Land & Boundaries
Reading the Old Plats: A Field Guide to the Stories Hidden in Survey Records
How to read title blocks, bearings, monuments, notes, linework, and historical context without mistaking a beautiful drawing for the whole survey.
From the Index
Tag: Historical Maps
Maps and charts that preserve earlier views, measurements, and understandings of places.
Maps & Mapping
Measuring China: Ancient Maps, Cadastral Order, and the Principles of Pei Xiu
A history of Chinese land measurement and cartography, from administrative records to gridded maps and Pei Xiu’s enduring principles.
Exploration & Places
Walking a Nation: Ino Tadataka and the Survey of Japan
How a retired merchant, local collaborators, astronomy, traverses, and repeated journeys produced Japan’s celebrated Ino maps.
Land & Society
Mapping Korea: Cadastral Records, Mountain Landscapes, and the Daedongyeojido
How Korean mapmaking combined administration, routes, regional knowledge, and distinctive cartographic traditions.
Engineering & Infrastructure
Surveying the Panama Canal, Part 1: Finding a Route Between Two Oceans
How reconnaissance, maps, levels, rivers, and competing canal concepts shaped the choice of a route across Panama.
Engineering & Infrastructure
Surveying the Iron Road, Part 1: How Early American Railroads Found a Line
How reconnaissance, profiles, curves, grades, and maps turned proposed railroads into buildable routes.
Land & Society
The Beauty of Maps, Land Surveying and the Art of Cartography
Maps have long been a symbol of human curiosity, exploration, and understanding of the world around us. From the earliest depictions of our surroundings etched into stone or…