Revolutions in Mapping

Reading Practice
Revolutions in Mapping
A. Today, the mapmaker's vision is no longer confined to what the human eye can see.
The perspective of mapmaking has shifted from the crow's nest of the sailing vessel,
mountain top and airplane to 'new orbital heights. Radar, which bounces microwave
radio signals off a given surface to create images of its contours and textures, can
penetrate jungle foliage and has produced the first maps of the mountains of the
planet Venus. And a combination of sonar and radar produces charts of the seafloor,
putting much of Earth on the map for the first time. ‘Suddenly it's a whole different
world for US,’ says Joel Morrison, chief of geography at the U.S. Bureau of the
Census, ‘Our future as mapmakers - even ten years from now - is uncertain.’
B. The world's largest collection of maps resides in the basement of the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.c. The collection, consisting of up to 4,6 million map
sheets and 63,000 atlases, includes magnificent bound collections of elaborate maps-
the pride of the golden age of Dutch cartography*. In the reading room scholars,
wearing thin cotton gloves to protect the fragile sheets, examine ancient maps with
magnifying glasses. Across the room people sit at their computer screens, studying
the latest maps, with their prodigious memories, computers are able to store data
about people, places and environments - the stuff of maps - and almost instantly
information is displayed on the screen in the desired geographic context, and at the
dick of a button, a print-out of the map appears.
C. Measuring the spherical Earth ranks as the first major milestone in scientific
cartography. This was first achieved by the Greek astronomer Eratosthenes, a
scholar at the famous Alexandrian Library in Egypt in the third century BC. He
calculated the Earth's circumference as 25,200 miles, which was remarkably
accurate. The longitudinal circumference is known to be 24,860 miles.
D. Building on the ideas of his predecessors, the astronomer and geographer Ptolemy,
working in the second century AD, spelled out a system for organizing maps
according to grids of latitude and longitude. Today, parallels of latitude are often
spaced at intervals of 10 to 20 degrees and meridians** at 15 degrees, and this is the
basis for the width of modern time zones. Another legacy of Ptolemy's is his advice to
cartographers to create maps to scale. Distance on today's maps is expressed as a
fraction or ratio of the real distance. But mapmakers in Ptolemy's time lacked the
geographic knowledge to live up to Ptolemy's scientific principles. Even now, when
surveyors achieve accuracies down to inches and satellites can plot potential missile
targets within feet, maps are not true pictures of reality.
E. However, just as the compass improved navigation and created demand for useful
charts, so the invention of the printing press in the 15th century put maps in the
hands of more people, and took their production away from monks, who had tended
to illustrate theology rather than geography. Ocean-going ships launched an age of
discovery, enlarging both what could and needed to be mapped, and awakened an
intellectual spirit and desire for knowledge of the world.
F. Inspired by the rediscovered Ptolemy, whose writing had been preserved by Arabs
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after the sacking of the Alexandrian Library in AD 931, mapmakers in the 15th century
gradually replaced theology with knowledge of faraway places, as reported by
travelling merchants like Marco Polo.
G. Gerhardus Mercator, the foremost shipmaker of the 16th century, developed a
technique of arranging meridians and parallels in such a way that navigators could
draw straight lines between two points and steer a constant compass course
between them. This distortion formula, introduced on his world map of 1569, created
the ‘Greenland problem’. Even on some standard maps to this day, Greenland looks
as large as South America - one of the many problems when one tries to portray a
round world on a flat sheet of paper. But the Mercator projection was so practical that
it is still popular with sailors.
H. Scientific mapping of the land came into its own with the achievements of the Cassini
family- father, son, grandson and great-grandson. In the late 17th century, the Italian
- born founder, Jean-Dominique, invented a complex method of determining longitude
based on observations of Jupiter's moons. Using this technique, surveyors were able
to produce an accurate map of France. The family continued to map the French
countryside arid his great-grandson finally published their famous Cassini map in
1793 during the French Revolution. While it may have lacked the artistic appeal of
earlier maps, it was the model of a social and geographic map showing roads, rivers,
canals, towns, abbeys, vineyards, lakes and even windmills. With this achievement,
France became the first country to be completely mapped by scientific methods.
I. Mapmaking has come a long way since those days. Today's surveyors rarely go into
the field without being linked to navigation satellites. Their hand-held receivers are
the most familiar of the new mapping technologies, and the satellite system,
developed and still operated by the US Defense Department, is increasingly used by
surveyors. Even ordinary hikers, sailors and explorers can tap into it for data telling
them where they are. Simplified civilian versions of the receivers are available for a
few hundred dollars and they are also the heart of electronic map displays available in
some cars. Cartography is pressing on to cosmic frontiers, but its objective is, and
always has been, to communicate a sense of ‘here’ in relation to ‘there’, however far
away ‘there’ may be.

