December 09, 2007
Food Court, McDonald's
Ogilvie Transportation Center 08:06 CST
I caught the early train this morning. As it is Sunday I had a choice between the 6:45 and 8:45. As the later train arrived 45 min after the Field opens (not counting the walk time) I chose the early train. I think it takes me around thirty minutes, so I'll leave in a few minutes to arrive a bit before nine. Today I have long underwear and an extra set of gloves, I should be fine in the wind, but hopefully not too warm inside. I also have directions to a Borders so I can spend some time there tonight. Sadly though they do not have the new Dinotopia book in stock--but neither does my home store. I'd rather just order from Amazon with cheap shipping if I can't go in and buy it right away.
Today I visit the Maps exhibit! I think that after that I'll go to the [Adler] Planetarium and come back to the Field in the afternoon. I need to take many pictures. I think I'll go the aquarium tomorrow--base admission isn't bad, I just have to decide how many extras to see. I think I can pass on the Sponge Bob Square Pants 4-D Show. 08:17The Maps exhibit was the reason that I travelled to Chicago when I did. It was amazing and I wish I could have afforded the exhibition book (but it was $55 and I couldn't justify that). The Field still has an archived version of the exhibit site on-line. There is even a photo gallery with some images of the exhibit pieces (which I couldn't photograph). I'll be inserting both some pictures from this gallery (sadly pictures of all my favorite places aren't included) and sketches that I jotted down with these entries. It is interesting reading back through these entries as I'm currently reading a book on history and geography: The Fourth Part of the World.
Maps, Field Museum
Entry at 09:30, 9:45 CST
No food, no photography--signs only, no verbal. Audio tour $5, sold just before entry, headphones plug into
1905 - Photographic Automobile Guide: Chicago to Lake Geneva
Turn by turn guide with pictures and arrows on map. This was made because signage was bad (or rare) in the early days of automobile travel. This isn't a bad idea to give maps to a friend--digital photographs should make it a snap.
1290 - Mediterranean sea chart--oldest surviving portolan chart--visual information, previously only written, it is worth researching if maps of the sea existed before this, but were just not preserved--this has implications for my fantasy works. I would still make maps, but perhaps not allow characters to have them.
1252 - Route from London, England to Apulia, Italy
This map shows a city to city route through the columns. Obviously it isn't to scale, but this may be indicated--distances that is. This was made for pilgrimage purposes.[This entry is also quite interesting to me at present as I am currently listening to one of The Great Courses on English History. I just finished one that covered the Medieval period--from King Arthur to the Tudors--while the current one covers the Tudors and the Stuarts. This map would have been used during the period covered by these courses.]
1590 - du miroir de la navigation (The Mirror of Navigation)--first printed collection of sea charts. A profile view of the shore is included at the top of the map.
1940s - Stick chart made of wood an twine.
This is native to the Marshall Islands and represents ocean waters, especially the patterns and directions of ocean swells (long distance waves).
Perhaps the Ka'yana* would use devices such as these. Yes they are primitive, but also simple and durable. Perhaps there could be an underwater application as well.
*The Ka'yana are a genetically engineered "sub-species" of humanity I created for a science-fiction universe. They have gills and live primarily on "water worlds."
1884 - Inuit carvings--perfect size to carry in kayak. These are not to scale, but represent major coastal features. One is double sided--follow the right side and then flip it over to read the left side in the opposite direction.
1949 - London Underground rail system by Harry Beck
This was the first to make stations equidistant on a map regardless of actual distance--lines also laid out at 90° or 45° angles. [Image found via Creative Review blog in a fascinating post about Harry Beck's connection to the Paris Metro.]
1927 - Lindburg's New York to Paris flight chart
The route is circular, perhaps not a great circle, but not a straight line on a flat map. Every hundred miles he would adjust his course for the next straight line segment.
1892 - Route to World's Columbian Exposition--Michigan Central Railroad
This map includes written descriptions and pictures of tourist destinations, travelers are cautioned not to bring excess luggage and trust only railroad ticket agents, baggage handlers and hotels.
