maps

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Believers in 1930s Tale Hunt for a River of Gold
Old Map, 1930s Tale Spurs
Modern Hunt for Gold
longform
Apr 23, 2023 8:45 AM CDT

Old Map, 1930s Tale Spurs Modern Hunt for Gold

'Los Angeles Times' digs into the fabled treasure of Mount Kokoweef in the Mojave Desert

(Newser) - It's a great American yarn. Whether there's any actual gold at the heart of it is a whole other matter. Writing for the Los Angeles Times , Daniel Miller digs into the legend of a veritable river of gold said to exist somewhere in the caverns beneath Mount Kokoweef...

Yale: Our Viking Treasure Is 'Fake'
'The Vinland Map Is a Fake'
Sep 30, 2021 12:02 PM CDT

'The Vinland Map Is a Fake'

Analyses suggest storied map was forged in 20th century, isn't an ancient relic

(Newser) - It was once considered the oldest known map depicting North America. But the Vinland Map, credited to early Viking explorers, is not what it initially seemed, according to Yale University, which acquired it in the 1960s. For one thing, the calfskin parchment map of the North American coastline southwest of...

Word 'Negro' Nixed From Names of 16 Texas Locations

Follows vote of federal board

(Newser) - A federal board has voted to remove the word "negro" from the names of over a dozen Texas geographic locations. Per CNN , the US Board on Geographic Names approved the proposal Thursday to rename 16 geographical features in Texas that include the word. Per the Texas Tribune , the change...

His Drone Took Property Pics. Surveyors Didn't Like That

Man running business capturing land images for realtors sues after NC grounds his drone

(Newser) - When Michael Jones started a side hustle shooting drone photos and videos for real estate agents, his clients wanted more images with property lines on them, to better understand where their fences should be. It seemed like a good use of emerging technology that met an obvious consumer demand, and...

Zuckerberg: We Have 'New Superpower' in COVID-19 Fight

Data collection: Facebook releases county-by-county maps of people reporting symptoms

(Newser) - This time, Facebook hopes to use data collection for the greater good. (Unlike, say, this time .) The company on Monday unveiled a map that tracks coronavirus symptoms county by county across the US, reports CNET . The idea is to help hospitals and local health officials get a better sense...

Glaring Error on Africa Map Called 'Act of Aggression'

No, Ethiopia has not annexed Somalia

(Newser) - Typically it's New Zealand that gets left off maps . But this time, Somalia is getting a taste of the affront via a map published by its neighbor and longtime rival, Ethiopia. The map, removed Sunday from the website for Ethiopia's foreign ministry, showed Somalian territory included within Ethiopia'...

New Zealand Definitely Exists. Just Not on Ikea's World Map

It's not the first time the country has been forgotten by cartographers

(Newser) - Usually when you buy something from Ikea, it's necessary to assemble all of the parts, but a world map should really come preassembled with all of the countries included. At least that's the feeling of New Zealanders, who are a bit miffed that a map from the retailer'...

What May Be 'Most Famous Map in English Lit' Up for Grabs

1926 EH Shepard sketch of Hundred Acre Wood appears in AA Milne's 'Winnie-the-Pooh'

(Newser) - Sotheby's is prepping for a children's books and illustrations auction in July, and at the top of the list is what one expert calls "probably the most famous map in English literature." That, per the BBC , would be EH Shepard's original ink sketch of the...

French Have Field Day With Whole Foods Cheese Map

The inaccuracies are inspiring widespread sass

(Newser) - In cheese-loving France, there's plenty of regional pride for which places first made, or exclusively produce, each fromage. So when Whole Foods displayed a French cheese map with glaring inaccuracies, an online melee ensued, reports Eater . It all started when French expat Mikaël, who lives in DC, on...

School District Is First in US to Adopt This World Map

They're trying to 'decolonize the curriculum'

(Newser) - The Boston school system says it is the first in the US to adopt a world map that shows how big countries really are in relation to each other, unlike the one most of us grew up with. The Gall-Peters projection, first published in 1974, gets rid of the distortion...

