Rumsey Revisited

August 11, 2008 9:56 PM

Beijing in 1930. First mentioned on the blue back in 2001, the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection now has over 18,460 maps online—120 of them viewable as Google Maps overlays.
posted by Knappster (8 comments total)

How very cool. Those google map overlays are great.
posted by gingerbeer at 10:58 PM on August 11, 2008

This is awesome. Thanks.
posted by bokane at 1:25 AM on August 12, 2008

thanks! This is great!
posted by honest knave at 3:41 AM on August 12, 2008

Terrific. Thanks very much for the post.
posted by languagehat at 6:27 AM on August 12, 2008

These overlays are awesome.
posted by cowbellemoo at 6:58 AM on August 12, 2008

I love comparing old maps to the current geography, seeing how natural catastrophes and urban renewal projects can really change a city. Thanks muchly!
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:25 AM on August 12, 2008

How in the world were they able to be so exact back then, without sattlelites or anything. I wonder what technologies they used. Monoculars and Compass? and knot measurements? Truly a marvel.
posted by Student of Man at 7:34 AM on August 13, 2008

Very cool, and I missed this. I was just looking for a historical map of my city and came across the Rumsey collection. I thought this would be an interesting post so I did a quick search and found that it's been posted... only 8 days ago!
posted by substrate at 9:41 AM on August 19, 2008