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every time I see old maps like this one, it blows my mind how accurate they are in an era with no satellites or aerial photos or anything. sure, everything's a bit misshapen, but holy cow!
Also consider that this is an amalgamation of collective knowledge from their efforts that has to all be pieced together individually. Really amazing to see the level and detail and general accuracy!
Surveying isn't hard, it's a science humans have mastered long before this map was made.
But I that's like saying putting down a brick is easy, so building the Via Appia wasn't all that impressive.
This is the result of the collective efforts of an absurd amount of people working hard in the shittiest, least inhabited places on Earth, and combining all that information into a single sheet of paper.