aware of that, thanks! I can really see how you can get hooked by something like this.
stop50 4y ago
they usually used triangulation, the same as today. they select an line as the startimg point and measure it exactly as possible(doesn't need to be long) and then you can calculate the rest with the measured angles of the area you want to measure. The rest is replicating it on paper with the required factor.
- pachico 4y ago
  Thanks! It still a bit unclear to me but I'll dig more. Cheers
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Here's an example from the original survey of India. https://apps.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/india-maps/survey https://apps.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/ind... In the US, if you hike, you'll often find circular USGS survey markers inset into mountain and hill tops.
daedalus_f 4y ago
You might find the retriangulation of Britain in the 1930s and 40s interesting [1]. A network of ~6,500 triangulation pillars (trig points) were built across the country, each of which were in line of sight of at least two other pillars. The pillars each have a mounting point for a theodolite, to allow their position to be calculated from the relative angle and elevation of other visible trig points. They are often on the top of hills or mountains and so have a warm place in my heart from signifying the high-point of many a hike. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retriangulation_of_Great_Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retriangulation_of_Great_Brita...

gelatocar 4y ago

just in case you haven't already seen it, David Rumsey's website is the most amazing collection of historical maps. https://www.davidrumsey.com/ https://www.davidrumsey.com/

bjarneh 4y ago
Superb website, very cool!
pbowyer 4y ago
Also https://maps.nls.uk/ https://maps.nls.uk/ is a great place to explore old maps
m_eiman 4y ago
The Swedish government has about a million (literally!) historical maps available online, unfortunately it seems the interface is only in Swedish… https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/ https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/ Here's an example, a regional map from 1654 including Gothenburg: https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/hk/viewer/internal/O12/4c4d535f4f3132/lms2/LMS/H%C3%A4radskarta/H%C3%A4radskarta https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/hk/viewer/internal/...
pachico 4y ago
No, I wasn't aware of that, thanks! I can really see how you can get hooked by something like this.

stop50 4y ago

they usually used triangulation, the same as today. they select an line as the startimg point and measure it exactly as possible(doesn't need to be long) and then you can calculate the rest with the measured angles of the area you want to measure. The rest is replicating it on paper with the required factor.

pachico 4y ago
Thanks! It still a bit unclear to me but I'll dig more. Cheers
- ghaff 4y ago
  Here's an example from the original survey of India. https://apps.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/india-maps/survey https://apps.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/ind... In the US, if you hike, you'll often find circular USGS survey markers inset into mountain and hill tops.

daedalus_f 4y ago

You might find the retriangulation of Britain in the 1930s and 40s interesting [1]. A network of ~6,500 triangulation pillars (trig points) were built across the country, each of which were in line of sight of at least two other pillars. The pillars each have a mounting point for a theodolite, to allow their position to be calculated from the relative angle and elevation of other visible trig points. They are often on the top of hills or mountains and so have a warm place in my heart from signifying the high-point of many a hike. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retriangulation_of_Great_Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retriangulation_of_Great_Brita...