Aerial View Maps

How were maps made before planes and satellites existed?

it's obvious now with the technology we have, how we know where things are on this earth. but back in the day, how were people able to draw out maps? i dont know any facts on this subject but i know maps have been out for hundreds of years, way before we could see an aerial shot, and they're fairly accurate. how did they manage to do that? pretty smart people back then, eh.

Public Comments

1. They were surveyed, triangulated in three dimensions. Difficult, but do-able.
2. With sextants, chronometers (accurate clocks), compasses, and graph paper. Using the sextant, chronometer, and compass, and a few calculations, a navigator could tell where he was and what direction he was facing. Then he'd just draw it on the graph paper. With many navigational "fixes" being taken, the map would take shape. See the link.
3. I like this question. I have no idea how they did that . Maybe they put cameras in births and watched from the ground . ***********************************
4. If you look at truly ancient maps you will see they weren't to precise, but still the land areas were recognizable. It was done with basic navigation and application of geometric principles. The hardest part had to do with TIME. Time measurement is important in determining your longitudinal location. The further north or south you are, the more critical that measurement becomes due to the closeness of those lines of longitude. That is why many old maps show greater distortion when the areas mapped are closer to the polar regions.
5. Agree with what most of the other people said. Latitude (north / south) is easy -- just measure the angle of the north star. Accurate longitude (east / west ) is hard, especially over ocean. It wasn't until the 1750's that a practical (cheap) way to determine longitude was invented.
6. exploration expeditions