Understanding maps--center and edges
Center--focal point of cartographer's world, e.g. Mediterranean or sacred mountain
Edges--less important/understood; e.g. contours of a distant land
This can certainly be the case for fictitious maps--leave the unknown at the edge to fill in later or leave full of uncertainty.
1448 - Medieval Christian world map
Interpretation of original circa 600 AD. The world was long known to be a sphere, but the ability to use proper perspective to illustrate this was unknown.
1616 - brass astrolabe
Measures the angle of the sun or north star above the horizon. This lets you calculate distances north or south of the Equator, i.e. latitude/invented by ancient Greeks?
1679 - Captain Cook's chronometer (used on second and third voyages, 8 sec/day maximum fluctuation)
The timepiece was synchronized to the port of departure. Planetary rotation is 15 degrees per hour so knowing the difference in time lets you calculate the ship's longitude.
This is also something quite recently relevant to me. When we were in Washington D. C. recently I bought a book at the Smithsonian: Below the Convergence. A good bit of the book explained the development of the chronometer as part of the search for an easy method of determining longitude.
1553 - Medieval Islamic world map; interpretation of 1135 original by Muhammad al-Idrisi
Map oriented to the south [i.e. south at top] and centered on Arabia, curved red lines indicate climate zones and spherical planet
1698 - Celestial and terrestrial globes by Vicenzo Maria Coronelli (engraver)
Labels include: Ocean currents for navigators, habitats for naturalists, constellations for astronomers. California is an island!
1452 - Renaissance Christian world map, highly detailed coastline
Used portolan charts--Jerusalem at center (eastern Mediterranean towards top) and Paradise at top (East)--the center really seems to be important in early maps, more so than how much is included.
1569 - Mercator, Gerard--new projection "preserves the direction between any two places"--following a single bearing you can accurately go between any two places. California is a peninsula!
Size is distorted, especially closer to the poles. Nova Fran--New France/Canada. Hiƒpania nova--New Spain/Mexico.
[Note in margin] Why do people bring infants and the very young to such exhibits?
Audio tour - 100 series are for Maps; 10 series for Darwin--I may visit that tomorrow--I wonder if this is the same player used for the museum itself. I think I'll get one of those this afternoon or tomorrow. The audio is good, but I wish there were more. I know I travel slowly, but the infrequent number of numbers hardly necessitates leaving headphones on.
1300 BC (clay) - Town plan of Nippur, Babylon
Mesopotamian religious center, ruins approximately 100 miles south east of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Labels are in cuneiform script which I would duplicate if I were graphically able.
1748 - Plan of Rome, 2,000 points of interest listed in the index; #936 Anfiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo, or the Flavian Amphitheater--the Colosseum
1502 - Sketches for street plan of Imola, Italy--da Vinci
He probably sketched on this folded paper as he walked the city. The actual map is owned (along with the sketch) by Elizabeth II. This was to be the first modern city plan.
203-211 (marble) - Fragments of plan of Rome, original wall 40 ft high by 60 ft long
From the Temple of Peace, data from property tax maps
This was used by military planners under Louis XIV during the 1688-1697 War of the Grand Alliance.
Over 140 models of 101 sites exist.
One inch on the plan equals 50 feet on ground.
Military plans focused on fortifications.
~5-6 feet by 4 feet
[This is one of the maps I drew amidst my notes that comprise the text of these blog entries. I actually did all of my writing on yellow legal sheets. However, when I took the pictures they all turned out as if they were taken of white sheets of paper. I'm not quite certain why that might have happened.]
1860 - Buddhist temple complex in Japan (Detailed chart of Mt. Koya in Saikoku)--clouds are drifting across this map, I can only assume that they don't obscure anything important. Japanese script runs from top to bottom.
c. 1360 - Gough map (name of later owner); Great Britain
First road map of Great Britain--long thought to be a map for merchants, now perhaps seen as imperial--expansion into Scotland and Wales; East is at the top, 600 settlements and 200 rivers are shown.
c. 1644 - View of Amsterdam by Jan Christaenszoon Micker
Canals, idividual buildings, fields, and anchored ships are all beautifully depicted. He even painted the shadows of high clouds! Three masted ships.
