Australian Device Makes Maps Of the Ground It Covers (Jul, 1946)
Filed under: General — @ 4:41 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1946
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1946
| Buy on Ebay
This is how they make Google Maps.
Australian Device Makes Maps Of the Ground It Covers
The odd apparatus at left is the Australian “co-graph,” which automatically maps the ground over which it moves. Named for its inventor, Lt. Col. H. J. F. Coe, the machine can be operated by a pedestrian or set up in a trailer (PSM, Dec. ‘44, p. 134). The co-graph obtains direction by being oriented with a sensitive compass; gets distance from a calibrated ground wheel. Drive from the wheel turns a paper-carrying roller under a fixed pencil, and thus a course is plotted to scale. The co-graph’s upper part —sighting tube, compass, mirror, and map-making equipment—weighs only 10 pounds and is strapped to the user’s body.
As a guy who makes maps for a living (GIS Technician), I have to say that this is actually rather ingenious. It doesn’t beat our Trimble GPS units, but, still, pretty damn clever.
Comment by SpaceMonkeyX — September 13, 2006 @ 10:34 am
ROFLMAO at Charlie’s comment
Comment by Stannous — September 13, 2006 @ 11:30 am
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