Maps & Navigation
How people measure a place, draw its edges, and find their way across it.
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What did a surveyor leave at the spot marked “BM”?
Two little crosses sit beside the same Kentucky railroad. A survey crew’s note about a gravel lane will tell you which one held its disk.
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Is that brown loop a hill or a hole?
Two brown lines curl back on themselves on a map of Park City, Kentucky. Set a foot inside each one. Which way would the ground go?
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Why did the mapmaker draw the new streets in purple?
South Buckingham Court comes to a round little end above a Virginia creek. Switch between two maps of the same bend and see what the mapmaker added.
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How do you read a landscape from a flat map?
On an old map of Crater Lake, a line can take you up a mountain and a number can drop you through the water. Start with one finger on the shore.