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Using QGIS to apply a 1777 style to today's OpenStreetMap data

manuelclaeysbouuaert.be

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Re: Using QGIS to apply a 1777 style to today's OpenStreetMap data

#2
It’s crazy to see how much has remained the same, even if so many new things were added. Looks like pretty much all the buildings that existed in 1777 still exist today.

Even crazier to think that at the time the original map was made, pretty much all cities in the US didn’t even exist yet.

Re: Using QGIS to apply a 1777 style to today's OpenStreetMap data

#5
post #4

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?

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/

Re: Using QGIS to apply a 1777 style to today's OpenStreetMap data

#6
post #4

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?

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.

Re: Using QGIS to apply a 1777 style to today's OpenStreetMap data

#7
post #2

It’s crazy to see how much has remained the same, even if so many new things were added. Looks like pretty much all the buildings that existed in 1777 still exist today. Even crazier to think that at the time the original map was made, pretty much all cities in the US didn’t even exist yet.

The Measure Of All Things is a book about the effort to measure the circumference of the earth to establish the length of the metre, about twenty years after these maps were made. The book goes into a bit of the technology used to reduce errors.

But on further reading, it looks like there was an advance in theodolite design between when these maps were published and the survey for the metre. Wikipedia provides a good rabbit hole.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/847635.The_Measure_of_Al...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodolite

Re: Using QGIS to apply a 1777 style to today's OpenStreetMap data

#9
post #4

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?

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/

Superb website, very cool!
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