Who likes Maps?

[AussieBob]

  On 9/21/2021 at 8:59 AM, AussieBob said:

First ever recorded world map

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This is a 'translated' version of Ptolemy's world map:

And this is about who Ptolemy was - quite interesting.

Ptolemy - Wikipedia

[AussieBob]

  On 9/22/2021 at 1:38 AM, BigHewer said:

Now there’s an idea, AussieBob, a “Golf Courses per Province” map or some such thing.

Something tells me Chonburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan would be very dark green on that particular map

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Yep - and not much in the far north east !!

[WaccineChinawatiiRaporn]

Love maps.

Here's a few interesting ones....

Chicago murder & violent crime map - https://chicagopd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/8ed0652c9b2a4bc6bf1173e6aae6add4

USA racial dot map - http://racialdotmap.demographics.coopercenter.org/

Map of the world's fiber optic cables - https://www.submarinecablemap.com/supplier/subcom

 

[BigHewer]

  On 9/22/2021 at 12:43 AM, kerryd said:

I did a trip last February to Ubon and Amnat Charoen specifically as they were the only two provinces North of Petchaburi that I hadn't visited yet.
(I did my route planning on Google and visited 23 historical sites in just 3 days.)

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That’s brilliant, kerryd, makes me want to get out there and do the same. The ultimate plan is to visit them all, with a couple of new places every year. We were actually thinking about Mae Hong Son for the next trip. Or flying into Sakon Nakhon and from there a slow journey west.

I do route planning on Google and then an app called ‘Fog of World’ when traveling, which basically records everywhere you go. Handy for a 2nd trip somewhere so you can retrace steps or figure out where you haven’t been.

[BigHewer]

  On 9/21/2021 at 8:35 PM, Hamosity said:

Can’t check it out myself as I’m one of those out of the country

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Same situation for me, Hamosity. Here’s hoping we’ll be back there soon enough.

[BigHewer]

  On 9/22/2021 at 1:11 AM, KaptainRob said:

Tai people from Shan State, carry no official status within Burma and enter Thailand as workers, domestic help or construction mainly, under strict immigration rules.  We know them collectively as 'Tai Yai', regardless of the differences in ethnicity.  They are hard-working honest folk and often discriminated against by greedy Thai's.

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I spent a couple of weeks in Myanmar in 2005. I remember the locals in Yangon and Mandalay often associating Shan State with physical attractiveness. Never made it there to verify these claims

[kerryd]

While looking at "old" maps, I came across what is supposedly the oldest "map" ever found. It is on a clay tablet and dates back to 600 BC and came from ancient Mesopotamia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_Map_of_the_World

It currently resides in the British Museum (no surprise). 

Dated to 600 BC puts it about 200 years after Homer, 600 years after the battle of Troy and about 250-300 years before Alexander.

Edited September 22, 2021 by kerryd

[kerryd]

  On 9/22/2021 at 1:44 AM, AussieBob said:

This is a 'translated' version of Ptolemy's world map:

https://external-preview.redd.it/Q1BSFfaMhkPj61wSsNT94mNPhspMwXxCmjnMbyn6ww8.png?auto=webp&s=f0d59844306806b134d469b513510a91afed1ee8

And this is about who Ptolemy was - quite interesting.

Ptolemy - Wikipedia

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Lol - I thought it was the first Ptolemy, former general of Alexander and first Greek Pharaoh of Egypt (who founded the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which was also the last dynasty of Ancient Egypt. (The Ptolemaic Dynasty ended with the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC. She was the last of the Ptolemaic descendants.)

I remember when reading the Histories of Herodotus, he thought the Sahara desert marked the end of the world (as surely nothing could live there, or beyond there).

(I had to laugh, Herodotus also noted that "baldness" wasn't as common among Egyptian males as it was among the Greeks. He attributed it to the Egyptian practise of shaving the heads of their children until they became adults.)

The Ptolemy who made the map above wasn't related to the Egyptian Ptolmeys. He did live in Egypt though, from around 100-170 AD.

It seems many consider him to the be the "father" of modern geography. (Note "modern" as it seems the Greeks, and others, had been making maps on other mediums (clay, wood, stone and bronze for example).

Quite interesting, Ptolemy studied in the fabled Library of Alexandria, though it was supposedly in decline from neglect, warfare and looting.

Also interesting, it seems that he drew on the works of Eratosthenes, who lived between 276-194 BC and was the chief Librarian of the Library of Alexander for a time.

Eratosthenes was a mathematician and geographer (amongst other things) and during his time, he determined that the Earth was a globe and had a circumference of between 37-46,000 kms (though in his day they used "stades" as a unit of measurement and he calculated the circumference to be 250,000 stades).
Remarkably, the actual circumference of the Earth is just over 40,000 kms so he wasn't that far off considering his only tech consisted of a sun dial.

I guess Eratosthenes would be the "grandfather" of modern geography. 

(Note that as far back as 500 BC, the Greeks were pretty sure the Earth was a globe. However, in Homer's time (about a hundred years earlier), he thought the Earth was a circular, flat disc surrounded by water.)

[BigHewer]

Further to the business map earlier in the thread, here is a map I made myself for a seminar I gave a couple of years ago. Amazing how dominant Google has become in so many countries. Equally interesting where it isn't.