I like the way that what we have regarded as historical 'facts' are constantly challenged and revised, not for politically correct reasons, but because new documentary evidence makes our old beliefs redundant or in need of revaluation.
Science is constantly evolving and shifting its thoughts - just look at the debate over global warming for instance, and we know that two economists will never agree on the time of day let alone the value of a clock. SO it comes as a great relief to find that geography has decided to change its opinion on the existence of an island in the Pacific Ocean. You would think that the existence of a place wasn't up for debate. although anybody who has ever visited Basingstoke has often come away wondering what on earth was going on there, but it seems that maps must be redrawn.
I have to say I am not totally surprised by one of the possible solutions for this 'false island', the suggestion being a cartographers plot to unveil potential breaches of copyright. We had a client who digitaises maps, mainly for oil and gas companies but also for the largest collection of maps in the world (held at a British university) and he once told me that each map produced by the Ordnance Survey contains one error per sheet which enables the OS to persue possible intellectual property breaches.
3 comments:
I noticed this on, I think, the BBC website a few days ago. Seems crazy doesn't it?
I take your point about Basingstoke : I think the same applies to Redcar.
Interesting! Maybe it's a Bond villain's lair and it rises and sinks at the push of a button...
It's another case of nobody checking isn't it - although given the thousands of islands in the world I wonder how many maps are wrong about other islands.
Post a Comment