“Science | With little more than a compass as a guide ... - Courier-Journal” plus 3 more |
- Science | With little more than a compass as a guide ... - Courier-Journal
- Map search now available from more than 1,000 ... - Bellingham Herald
- Rockport 'map' clears hurdles for debut - Gloucester Daily Times
- Fantasy Maps Made in CryEngine Are Eye-Popping - Tom's Guide
| Science | With little more than a compass as a guide ... - Courier-Journal Posted: 31 May 2010 12:00 AM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. WASHINGTON -- John Hessler, mathematical wizard and senior cartographic librarian at the Library of Congress, slipped into its locked underground vaults one recent morning. Hessler approached a priceless 1559 portolan chart on the table, sketched in the hand of Mateo Prunes, the Majorcan mapmaker. The nautical map of the Mediterranean and Black seas is inked onto the skin of a single sheep. It is a rare representative of one of the world's greatest and most enduring mysteries: Where and how did medieval mapmakers, apparently armed with only a compass, an hourglass and sets of sailing directions, develop stunningly accurate maps of southern Europe, the Black Sea and North African coastlines, as if they were looking down from a satellite, when no one had been higher than a treetop? The earliest known portolan chart, the Carta Pisana (found in Pisa, Italy), appears in about 1275 -- with no known predecessors. It is perhaps the first modern scientific map and contrasted sharply with the "mappamundi" of the era, the colorful maps with unrecognizable geography and fantastic creatures and legends. It bears no resemblance to the methods of the mathematician Ptolemy and does not use measurements of longitude and latitude. And yet, despite its stunning accuracy, the map "seems to have emerged full-blown from the seas it describes," one reference journal says. No one today knows who made the first maps, or how they calculated distance so accurately, or even how all the information came to be compiled. "The real mystery is that if you took all the notebooks from the sailors used in making these charts, along with the coordinates and descriptions," said Hessler, 49, tapping the glass that covers the ancient vellum, "you still couldn't make this map." Hessler is one of the world's leading experts in trying to decode the maps' mysteries, and presented some of his dazzlingly intricate research at a library conference, "Re-Examining the Portolan Chart: History, Navigation and Science." "People think maybe the Romans made the first ones and they've been lost, or the Phoenicians, or even aliens," said Evelyn Edson, author of "The World Map: 1300-1492," and a conference speaker. "It certainly seems related to the introduction of the compass, in the 11th century. But there's nothing at all to explain how they were made. ... It's been very tempting for people over the years to try to make up the answer." Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Map search now available from more than 1,000 ... - Bellingham Herald Posted: 30 May 2010 11:53 PM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the Washington Trails Association has added a "Search-by-Map" feature to its popular online hiking guide. The Seattle-based trails advocacy and maintenance group said the free feature will allow hikers to search more than 1,000 trails in the state by zooming in and out of a map powered by Google. Hikers also can search for outings based on different criteria, such as elevation, family friendliness and wildflowers. Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Rockport 'map' clears hurdles for debut - Gloucester Daily Times Posted: 30 May 2010 07:00 PM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. May 30, 2010 Rockport 'map' clears hurdles for debutROCKPORT — The tourist "orientation" map pegged for Dock Square has cleared its final hurdle after the Historical Commission opted not to block its installation last week. However, the Historical Commission didn't vote to approve the map, either. According to a letter from the Historical Commission to the Board of Selectmen and obtained by the Times, commission members were unclear about whether the group had jurisdiction over the matter. The controversial "wayfinding" sign received unanimous approval by the Board of Selectmen May 4, but its approval on a one-year trial basis was contingent on the Historic Commission's OK. The commission, which oversees Rockport's downtown historic district, considered the sign proposal at a May 6 meeting attended by the guide's creator, Michael Kaplan, owner of Tuscan Designs on Main Street; Economic Development Committee Chairman Peter Beacham, Selectwoman Ellen Canavan and former selectwoman Joanne Wile. The guide, which will feature two maps on either side of an inverted, V-shaped surface fixed atop a 36-inch granite pedestal, will be installed for 10 months out of the year in the hole where the town's Christmas tree is placed each December. "The orientation map was presented by its proponents as both a temporary structure and a sign, and therefore exempt from Historical Commission review," said Historical Commission Chairman Stephen DeMarco in the letter dated May 21. However, while DeMarco said the commission considered the map to be a permanent fixture, the group was unable to determine if the map is actually a sign under the town's bylaws. "None of the Historical Commission members possess the legal expertise to determine if this work requires such action," DeMarco wrote. "If one accepts the notion the orientation map is a sign under (the bylaw), then there is no requirement to file for certification and obviously no need for review by the Historical Commission," the letter continued. "Flowing from that opinion, it would seem that the Board of Selectmen approval of the 'sign' subject to review and approval of the Historical Commission has no statutory basis." The members of the Historical Commission unanimously agreed that the orientation map as presented is "inappropriate" for the downtown historic district "both as to its location and proposed materials," but noted their opinion "undoubtedly will not change the (selectmen's) approval as we believe legal interpretation of the jurisdictional issue will ultimately support Mr. Kaplan." Asked to elaborate on why the commission believed the map was inappropriate, DeMarco said it was primarily because of the proposed materials, particularly the PVC plastic, which is "always difficult to approve in the district." Kaplan said Friday that it was "ridiculous" to call the map inappropriate, adding if a town is going to have an orientation map to help guide its tourists, that it should be located in a highly visible spot. "I don't think anybody thinks (such a map) is a bad idea," DeMarco said, "but the location is not appropriate because it's such a prominent spot right there in the middle of Dock Square. "It's an odd location because people have to walk out into the street to go look at it," he added, "but people do already congregate (in Dock Square) on a regular basis, too." Public Works Director Joe Parisi met with Kaplan Friday to discuss the map's "substructure" and plans for safer accessibility to the square. There are plans to add a crosswalk linking the sidewalk in front of the Sea Shell Cafe, formerly The Greenery, to Dock Square, Kaplan said. While Kaplan had hoped to install the sign ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend, the substructure requirements may push the debut date back a bit, Kaplan added. Kaplan agreed to help design and purchase the map using $1,000 donated by the Rockport Chamber of Commerce's retail committee, and another $1,000 raised through private donations with a promise that, if approved, he would contribute it as a gift to the town. "The support has been overwhelming," Kaplan said. "We just started fundraising this week and people have been very generous." Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at 978-283-7000 x 3451 or jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com. Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Fantasy Maps Made in CryEngine Are Eye-Popping - Tom's Guide Posted: 30 May 2010 08:18 PM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.
Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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