WWW-Virtual Library: History
Map History / History of Cartography: THE Gateway to the Subject

WWW-VL Main Catalogue WWW-VL History Central Catalogue
HOME
(main menu)
INDEX
complete
SITEMAP
What the
site is
ABOUT
WHAT'S
NEW
 Map History

Collaborating on the 'Map History' site

Would you like to help?

Checking for broken or moved links

Do all the existing links work properly? If not, please let me know

Can the existing information be improved?

  • Is the description accurate? [It would presumably have been accurate when the entry was made but that might have been several years ago. I seldom have time to revisit sites]
  • If you, who have a particular interest in the subject, are checking out a site, you are likely to spend longer than I would, and to be much more thorough. You may well be able to send me additional relevant details. In some cases, you might like to email the webmaster (perhaps in your own language) to get further information

Checking map image sites

When dealing with the 'Images' pages (e.g. URLs of the form < http://www.maphistory.info/image***.html >):
  • Is the total number of images listed for the site still correct? If no total is given, is it possible to find this out? [Sites with over 300 images need to be listed also on the Index to the largest map image sites]
  • Is the description of image quality still correct? Some will have been upgraded. The explanation for the terms used (taken from the main Web Images page) is as follows:
    • high resolution, enabling every place-name to be easily read
    • medium resolution, enabling some names to be read but not the smaller ones
    • low resolution, with almost all the names illegible

Would you like to send occasional information?

Would you be interested in helping maintain the 'Map History' site? Do you think you could provide new information or improve what is already there? Are you interested in the map history of your area or the maps relating to a particular theme? With your help, 'Map History' could become even more international - for example with more links to pages in languages other than English.

Anything you can tell me that will improve the quality of the information on the site will be gratefully received. Just send me what you think might be useful.

Alternatively, consider becoming one of the regular collaborators.

Select the geographical area or subject theme that most interests you from the following pages (but please do not feel restricted to those two sections):

Each of those is the only one of its kind on the web; both have updates almost every month; and each already contains many hundreds of links.

Informing me about new entries

First, please see 'What is not included on this site and why', so that you do not spend valuable time on what I will be unable to use. As far as the image pages are concerned, the maps depicted must be original, not historical reconstructions. Also note that the listing is of image sites, not of individual map images. Such sites normally need to have at least four images to be listed, unless they are special in some way, e.g. a wall-map.

I can supply a full, searchable listing of the 7,000 or so links already on the site, showing which 'Map History' page contains the link in question. This is the quickest way to see if a link is already present.

Please do not worry about writing a full description of a new site. The important thing is to let me have the URL. However, if you can supply descriptive notes, that would be very helpful. Notes will be especially valuable for non-English language sites. If there is an English version of a page, please give me that.

You might like to check out the major libraries, museums, etc. in your country to see if they have put images of their maps, or a listing of their map collection, onto the web.

Searching via Google (and other engines) for your particular area of interest or map theme will probably find sites I do not list. Any searching I do has to be very general (e.g. 'history of cartography'). Try looking for 'map' and the name of your area, or 'map', 'map history', 'history of cartography', etc., in your own language.

You may find other relevant and interesting pages when looking at a site that I already list. There may well be significant and distinctive subsidiary pages that I had missed (or that were created after my visit) which deserve to be mentioned separately.

If you decide to become a collaborator, I hope you will be able to check 'your' area at least every few months to see what has changed or been added.

Other parts of the site you could help with as well

Besides the Images and Articles pages mentioned above, almost all parts of the site could be improved, particularly if it had more non-English language material. You could (if you had the time) look at the following as well:

Would you be interested in creating and maintaining a new listing?

The 'Map History' site is, in many respects, a collaborative venture, see Companion Sites. There is a need, for example, for a listing of catalogues of early maps

 

Please email me (Tony Campbell) with any additions, corrections or questions:  

HOME (main menu)  |  Index   |   Sitemap   |   What this site is about   |   What's New