19th Century print of 1136 carving - China Yu Ji Tu (Places visited by Emperor Yu) All land area (including Hainan island) is gridded--each side of square equals 100 li ~ 30 miles. This is the oldest surviving map with uniform scale over such a large area.
c. 1450 The islands of Nisyros and Kos in Liber Insularum Archipelagi (Atlas of the Aegean Islands).
With more than 70 maps and descriptions this was the first isolario (island book); Kos--birthplace of Hippocrates. Volcano on Nixaros (Nisyros). The drawings are nicely drawn to the edge of pages and in between blocks of text.
1562 - America, The Fourth Part of the World Newly and Exactly Described--Diego Gutiérrez
African coastline shows lion, rhino, and elephant just inland, many ships at sail--detailed waves
Also "one of the earliest references to California"--not enough is visible to see if it is an island or not.
1508 - World map showing the Americas (Columbus died 1506)
First modern map of entire globe, North America appears to be extension of Asia while South America is separate
1424 - Nautical chart of Atlantic, Zuane Pizzigano, Venetian
Are islands Antilia and Satanzes based on pre-Columbian journeys or just figments of imagination/legend?
Off the coast of England? [below]
1524 - Tenochtitlan by Hernán Cortés
This map was sent to the king as part of Cortés' justification for attacking/conquering the Aztecs. Some details may never have been seen by Cortés and thus a native informer may have given him certain details.
1581 - Silver medal by Michael Mercator--commemorates Drake's circumnavigation of the globe, one half on each side
1755 - A Map of the British and French Dominions in North America by John Mitchell
This map challenged French land claims, expanding British colonial boundaries in the south (Virginia toGeorgia) out to the Mississippi.
This copy was annotated by peace delegates at Paris in 1782-83 to show the boundaries of the new United States--this is George III's copy
Coastal colonies are the same as modern states; Pennsylvania is squarish into modern New York and across Lake Erie to complete shape. New Hampshire includes much of Vermont. Province of Sagadahock between Province of Maine and Nova Scotia/Acadia
1849 - California Gold Rush Route from Emigrant's Guide to California by Joseph E. Wave
Distances, roads, islands, rivers, are all shown. Profile map at the top tracks changes in elevation along the entire route.
Laying out America
Four main ways to divide land
>English metes and bounds
Area: British control, 13 colonies plus Vermont, Main, Kentucky, and Tennessee
Based on: natural features and settler's desires
Looks like: highly irregular parcels
>French long lots
Area: French control, Louisiana rivers, Illinois along Mississippi and Illinois and Indiana above the Ohio river, Wisconsin south-west and right at Lake Michigan
Based on: river's course, maximizing number of owners with frontage
Looks like: linear, parallel parcels
>Spanish and Mexican land grants
Area: Spanish control; California--San Joaquin, Bay Area, LA to San Diego, Southern Texas, New Mexico/Arizona, Florida, remnants of Spanish Louisiana along the Mississippi River
Based on: requests from individuals and communities
Looks like: often large and rectangular parcels
>American Township Grid
Area: Settled after 1785, Federal land survey--lower 48 minus Texas and English areas above
Based on: 36 square mile township divided into one mile square sections
Looks like: uniform, rectangular grid
1723 - Long lots in New Orleans
1784 - Proposed boundaries of 14 new states--names by Thomas Jefferson
2. Michigania (Ojibwe for "big-sea-water")--Wisconsin
3. Cherronesus (Greek for "peninsula")--lower peninsula of Michigan
6. Illinoia (Miami-Illinois for "Illinois river")--Indiana area?
8. Washington (from George) Ohio area
1836 - Survey plat of Huron, Illinois by Abraham Lincoln
Three presidential surveyors (Washington, Lincoln, and ?[Jefferson])--"town" popular ferry crossing on Sangamon River but only few houses--"paper city"
1941 - February 21, LA Times Pacific war zone
1701? - Edmund Halley, compass variations in West and Southern Oceans demonstrated difference between True and Magnetic north on map
1919 - Ethnographic map of the Balkan Peninsula made for diplomats at Paris Peace Conference post World War I
1865 - Tableaus de la nature (Scenes from Nature) Vegetation zones from the Andes by Alexander von Humboldt, German
Profile view of mountains showing how vegetation changes along the slope. Chimborazo (Ecuador) is "one of the world's tallest volcanic mountains" and goes from "lush tropical rainforests" to "at its peak, glaciers."
