

Waldseemüller map - dalek2point3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldseem%C3%BCller_map

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fhars
If you like maps like this, you will also like the globe produced by Martin
Behaim in 1491, which (obviously) doesn't show the americas:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdapfel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdapfel)

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altrego99
Why obviously? How was America missed in earlier maps?

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silvio
Because Europe didn't know about America until 1492.

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qnaal
Or more accurately, as that wikipedia page mentions, March 1493- when Columbus
got back.

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mryingster
I'd love to see this map projected onto a current map (or even satellite
imagery) to see what sort of accuracy they were able to achieve back then. It
is quite a feat to gather all that information and compile it into a single
(large) image!

~~~
acdha
There are a couple of projects which try to make that really easy by allowing
you to georeference a map by matching some common places:

[http://www.oldmapsonline.org/](http://www.oldmapsonline.org/)
[http://www.georeferencer.org/](http://www.georeferencer.org/)
[http://maps.nypl.org/warper/](http://maps.nypl.org/warper/)

If you want a desktop app (handy with e.g. massive high-res scans) there's a
fairly polished QGIS plugin:
[https://www.qgis.org/en/docs/user_manual/plugins/plugins_geo...](https://www.qgis.org/en/docs/user_manual/plugins/plugins_georeferencer.html)

Once you've georeferenced something it's a fairly straight-forward process to
either export as KMZ for Google Earth, etc. or export tiles which can be used
with something like LeafletJS. I've used a master -> QGIS -> GeoTIFF ->
gdal2tiles -> mbutil path with fairly low hassle.

I used this awhile back on
[http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2589/](http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2589/) and it
was pretty interesting to see how the 1827 map was fairly accurate for the
western part of the Russian empire but got significantly inaccurate as you
headed to the northern or eastern frontiers.

~~~
dalek2point3
very interesting. I've been meaning to do a study where I track maps over time
to get a visual picture of how the world was "discovered". Have you seen
anyone else that has done something similar or any references?

~~~
acdha
I've certainly heard interest in that sort of thing but I don't follow it
closely. It'd be a great project, particularly if it involved something like
georeferencing TIFFs on the Wikimedia Commons.

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mapt
This is one of _many_ interesting things hiding in the stacks of the maps
division of the LOC, if you ever get an opportunity for a private tour -
though I'm not sure if every one of those dips into the vault.

My strongest memory is of the WW2 Normandy beaches invasion map, done as an
architectural model. Also, in the reading room, they keep a personal
presidential globe -
[http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/wc00...](http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/wc0001_3.html)

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jstalin
It amazes me how maps like this were made... I presume it was using navigation
tools to determine the place on the globe? I just can't imagine how to draw a
map when having nothing but navigation tools.

~~~
cafard
You could do a pretty good job with latitude, between noon observations of the
sun and Polaris at night. But it was the 1700s before anybody could work out
accurate longitudes. So I suppose you worked with latitudes and compass routes
when you mapped a coast.

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elwell
The Original Size image is crashing my Chrome:
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Waldseemu...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Waldseemuller_map_2.jpg)

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gusario
Anyone know a good source for getting a high quality print of this image? Saw
a few sources googling but not sure if I should trust them for print
resolution/quality.

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kylek
another installment of slightlyinterestingwikipediaarticles.ycombinator.com

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mryingster
TIL America used to be tiny!

~~~
fhars
What with california being an island off its west coast:
[http://www.businessinsider.com/people-used-to-think-
californ...](http://www.businessinsider.com/people-used-to-think-california-
was-an-island-2012-8?op=1)

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vidar
Loooove these old maps.

