Posts from — August 2008

The University of Nevada Reno has added more important works to their online historic Nevada geologic and mining maps collection.

The additions include:

the full volume of Geological  History of Lake Lahontan,  a Quaternary lake of northwestern Nevada.  1885, Israel  Cook Russell.  USGS Monograph XI;

the complete Atlas accompanying the US Geological Exploration Survey of the Fortieth Parallel, 1876. Clarence King, and

Plate  XIV Geological map of the Steamboat Springs District. In Atlas to accompany a monograph on the geology of the Quicksilver deposits of the Pacific slope.  George F. Becker.  US Geological Survey Monograph XIII, Washington, 1887.

The original focus of the Nevada in Maps web site was to catalog and preserve historic maps of Nevada presenting topographic, geologic, and mining themes found at UNLV and UNR. There are now over 4,000 maps and atlases on this site with many more to be added.

Via: Maps-L

Today’s online edition of the London Times has a couple of articles commenting on the demise of the paper map with the rise of GPS and internet mapping services like Google Maps.

The article, “Heritage wiped off the map as sat-nav puts motorists on road to ignorance“, notes that in a recent presentation given by British Cartographic Society president Mary Spence, with the demise of paper maps and cartography, important cultural, heritage and other features, (like those often included on many paper maps,) get omitted from digital versions so they can fit on small screens, effectively eliminating much of the knowledge that tends to be inherent in paper maps.

Ms. Spence notes:

“I recently went to Worcester,” she said. “The street map was wonderful, but the cathedral was missing.” Motorists following Google Maps through Wiltshire may be told to “exit on to the A303 toward Andover”, but they may have no idea that they are passing Stonehenge.

The Times also has a commentary on the aforementioned article entitled, “Here Be Dragons – Internet maps make travelling a more efficient, but duller, experience.”

In maps, as in life, so much of what is interesting unfolds in the margins. The highlights of a long drive very often result from the impromptu diversions taken in search of petrol or lunch.

But an internet map? To paraphrase Wilde, it knows the route to everywhere and the value of nowhere. It gives you what you need, but not what you want to make the most of a trip.

Update: Read a related London Telegraph article: Map reading skills ‘dying out due to internet and satnavs’. 

[tags]GPS, Mapping, Cartography, GIS, Google Maps, Internet Mapping, British Cartographic Society[/tags]

A retired physician in Duxbury, MA, has amassed an impressive map collection over the last 20 years, some of which date back to the 1500s. Clarence (Ky) Kylander also has a web site through which he sells maps, atlases and prints from his collection, with prices ranging from $25 to $2500.

Kylander is a member of six different map collectors’ societies, including the Phillips Society of the Library of Congress and the Washington Map Society, as well as the VP of the Boston Map Society, the executive director of the Society of the History of Discoveries, and a member of the International Conference of the History of Cartography.

To learn more about Kylander and his interest in antique map collecting, read the article in the Duxbury Reporter.

[tags]antique maps, antique map collecting, Clarence Kylander[/tags]

I ran across this all-to-brief, but highly entertaining 1953 film of cartographic history, brought to us courtesy of the British Ordnance Survey. Perhaps an early excample of the use of computers in mapping, the clip documents some of the steps Ordnance cartographers employed to keep up with the hectic pace of mapping the quickly changing British countryside. It’s the first I’ve ever heard tell of a “tellurometer“.

[tags]cartographic history, surveyors, cartographers, british ordnance survey, maps, map making, cartography[/tags]

A century old map by Canadian Arctic explorer Joseph-Elzear Bernier was recently rediscovered by Quebec archivists. Bernier has often been credited with ensuring Canada’s control over its polar regions. The historic map was unveiled today by PM Harper under the premiss that the map will aid Canada’s case against recent disputes over Canada’s sovereignty over its northern-most regions.

Born in 1852, Bernier was raised to pilot ships and emerged in the early 1900s as the Canadian government’s top flag-bearer in the Arctic region. At the time, the country’s hold on the Arctic islands – deeded to Canada by the British government in the 1880s – was still considered tenuous because U.S. and Scandinavian explorers were more active in the region and several major islands remained disputed.

I don’t know how serious threats are these days regarding Canada’s control over its northern regions, (perhaps this has something to do with it,) but no doubt the publicity will help Bernier historian Jeanne Coude in his quest for a Bernier memorial. Nobody has ever been able to say that maps are not political.

Read the full news item here. Another photo of the unveiling may be seen here.

[tags]Joseph-Elzear Bernier, arctic exploration, antique maps, famous cartographers, bernier arctic map[/tags]