1861-1865 - The Civil War in Four Minutes--one week equals one second
From Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois
1851 - Whale chart--global distribution of sperm and right whales
Matthew Maury plotted sightings and discovered that whales migrate
1860 - Aerial photograph of Boston--James Wallace Black
Second ever aerial photograph--first (1858) from France has been lost--he used a glass negative
1726 - Lilliput, plotted by cartographer Herman Moll (at Swift's request) south of Sumatra
Tolkien Maps
c. 1930 - Thror's Map, manuscript, ink, and graphite on paper from the Hobbit. I can only read a very few words such as "Bilgo. He loved maps..." But here are sketches of a couple parts of the map.
[the word Laketown is cut off in the bottom left of the above picture]
c. 1943-44 - Notes on Times and Distances, manuscript, ink and graphite on paper
Helm's Dike to Road ford at mouth of Deeping Coomb: 5 miles
Road ford to Fords of Isen: 15 miles
Fords of Isen to Gates of Isengard: 30 miles
Very precise calculation of sunset at approach to Isengard
Also times of trips e.g. "kin leaves in late afternoon at about 3:30 pm"
(A student exam on Beowulf is on the back [or this is on the back of that ;-)])
c. 1944 - Topographical view of Minas Tirith--from Return of the King--manuscript, printed map [right]
The topographical portion of the map is fascinating, I just cannot read any of the labeling!
1588 - Theater of the World--atlas
Abraham Ortelius gathered the best maps and drew this to a uniform size in 1570--very popular. By 1512 at least 7,300 copies in 31 editions and seven languages.
1959 - Risk board--square blocks--1 army? prism--10 armies?
Left gift ship (I purchased a Field hat and Maps T-shirt) 14:25
Adler Planetarium
15:00 CST
I'm at the Adler Planetarium now. I didn't expect Maps to take so long, but I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. I wrote about twelve pages of notes. The book was too expensive ($55) and no photographs were allowed.
I do not have time for much at the Planetarium, but basic admission was free, so I bought tickets to two shows. Tomorrow morning I'll be back to see whatever other shows sound good and to take in the "Mapping the Universe" exhibit.
I liked the fact that the Field audio tour used headphones (so I substituted my own) but the one here reminds me of the Titanic tours, only slightly less bulky. I may get both (general Field tour) tomorrow--it depends on how much time I have. I'd like to go to Science and Industry, but do not want to walk that far. It would be cheaper, and more interesting than the Aquarium.
I just heard someone asking how many tickets sold for a show over the museum radios. Also when I purchased my tickets the agent told me I didn't want to see two shows that might overlap--no late admission is allowed and I heard to arrive 10 minutes early.
Again I forgot to eat my lunch--but I'm not too worried. I can munch on my way to Borders. I'd have to fix something at my aunt's (they're gone for dinner) anyway. Last night we had Chicago style deep dish pizza. It was very good, but filling! 15:16
Adler Planetarium
16:04 CST
Just finished Night Sky Live! It was an interesting presentation--it had Fall stars featured prominently. Apparently the show varies with each season. I did not get to see Orion at the end in the pre-dawn Fall or post midnight winter sky. The show was a live narration and at times she was obviously reading (a red light illuminated her script). Someone walking out said it was the worst show they'd heard--I didn't think it was too bad.
I am quite interested to see if the next show is similar or quite different. It is (with some visuals updated) apparently very old, dating back to the opening of the Planetarium. The title is "Star of Wonder." Once I see the Christmas Planetarium this Friday (or early on Saturday) I'll have seen three Christmas star shows. Comparing should be fun at that point. 16:10
PS Staff are setting up for a dinner event.
~Matt
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