3 facts about maps

The oldest map

The oldest papyrus map is considered to be the one discovered in 1820. The Artemidor papyrus is now in the city of Turin in Italy, where it was first presented on display at the Egyptian Museum in 2006. The Foundation purchased it from an earlier owner, a collector, for 2.7 million euros.

What is known about the creator of the papyrus? The Artemidian of Ephesus was a famous Greek geographer who lived in the 1st century BC. His travels focused mainly on the areas of today's Spain, Egypt, and Italy. As a result of these expeditions, there was created "Geography" in 11 volumes and a map showing the then Western world. Interestingly, a significant fragment of the papyrus was discovered in the 1990s. It turned out that it was used to carton the mummy at the turn of the 2nd/3rd century AD.

Currently, the 2.70 m-long papyrus is truly unique, as it contains the outlines of countries, making it the oldest geographical map in the history of the West.

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The first map of Poland

The first preserved map of the Kingdom of Poland was created by a Pole, Wacław Grodecki, and printed in Baselat the turn of 1558-1570. In the lower-left corner, the date of its creation, written in Roman numerals MDLXX, and information about the author of "Authore Venceslao Grodecio Polono", written in Latin, have been preserved. Wacław Grodecki was a clergyman and cartographer who lived in the 16th century. His map was very accurate, which was surprising for those years. It contained many well-known cities and castles that already existed then.

After Poland regained independence in 1918, an updated version of the map of Poland was created. It was made based on cartographic documentation received from Germany and Austria.

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Creation of Google Maps

Google Maps is undoubtedly one of the most popular methods of mapping the route today. It is this service that has replaced paper maps and classic navigation in recent years. Google Maps was created on March 8, 2005, and its appearance and functionality are constantly being improved year by year. Originally, this service was only available on computers and its functionality was limited to mapping the route from the starting point to the endpoint. The first version didn't even include navigation features.

In 2007, as part of Google Maps, one of the most interesting services was created, which is Street View. Cars equipped with camera systems appeared on the streets of cities, which took photos in real-time. On the other hand, in 2009, Google Maps enabled the use of navigation, which is currently one of the most important functions of the service, as it is constantly updated and extremely accurate. One of the last added modules is the augmented reality mode, which by using users' cameras and their locations on the phone helps to orientate and indicate where they are currently located.

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