Comment on How were maps created back in the day?
litchralee@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Might I suggest this article about French mapmaking in the 1600s. Supposedly in response to a map commissioned by King Louis XIV at the time, which shower France about 20% smaller than originally mapped, the King replied:
“Your work has cost me a large part of my state!”
Akasazh@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The Cassini map is browsable online on www.geoportail.gouv.fr
You can do layers and compare with more modern maps. The accuracy is quite stunning if you know how they made it.
litchralee@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
The map overlay on that website is stunning. I don’t know much French, but I managed to get it to overlay the IGN map (I presume the currently accepted map from the government mapping agency) on the Cassini map, both at 50% opacity, and it’s truly remarkable how good the latter must have been in its time.
There’s so much detail along the coast that was faithfully recorded. The only thing I can spot that is noticeably different would be the river runs, but that’s entirely expected since rivers naturally move around.
I’d love to know if there’s a USA website that overlays colonial-era maps atop the modern USGS maps.