Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Time Travel in Venice


I'd like to transport you back to Venice in the age of the Renaissance. However my TARDIS is temporarily out of action. I therefore suggest you explore the TimeMachine Atlas instead.

The TimeMachine Atlas is a fantastic map of Venice through the ages. Using the atlas you can view a 2D or 3D map of Venice at any point in its long history. Select a date from the atlas' timeline and you can view a street map of the city as it would have existed at that time. The map even includes building footprints so you can really get a sense of the size of Venice at different points in its history.

If you switch the map to the 3D view and then press play you can actually view an animation of Venice growing as the timeline progresses. Turn on the building names (from the map layers menu) and you can view the names of some of the city's most important buildings. If you are interested in the history of an individual building you can use the timeline to explore when it first appears on the TimeLine Atlas of Venice.

A lot of work has obviously gone into creating these historically accurate maps of Venice. I haven't yet seen any information on how the TimeMachine Atlas was developed. The map was created by Klokan Technologies. Considering Klokan Technologies involvement in Georeferencer and OldMapsOnline I assume that they have access to enough vintage maps of Venice and also the technology to georeference the street and building footprint data from those historical old maps.

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