This New Map Crushes the One We've Relied On Since 1569

Most proportional map ever?

(Newser) - Portraying all the contents of a spherical Earth on a flat, two-dimensional piece of paper is notoriously difficult, which is why we've relied on, for more than four centuries, a map that inaccurately shows Greenland, Alaska, and Antarctica as imposingly huge. But now a new map by Japanese artist...

Hiker Dies Because Husband Used App Instead of Map

Jane Wilson fell to her death in March

(Newser) - A hiker's fatal fall in March has been blamed on using a smartphone app map instead of an actual map. The BBC reports Jane Wilson and her husband Gary were hiking on Tryfan in Wales when it started to get dark and they decided to skip the summit. While...

Australia Is About 5 Feet From Where We Left It in 1994

And that's a problem for self-driving cars

(Newser) - For the love of GPS, somebody stop Australia from moving. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports the country is located smack dab on top of the fastest moving tectonic plate in the world. That means Australia is approximately 5 feet north of where it was in 1994—the last time the...

Scientist Finds Tallest Mountain in US Arctic— and a Surprise

Mount Isto is tallest, followed by Mount Hubley

(Newser) - It's been the subject of a half-century-long debate. But thanks to a new mapping technique, mountain experts have identified the tallest mountain in the US Arctic and uncovered a bit of a surprise as well. Using fodar , a technique he invented to map terrain using airborne photography, glaciologist Matt...

No One Likes Left Turns, So Waze Is Getting Rid of Them

But only in one city so far

(Newser) - Waze, Google's map app, is notorious for forcing drivers to attempt uncontrolled left turns onto busy streets in an effort to get them where they're going in the shortest amount of time. “Many drivers (and especially LA drivers) know the feeling," Waze itself admits in a...

Annoyed Rancher to Lots of Hikers: Google Maps Is Wrong

People were led to his property instead of the trail

(Newser) - Canadian rancher Pete Stoner was having a heck of a time getting Google to change its mapping tool to direct people in search of the Fort George Canyon Provincial Park in British Columbia to the trailhead instead of his private property. He says it all started in 2014, when he...

Library Recovers Stolen 400-Year-Old Map

'I'm proud it's been returned to its rightful home'

(Newser) - A centuries-old map compiled by French explorer Samuel de Champlain and believed to be among dozens stolen more than a decade ago from the Boston Public Library has been recovered, library officials said Friday. The map, compiled in 1612, was found at a New York City arts dealer, where it...

One-of-a-Kind Tolkien Map of Middle-Earth Unearthed

$92K map, full of author's notes, has been found in illustrator's collection

(Newser) - A one-of-a-kind map of Middle-earth filled with JRR Tolkien's own green ink and penciled notes has been found in renowned illustrator Pauline Baynes' copy of The Lord of the Rings. Baynes appears to have removed the map from an earlier edition as she began to work on a color...

The Man Who Erased Islands From Our Maps

One ocean surveyor was charged with erasing phantom islands

(Newser) - When ocean surveyor Captain Sir Frederick Evans became the new chief hydrographer to the Royal Navy in the 1870s, he was tasked with charting the Pacific Ocean, which for more than 400 years had been filling up with "phantom islands," reports Intelligent Life magazine. That is, islands that...

Whiz-Kid Cartographer Tracks ISIS From His Bedroom
 Whiz-Kid 
 Cartographer 
 Tracks ISIS From 
 His Bedroom 
in case you missed it
Aug 29, 2015 3:51 PM CDT

Whiz-Kid Cartographer Tracks ISIS From His Bedroom

Thomas van Linge is respected war-zone mapmaker—and he's only 19

(Newser) - Thomas van Linge has become one of the most respected cartographers around when it comes to tracking global conflicts, including the advances of ISIS, Boko Haram, and separatists in Ukraine. His highly detailed, color-coded maps have been picked up by CNN, the New York Times, and the Huffington Post, among...

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