Massachusetts V1 52 City Panoramic Maps on CD

$14.97     Qty:


SKU: B161

Massachusetts Panoramic Maps Volume 1. The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1847 to 1929.) Known also as bird's-eye views, perspective maps, and aero views, panoramic maps are nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle. Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective.

Product Details

The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1847 to 1929.) Known also as bird's-eye views, perspective maps, and aero views, panoramic maps are nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle. Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective.

Panoramic maps graphically depict the vibrant life of a city. Harbors are shown choked with ships, often to the extent of constituting hazards to navigation. Trains speed along railroad tracks, at times on the same roadbed with locomotives and cars headed in the opposite direction. People and horsedrawn carriages fill the streets, and smoke belches from the stacks of industrial plants. Urban and industrial development in post-Civil War America is vividly portrayed in the maps.

Victorian America's panoramic maps are quite remarkable in the perspective of the cities they capture. Most panoramic maps were published independently, not as plates in an atlas or in a descriptive geographical book. Preparation and sale of nineteenth-century panoramas were motivated by civic pride and the desire of the city fathers to encourage commercial growth. Many views were prepared for and endorsed by chambers of commerce and other civic organizations and were used as advertisements of a city's commercial and residential potential. These maps reveal much about the great contrasts and contradictions of the industrial age and the progressive era.

Preparation of panoramic maps involved a vast amount of painstakingly detailed labor. For each project a frame or projection was developed, showing in perspective the pattern of streets. The artist then walked in the street, sketching buildings, trees, and other features to present a complete and accurate landscape as though seen from an elevation of 2,000 to 3,000 feet.

Panoramic maps graphically depict the vibrant life of a city. Harbors are shown choked with ships, often to the extent of constituting hazards to navigation. Trains speed along railroad tracks, at times on the same roadbed with locomotives and cars headed in the opposite direction. People and horsedrawn carriages fill the streets, and smoke belches from the stacks of industrial plants. Urban and industrial development in post-Civil War America is vividly portrayed in the maps.

Here is a complete list of the city maps included in this collection. Where you see a city listed several times, there are several different maps - either maps created in different years and/or by different map making companies.

1. Adams 1882
2. Amesbury 1890
3. Amesbury 1914
4. Amherst 1886
5. Ashland 1878
6. Athol 1887
7. Ayer 1886
8. Baldwinville 1886
9. Barre 189-?
10. Barre 1891
11. Beverly Farms 1886
12. Beverly 1886
13. Blackinton (North Adams) 1889
14. Boston 187-?
15. Boston 1870
16. Boston 1873
17. Boston 1877
18. Boston 1879
19. Boston 1880 1879
20. Boston 1888
21. Boston 1899
22. Boston 1902
23. Boston 1905
24. Boston 1905
25. Brockton 1844
26. Brockton 1882

27. Canton 1918
28. Chester 1885
29. Chicopee 1878
30. Clinton 1876
31. Cochituate / North Natick / Lockerville 1887
32. Dalton 1884
33. East Boston (Boston) 1879
34. East Douglas 1886
35. East Pepperell 1886
36. East Walpole 1898
37. Edgartown 1886?
38. Fall River 1877
39. Fitchburg 1882
40. Fitchburg 1915
41. Foxborough 1879
42. Glendale 1890
43. Graniteville 1886
44. Great Barrington 1884
45. Greenfield 1877
46. Groton (Town) 1886
47. Haverhill 1893
48. Haverhill 1914
49. Haydenville 1886
50. Hebronville 1891
51. Hingham / South Hingham 1885
52. Hinsdale 1887

Each map image on this CD is a super high resolution scan of an original panoramic map. Original maps were often as large as 36" x 36" or even larger. To offer all these maps at 100% detail, they are stored in either MRSid format or in JPEG 2000 format and require special viewers to be able to view all the details in these superb historical maps. Viewers and full viewing instructions for Windows computer platforms are included on this CD.


Some Additional Map Samples

 


Below you will find an example of the enlargement ability of the maps contained on this CD. You will see how you can view a small snapshot of the image all the way up to an incredible level of detail at the highest resolutions. The below set of images comes from Mystic CT and gives an excellent example of the level of detail in these maps at various levels of "magnification".

(Smallest size of this image)

(Small portion enlarged 2 times)

(Small portion enlarged 3 times)

(Small portion enlarged 4 times)

(Small portion enlarged 5 times - this enlargement represents the full
original size of the map when printed at full scale.)

As you can see from the above images, each map offers hours of exploration and excitement as you explore the cities as they were 100 or more years ago.

These maps may be viewed on your computer or printed out. The software will allow you to size the maps to any level of detail you wish and either print out the entire map or just a portion of it. (Even full scale maps can be printed with a large enough printer - like the ones used in your neighborhood poster and print shops.)

To use this software, you must install the free Map Viewing software which is included on the CD. This is a 30 second process and will allow you to view and manipulate/print all the maps in this CD collection in full detail. There are versions for Windows platforms and full installation instructions are included on the CD.