Distortions on Sixteenth-century Maps of America
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14701529 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James Kelley (Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, corresponding author), JAMES E KELLEY JR (Melrose Park / Pennsylvania / United States) |
| Year | 1995 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1-13 |
| Publication date | 1995-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cartographica The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0317-7173 • E-ISSN: 1911-9925 |
| Publisher | University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3138/2r98-3837-5427-2t27 |
| OpenAlex | W2002927888 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
Distortions in early-sixteenth-century maps make it difficult to match place names and landforms to real places. This paper seeks to improve interpretation of these maps by discussing and illustrating the major causes of distortion. Errors in scale, caused by using inconsistent or incorrect units of measure, are probably the worst. Building maps with uncorrected magnetic compass courses placed landforms at incorrect latitudes. Unmeasured swift currents (e.g., the Gulf Stream) biased estimates of distance travelled, and led to maps with stretched or compressed coastal lengths. Flat maps constructed from course data on the sphere led to the invention of false coasts in order to close circuits. The paper also traces the scaling errors back to the early fourteenth century
Cartography · Compass · Distortion (music · Geodesy · Geography · Geometry · Interpretation (philosophy · Landform · Latitude · Scale (ratio · Scaling · Swift · Telecommunications · Archaeology and Natural History · Computer Science · Historical Geography and Cartography · History · Mathematics · Geology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2021 (19) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |