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Videos on Maps & Cartography
The Beauty Of Maps: Medieval Maps - Mapping The Medieval Mind (Episode 1 of 4)
A rare chance to appreciate maps purely as objects of beauty, this series disengages from the geography and considers the end work of the cartographer as a splendid monument of engraving, painting, printing and colouring. Like any other art form, maps have an immediate and arresting effect - they have the power to distract, to reveal secrets, to unsettle and inspire. Some of history's most brilliant examples are examined here in incredible detail.
The Beauty Of Maps: City Maps - Order Out Of Chaos (Episode 2 of 4)
The British Library is home to a staggering 4.5 million maps, most of which remain hidden away in its colossal basement. This episode delves behind the scenes to explore some amazing treasures in more detail. This is the story of three maps, three 'visions' of London over three centuries; visions of beauty that celebrate but also distort the truth. It's the story of how urban maps try to impose order on chaos.
The Beauty Of Maps: Atlas Maps - Thinking Big (Episode 3 of 4)
The Dutch golden age saw map-making reach a fever pitch of creative and commercial ambition. This was the era of the first ever atlases - elaborate, lavish and beautiful. It marked an unprecedented opportunity for mapmakers, who sought to record and categorise the newly acquired knowledge of the world. Rising above them all was Gerard Mercator, who changed mapmaking forever when he published his collection of world maps in 1598.
The Beauty Of Maps: Cartoon Maps - Politics And Satire (Episode 4 of 4)
The series concludes by delving into the world of satirical maps. In the late 1800s maps took on a new form, not as geographical tools, but as devices for humour, satire and storytelling. Graphic artist Fred Rose captured the public mood in 1880 with his general election maps featuring Gladstone and Disraeli, using the maps to comment upon crucial election issues still familiar to us today.
The Map Makers: The Waldseeueller Map 1507 (Episode 1 of 3)
This episode explores the time period when the edges of our world were a mystery. The discovery of the 'New World' by explorers such as Columbus and Vespucci were adding pieces to the world map. During this age of discovery emerged a map that changed the way people would view the world forever.
The Map Makers: The Mercator Atlas 1572 (Episode 2 of 3)
The struggle for religious dominance and power in 16th Century Europe featured a Scottish spy and map maker, John Elder, who drafted maps for Henry VIII, then later fled to France with his secrets which he offered to the Catholic forces to plan their attack on the continent. His secret information led to the production of a map by the world famous geographer, Mercator.
The Map Makers: D-Day Invasion Maps (Episode 3 of 3)
This episode tells the fascinating story of maps during wartime, featuring the tale of the 'Bigot Maps'. These maps were the most confidential and secret of World War II and contained information about the enemy territory and defences.
Mapping The World: Windows On The World (Episode 1 of 3)
The story of cartography from hammered rock art through to the plantary images of Google Earth. Each episode addresses a basic technological challenge of map making.
Mapping The World: Spirit Of The Age (Episode 2 of 3)
Examines how maps reflect the culture and spirit of the age in which they were created.
Mapping The World: Power, Plunder And Possession (Episode 3 of 3)
Mapping has led to explorers conquering far away lands in the past; and mapping the North Pole may lead to a 'cold rush' to exploit natural resources.
Camera Natura
CAMERA NATURA is a film about the Australian landscape as portrayed in the myths, maps, painting, writing, photography and cinema of white Australians. Even before Europeans had located Australia, they had constructed an image of the country. The Antipodes were projected to give form to European aspirations and anxieties.
CAMERA NATURA traces the developing image of the continent as it has been represented over 200 years, from the anguish of the convict painter, Thomas Watling, to the technologies of the cinema and aerial photography.
CAMERA NATURA charts the contours of a mythic realm and geographical entity. Through its use of painting, photographs and film it highlights some of the premises upon which many 'quintessential' Australian myths and beliefs are founded.
Familiar Places
Narrated by the linguist and anthropologist Peter Sutton, this documentary observes his work with a family in far north Queensland, outside Aurukun, to map their hereditary "clan country". The aim of the older members of the family is partly to protect their land and prove their attachment to it, for purposes of dealing with the government and industry, and also to demarcate the country from claims by other Aboriginal groups.
The Land
The Land is the first episode in a three-part series about the history of Australia's federation. In the winter of 1889, Sir Henry Parkes, the three-times premier of NSW, the grand patriarch with the big white beard, decides he will federate the colonies. But in these isolated regions separated by armies, train gauges, customs houses and with every capital setting its own time, it will take more than the grand vision of one elder statesman to create a nation. Though a constitution is written, the squabbling colonies find it impossible to agree. What is achieved in the first attempt is a national political map. Within these boundaries Australia's political existence would be wrestled into being -- but by the next generation.
TED Talks on Mapping & Cartography
Aris Venetikidis: Making sense of maps
Aris Venetikidis is fascinated by the maps we draw in our minds as we move around a city -- less like street maps, more like schematics or wiring diagrams, abstract images of relationships between places. How can we learn from these mental maps to make better real ones? As a test case, he remakes the notorious Dublin bus map.
Daniele Quercia: Happy maps
Mapping apps help us find the fastest route to where we’re going. But what if we’d rather wander? Researcher Daniele Quercia demos “happy maps” that take into account not only the route you want to take, but how you want to feel along the way.
Danny Dorling: Maps that show us who we are (not just where we are)
What does the world look like when you map it using data? Social geographer Danny Dorling invites us to see the world anew, with his captivating and insightful maps that show Earth as it truly is -- a connected, ever-changing and fascinating place in which we all belong. You'll never look at a map the same way again.
Dave Troy: Social maps that reveal a city's intersections — and separations
Every city has its neighborhoods, cliques and clubs, the hidden lines that join and divide people in the same town. What can we learn about cities by looking at what people share online? Starting with his own home town of Baltimore, Dave Troy has been visualizing what the tweets of city dwellers reveal about who lives there, who they talk to — and who they don’t.
Lalitesh Katragadda: Making maps to fight disaster, build economies
As of 2005, only 15 percent of the world was mapped. This slows the delivery of aid after a disaster -- and hides the economic potential of unused lands and unknown roads. In this short talk, Google's Lalitesh Katragadda demos Map Maker, a group map-making tool that people around the globe are using to map their world.
Parag Khanna: Mapping the future of countries
Many people think the lines on the map no longer matter, but Parag Khanna says they do. Using maps of the past and present, he explains the root causes of border conflicts worldwide and proposes simple yet cunning solutions for each.
Playlist: Adventures in mapping (12 talks)
Maps don't just tell you which street to turn left on. Maps convey information that shapes our lives, deepen our understanding of problems and our ability to create solutions, and whisk our imaginations to new lands.
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