Ran across this interesting site that has a nice collection of old maps of cities. The Informational Design in some of these maps are just simply superb.
This map of Prague in 1743 is spectacular. It has map levels of information displayed on this hand-drawn map that are just great. The detail is superb, and the information portrayed is pretty clear. You get a sense of the terrain types, wall-shapes and fortification types, outer farm locations, and much more. (I can’t really read the legend, so I could guess on some of the small insets, but won’t.)
The city maps are a bunch of fun as well. Overhead drawings, isometric drawings, [skyline drawings]url5], all wonderfully portrayed. The detail is phenomenal, especially when you consider the time. The amount of time these people must have spent to detail each map to such exacting levels is just amazing.
I haven’t even gotten into the typography, which is pretty good on it’s own. I just find the informational presentation of these maps really amazing. Why in the hell don’t we see maps like this today? Seriously? Why does every map look the same? After looking at these maps, I want more.
For map overload, historic maps of the UK and historic maps of many other places are available. (all wonderful map linkage brought to you today by Metafilter)
Tagged As Art, Cool, Design, Info Design
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Posted at 07:36 PM
