City Maps

 

City Maps – Know Your Way Around the World With Old Maps

Old maps are the biggest treasure for historians and researchers. They are a gateway to historical events. In today’s digital era, history-lovers, archaeologists, geologists, and researchers use advanced technology to refurbish old country and city maps.

Digging into the past enables them to learn about famous historical sites, battles, wars, and sieges and assess the transition of the historical world into the modern buildings we live in today.

Maps can still be your savior even if you are not interested in history. For example, when you move into a new country or city, you can use it to know your way around. Using the old city maps, you can easily accommodate yourself in a new place and quickly learn the routes.

While today we have technology and aids like Google maps and Google Earth to help us. In the past, mapmakers did not have any digital luxury to enjoy. Their only way to preserve history forever was by replicating important events and sites as text, directions, symbols, and images on paper.

Without old city maps, you will lose the essence of history. For instance, if it were not for the maps, you would never know that Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, California, known as “The Rock” today, was one of the deadliest human prisons in the late 1700s.

This island would be an exciting place to explore if you live in San Francisco. And, you know, the easiest way will be to use an old or modern-day digital city map.

The Need for City Maps

Mapmakers or cartographers reconstruct the past simply by reading and assessing old maps. We understand the reasons for which they need it.

However, regular people like you and me- why do we need them?

For many reasons, an old city map can be an invaluable asset for anyone who is not necessarily a historian or researcher.

A way to learn about culture and history:

You can live in the US or Europe, but your ancestral roots are in another world country like China, Mexico, or the UAE. Old maps from your parent cities can help you feel connected to your family, culture, and history, even if you are miles apart.

Moreover, historical city maps from your or your parent’s birthplace can enable you to pass on the family stories to the next generations. You can teach them about the important places and how they contribute to your culture through an old map. The wars, sieges, transition of old buildings into modern ones, and more.

Leaving your parent city does not mean that you have to leave your values behind,

While you can easily find an old map in easy-to-read conditions over the internet, the feel of a paper-based city map will be ethereal.

Find out more about the historical events:

We all can agree that the cities we live in today are nothing like they were a hundred years ago.

Who knows, the roads you drive on were once a battlefield?

Well, the historians certainly do.

Historians can use old maps and other resources to learn about the old buildings that are often abandoned. So many times, it has happened that people came to know about their historical importance only after the supposedly old haunted place was studied on a map. Then they are refurbished into important historical sites like museums and monuments.

Use as a wall piece:

Maps of your ancestral city have a “grandmotherly” feel about them, especially when you live alone in a stranger place. Those who miss their home and culture know what we are talking about.

Even with zero interest in history, such people love hanging old or modern-day city maps to respect their heritage and cultural values.

You do not have to go on a hunt to find one. They are easily available today as vintage pieces for people who want them to liven up their homes and lives. Even if you fail to find a vintage map, just Google and print a new one, mark the places that hold immense value, and hang them where you can see them daily.

Increase the credibility of modern-day maps:

How would you know that the famous Statue of Liberty was always where we see it today?

Cartographers in the past captured the details of their times in text and images on paper. Allowing the modern cartographers to enhance the credibility and authenticity of the new world maps. For example, they can use historical maps to decipher the spread of a certain culture, religion, or migration of people in a particular region.

You can get a bird’s eye view of the city you live from the maps you use.
Or have a hemisphere map so you could see the whole world in two pieces.

Use them while constructing buildings:

A city map will be your biggest aid if you plan to construct a building for residential or commercial purposes.

An authentic and detailed map will enable you to assess the amenities and facilities in your building area. This way, you can plan in a better way and assess if you will have access to all the basic facilities.

For touristic purposes:

If you are going to a new place on vacation or planning to become a tourist guide on your own, a map will always be your savior. Of course, you can always use your phone to navigate directions, but it is not always the smart thing.

To explore new places freely and guide people rightly, a printed map in your pocket is what you need.
If you want different thing and you would like to see various heights on the map then Topographic map is the right thing for you.

Never get lost again:

People use a map while traveling within the city to find accurate directions.

Today, the millennials are so heavily dependent on digital devices that they cannot survive a day without them. This is another important reason you must accustom yourself to them, especially if you plan to go on a hike or explore the forests around you.

What if, in the middle of your adventurous trail, Google gives up on you because of no signals or the battery dies?

Do not you think it will be safe to have the old-school, paper-based city map with you?

Again, having a map will not be enough if you have no idea how to read it.

Read Old City Maps The Modern Way

The new world cartographers have enhanced the readability and visualization of old historical maps. However, if the map is a thousand years old, you cannot expect it to be all “visible” because it is sometimes barely usable.

Fortunately, modern technological tools can magnify the images, symbols, cardinal directions, and text from the old, worn-out maps. The mapmakers can digitally transform them into new versions while preserving every little detail from the past.

Old maps are often questioned for their credibility because we do not know the person who created them in the first place. Whose side were they on if the map included battles? Alternatively, what guarantees they were not biased or did their research right?

This is why it is best to crosscheck the credibility with other resources like books from the same time. Moreover, unless worn out, you can always find it signed by its maker. So, you can search for that person’s history as well.

Old city maps deliver two important aspects of history- reality and facts. They become the eye of the viewers to sneak into history and learn about it.

Therefore, to use the map rightly, here are a few quick tips to learn how to read it:

• Detailed historical maps have different symbols to define different places and events. Once you know your way around the symbols, you will become a pro-map-reader.
• Modern cartographers have already enhanced the text and images on the old maps. You can use them to explore different places in any city (by using the relevant maps, of course)
• Once you have a city map, you will have no difficulty navigating any route, as they have scales and cardinal directions (little arrows) that will assess you throughout your journey.

Types of City Maps

Now that you can read any old map, it is important to use the right one that serves your purpose.

For instance, a city map has different types. It can be presented as a:

Topographical map: It can help you greatly if you love adventures. They contain details and directions about mountains, terrains, lakes, roads, rivers, craters, and valleys. They show the exact elevations and contours of each area.

Weather map: This type of city map can easily help you forecast the weather and learn about the changing patterns- such as global warming.

Resource map: It lets you learn about the valuable resources and their locations in the city. Such as mines, volcanoes, underwater reserves, and more.

Population/density map: This can be a great tool for population census. In addition, these types of city maps often define the culture and religion of the particular population living in that area.

Political map: These define the boundaries, states, capitals, roads, political buildings, railroad tracks, airports, and other important things for a country or city.

Physical map: They are similar to the topographic ones but less detailed. They contain the landforms and details about every place in the particular area the map is about.

For us, regular maps physical or topographic city maps are of great assistance in exploring new places.
None of the maps is upon your taste? Check then other maps section, where you could find star constellation, wind rose, pictorial and many others maps.

 

 Use A Map or Not- The Decision Is Yours

Old maps are an asset to the present and the future. They enable us to preserve the long-lost history and reconnect with the past.

Just by reading them, we can time travel to the past and appreciate the struggles of our ancestors. This way, we can learn about the history and refurbish our cultural values.

Moreover, a city map can help you learn about different places on Earth that mean something to you or your family- or to explore where you live.

Get a city map and learn what you miss out on!