Ah yes, the old “graph of landmarks” style of map. Highly underrated in my opinion, some people have a mental GPS but fuck me if I do. It’s suggested sometimes that they didn’t think of making the other kind, but given the fact that they did land surveys and had words for cardinal directions I doubt it. They just didn’t see the use, and didn’t make the connection with arithmetic and algebra until Descartes thought to add in a vertical axis.
One thing I’ve looked for that doesn’t exist is a modern periplus with GPS coordinates of the landmarks included. It could be way more compact than a traditional atlas, but just as useful.
Ah yes, the old “graph of landmarks” style of map. Highly underrated in my opinion, some people have a mental GPS but fuck me if I do. It’s suggested sometimes that they didn’t think of making the other kind, but given the fact that they did land surveys and had words for cardinal directions I doubt it. They just didn’t see the use, and didn’t make the connection with arithmetic and algebra until Descartes thought to add in a vertical axis.
One thing I’ve looked for that doesn’t exist is a modern periplus with GPS coordinates of the landmarks included. It could be way more compact than a traditional atlas, but just as useful.