Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
In order to achieve this aim, late Renaissance land-surveying techniques (in particular the use of
the
squadra zoppa
probably invented by Fabri himself) were studied and linked to technical signs
preserved in the maps. Various signs, preserved either in the palimpsest of the maps or in their
final drawing, were taken into account, and nine classes of evidence have been recognized
(Bitelli et al. 2010): i) written information; ii) technical grids; iii) topographic measurements; iv)
sighting tracks; v) “lost landmarks”; vi) preparing/correcting/updating drawings; vii) additional
iconography; viii) unresolved questions; ix) restoration problems. The meaning of some signs is
partly explained in the legend, whereas the meaning of others can be inferred by Fabri's
methodological textbook. They will be briefly analysed in the next paragraphs.
4.1. Written information
In their cartouche, F and L maps state that the documents were made by merging some
previous maps or other cartographic drawings and partly by means of direct topographic
measurements (Figure 5). This kind of capital information helps us to understand that pre-
geodetic maps can be composite products (at least in the case of large scale maps), therefore
they can be very difficult to be analyzed and their usual georeferencing could be partially
inappropriate. L map cartouche states that different surveying techniques were adopted
according to the different interest level of the various topographic domains (see Paragraph
4.3). Unfortunately, due to the low resolution of the digital image, on P map we cannot read
the text content; moreover it seems to be an unfinished product regarding the cartouche
decorations. Besides, the fundamental message is that the maps can be considered a sort of
patchwork probably generated by merging some local maps, previously surveyed by the
authors themselves or other colleagues, or partially
ad hoc
surveyed.
Figure 5.
The cartouche in the three maps.
