4 replies to this topic

[Holly B]

How do you map the ocean floor? Who created the first map of the bottom of the sea?

Cartographers were putting the depths of the ocean on the map long before Google Street View provided their very first underwater panoramic images of the Great Barrier Reef, and the Apple map app shipwreck. The book, Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman Who Mapped the Ocean Floor, by Hali Felt, tells the story. If you are interested in exploring the history of women in science, and the changes in scientific thought over the last century, then this book is worthy of your time.


http://mapprinter.wo...r-by-hali-felt/

[DaveB]

I always enjoy your blog posts and always learn something from them, too. Marie Tharp's work and contributions to cartography should get wider recognition!

[danielle]

Thanks for posting this! I had been hoping someone would write a book about her.

[SaultDon]

I love carto history, never knew about this piece of it.

Does anyone have any insight as to what this means?:

“[The lakes] should not be solid blue or green or edged in green. If they do turn out any of the above ways I think the best thing would be to call up Mr. Heintz and have his boy paint out the color overlay & print the damn lakes in yellow.”

Was there a printing press limitation or what influences this choice in design?

I see a lot of maps made showing water features a shade of blue. This make the colours associative.

[Holly B]

I remember somewhere in the book, Marie says that she is not comfortable with her color choosing skills. This probably has something to do with her remark . I will re read it to find it.

Also in the maps, they wanted to make the ocean floor the main emphasis, so features like lakes were downplayed.

Holly