map
A city map is a large-scale thematic map of a city (or part of a city) for the purpose of quick orientation in an urban space . The representation is therefore largely graphically greatly simplified and reduced to generally understandable signatures . Depending on the target group, a city map contains not only the transport network but also other important additional information - such as sights or public facilities.
Content and design
The scale range of city maps is usually between 1:10 000 and 1:25 000. Dense inner city areas are sometimes drawn in larger scales on separate detailed maps. In addition to the true-to-scale representation, there are also city maps with a variable scale, where the scale increases towards the city center (fish-eye projection).
The main information on the city map is the street network with street names (often supplemented by individual house numbers), the buildings, green spaces and bodies of water. Streets and places of interest are usually also listed in a register, which locates the objects on the map using a search grid. Important points such as administration buildings, cultural institutions, sights, etc. are highlighted with the help of pictograms . The city map is supplemented by the representation of local public transport and rail transport.
history
Old Orient
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Already in the ancient Orient , clay tablets were made with true-to-scale cartographic representations of cities. Excavations of the Sumerian city of Nippur brought to light a fragment of an approximately 3500 year old city map of Nippur , which is sometimes referred to as the oldest known city map. The clay tablet shows the temple of Enlils , a city park, the city wall with gates as well as a canal and the river Euphrates . The individual objects of the plan have already been inscribed in Sumerian cuneiform .
Roman antiquity
Under the emperor Septimius Severus, the Forma Urbis Romae (FUR) or Forma Urbis marmorea was created between 203 and 211 AD , a monumental plan of the city of Rome made of marble slabs, which was attached to an inner wall of the Templum Pacis . Today it is an important testimony to the topography of ancient Rome.
Cityscapes of the late Middle Ages
In manuscripts and early book prints of the late Middle Ages , cities are often depicted in profile or viewed from an elevated point of view. In nautical charts of that time, stylized cityscapes are sometimes drawn in like a pictogram - for example in Cristoforo Buondelmonti's Liber insularum Archipelagi (Book of Islands) from 1422.
The Schedelsche Weltchronik (Nürnberger Chronik), first published in 1493, is one of the most important testimonies of city representations of the late Middle Ages with over one hundred views. Panoramas like this or that in Bernhard von Breydenbach's travelogue from 1483, however, had more narrative or representative functions. The local conditions and essential features - such as harbors, magnificent buildings, city walls, etc. - were illustrated as a background for historical descriptions or highlighting of the city's economic advantages. However, less emphasis was placed on accuracy: in Schedel's World Chronicle, only a quarter of the city views corresponded to the actual appearance, and in some cases individual images were even used for several cities at the same time.
Development of perspective drawing and printing techniques in the Renaissance
In the 16th century, the artists and scholars of the Renaissance acquired extensive mathematical knowledge of perspectives and projections , which also had an impact on the work of cartographers and the creation of cityscapes (especially initially in Italy). A decisive innovation was that the city was no longer simply portrayed from an imaginary or real perspective, but first of all a two-dimensional plan of the city was drawn up and then converted into a three-dimensional image through precise perspective drawing. An early example of a geometrically exact and extremely detailed work of this kind is the city view of Venice created by Jacopo de 'Barbari around 1500 .
While the illustrations of the late Middle Ages were mostly simple, small-format woodcuts , processes for printing giant woodcuts and colored woodcuts became increasingly widespread from 1500 onwards . Jacopo de 'Barbari's plan of Venice was already a considerable size of 139 x 282 cm and consisted of six individual wooden panels. Starting in the middle of the 16th century, copper engraving prevailed over woodcuts based on Antwerp and allowed much finer and detailed representations.
19th century
The modern city map got its meaning with the emergence of the big cities, when it became necessary for city dwellers and travelers to receive an orientation aid. The city map thus became a " navigation instrument for a wide audience". The shape for the medium city map is changed. Pictorial symbols are created for easier orientation, folds and formats are adapted for easy use in urban space. "By 1900 the city map had developed into a mass medium." ( Christina Schumacher )
Manufacturing
Printed city maps usually have a handy map format with a special fold so that the map can also be used in confined spaces. Recently, there have also been electronic city maps for cell phones or portable computers, which may be equipped with positioning and targeting by satellite navigation .
Europe's largest manufacturer of city maps is the MairDumont publishing group with its city map brands Falk and ADAC . In addition to distribution through the publishing house cartography , there are also city maps that are distributed free of charge (or financed by advertising) via municipalities or banks.
In order to protect city maps against unauthorized duplication, map manufacturers often draw in so-called Trap Streets (German: Fallenstrasse) as a plagiarism trap .
See also
- City atlas
- cartography
- Children's city map
- Route planner , navigation system
- Historic Stuttgart city maps
literature
-
The History of Cartography
- PDA Harvey: Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean . In: The History of Cartography . tape 1 , 1987, 20. Local and Regional Cartography in Medieval Europe ( online ).
- Hilary Ballon and David Friedman: Cartography in the European Renaissance . In: The History of Cartography . tape 3 , 2007, 27. Portraying the City in Early Modern Europe: Measurement, Representation, and Planning ( online [PDF]).
- David Buisseret: Envisioning the city: six studies in urban cartography , University of Chicago Press 1998, ISBN 0-226-07993-7
- Lutz Philipp Günther: The pictorial representation of German cities: From the chronicles of the early modern period to the websites of the present . Böhlau 2009, ISBN 3-412-20348-3
- Peter Whitfield: Cities of the World. In historical maps. , Theiss 2006, ISBN 3-8062-2046-8
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Nippur - Sacred City Of Enlil . Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ↑ JB Harley, David Woodward: The History of Cartography, Volume 1: Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean , Univ. of Chicago Press 1987, ISBN 0-226-31633-5 .
- ^ Samuel Noah Kramer: The city map of Nippur, the oldest city map in the world. In Helmut Uhlig: The Sumerians . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1992. ISBN 3-404-64117-5 .
- ↑ Cristoforo Buondelmonti: Map of Constantinople . From Liber insularum Archipelagi 1422.
- ^ Lutz Philipp Günther: The pictorial representation of German cities: From the chronicles of the early modern times to the websites of the present . Böhlau 2009, ISBN 3-412-20348-3 , p. 38
- ↑ Denis Cosgrove: Mappings . Reaction Books 1999. ISBN 1-86189-021-4 . P. 98 ff.
- ^ Arthur Groos: Topographies of the early modern city . V&R Unipress 2008. ISBN 3-89971-535-7 . P. 198 ff.
- ^ Jacopo de 'Barbari: Perspective plan of Venice . 1500.
- ^ Landesarchiv Berlin (ed.): City on paper The emergence of the modern city plan. Exhibition as part of the 58th German Cartographers' Day. Berlin Potsdam 2010
- ^ Benjamin Friedrich: The publishing house cartography in Germany with special consideration of street maps and street atlases. Bachelor thesis 2009.