Questions 1-5
Choose the correct letter, A, B, c or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
1. According to the first paragraph, mapmakers in the 21st century
A combine techniques to chart unknown territory.

B still rely on being able to see what they map.
C are now able to visit the darkest jungle.
D need input from experts in other fields.
2. The Library of Congress offers an opportunity to
A borrow from their collection of Dutch maps.

B learn how to restore ancient and fragile maps.
C enjoy the atmosphere of the reading room.
D create individual computer map to order.
3. Ptolemy alerted his contemporaries to the importance of
A measuring the circumference of the world.
B organizing maps to reflect accurate ratios of distance.
C working out the distance between parallels of latitude.
D accuracy and precision in mapping.
4. The invention of the printing press
A revitalized interest in scientific knowledge.
B enabled maps to be produced more cheaply.
C changed the approach to mapmaking.
D ensured that the work of Ptolemy was continued.
5. The writer concludes by stating that
A mapmaking has become too specialized.
B cartographers work in very harsh conditions.
C the fundamental aims of mapmaking remain unchanged.
D the possibilities of satellite mapping are infinite.
Questions 6-7
Look at the following list of achievements (Questions 6-7) and the list of mapmakers below.
Match each achievement with the correct mapmaker, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 6-7 on your answer sheet.
6..................... came very close to accurately measuring the distance round the Earth
7..................... produced maps showing man-made landmarks
8..................... laid the foundation for our modem time zones
List of Mapmakers
A Mercator
B Ptolemy
C Cassini family
D Eratosthenes
Questions 9-13
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
Ancient maps allow US to see how we have come to make sense of the world. They also
reflect the attitudes and knowledge of the day. The first great step in mapmaking took place
in 9..................... in the 3rd century BC. Work continued in this tradition until the 2nd
century AD but was then abandoned for over a thousand years, during which time maps
were the responsibility of 10..................... scientists.
Fortunately, however, the writings of 11..................... rather than had been kept, and
interest in scientific mapmaking was revived as scholars sought to produce maps, inspired
by the accounts of travellers. These days, 12..................... are vital to the creation of maps
and radar has allowed cartographers to map areas beyond our immediate world. In
addition, this high-tech equipment is not only used to map faraway places, but cheaper
versions have also been developed for use in 13......................

Solution:
1. A 8. B
2. D 9. Egypt
3. B 10. monks
4. C 11. Ptolemy
5. C 12. satellites
6. D 13. cars
7. C

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Reading Practice

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Write the correct letter in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

1. According to the first paragraph, mapmakers in the 21st century

A combine techniques to chart unknown territory.

2. The Library of Congress offers an opportunity to

A borrow from their collection of Dutch maps.

3. Ptolemy alerted his contemporaries to the importance of

A measuring the circumference of the world.

B organizing maps to reflect accurate ratios of distance.

C working out the distance between parallels of latitude.

D accuracy and precision in mapping.

4. The invention of the printing press

A revitalized interest in scientific knowledge.

B enabled maps to be produced more cheaply.

C changed the approach to mapmaking.

D ensured that the work of Ptolemy was continued.

5. The writer concludes by stating that

A mapmaking has become too specialized.

B cartographers work in very harsh conditions.

C the fundamental aims of mapmaking remain unchanged.

D the possibilities of satellite mapping are infinite.

Match each achievement with the correct mapmaker, A, B, C or D.

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7..................... produced maps showing man-made landmarks

8..................... laid the foundation for our modem time zones

Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

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Access http://mini-ielts.com for more practices 5

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