ACE Cultural Tours is pleased to present a new website feature for our tours exploring distant destinations, maps! In this article we will explore a brief history of cartography and explore what functions the new maps bring and how to use this new tool.
Background to Cartography
Cartography is the study and creation of maps. The practice combines sciences, artistic talent and a defined understanding of the world. Maps allow users to visualise and generate a greater understanding of the world around them and have been synonymous with human development throughout history with the first recorded examples debated to date between the 4th and 7th millennium BC.
Technology has always been a key component of cartography, both through the process of making a map and gathering the information to be displayed upon it. Map innovations such as Mercator’s World Map of 1569 or Google Maps in 2005 have undoubtedly impacted the world and the way in which we perceive it.
The Hereford Mappa Mundi, a biblically inspired map of the known world, circa 1300.
What is the new map feature?
ACE Cultural Tours has long hosted a range of tours for those seeking to visit cultural destinations beyond Europe and the Mediterranean. Our Distant Destinations collection offers the opportunity to explore myriad aspects of a region’s culture and history – from gastronomy to architecture. In 2024 we look forward to tours to exciting destinations including South Korea, with its pagodas and palaces, and Japan, home of cultural riches old and new. Additional highlights will be tours to Kazakhstan, exploring elements ranging from its Bronze Age history to contemporary architectural landmarks, and Uzbekistan, where we will follow the story of the Silk Road.
ACE is pleased to announce a new feature to our website, Maps! We have worked hard to generate interactive maps that visualise the in-depth itineraries of our Distant Destinations tours including:
- South Korea
- Kazakhstan: From The Silk Road to Norman Foster
- Uzbekistan: Cities of the Silk Road
- Japan in Autumn: History, Art & Landscape
Perhaps not quite as iconic or world-changing as the Hereford Mappi Mundi, we hope that the addition of our interactive maps to our tour pages will both inspire and aid in a greater understanding of our tours and the journeys we make. Our initial launch of this new feature appears on our Distant Destinations tours but we hope to offer an expanded selection in future.
How do the maps work?
Here we will showcase the features currently available on our interactive maps. For this demonstration we are using a map of Stapleford Granary, home of ACE Cultural Tours, and nearby Little Trees Hill, part of the Gog Magog Down.
Click and drag on the map to pan around.
Use the + and - buttons or scroll to zoom in and out.
Click on map pins to discover more information about the location.
We hope that these simple features will allow travellers to gain a greater visual understanding of our tours, especially for those looking for experiences further afield.
Maps:
© Mapbox | © OpenStreetMap | Improve this map
Image credits:
Hereford Mappi Mundi | Image in public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Old Map | Image by Nik Shuliahin via Unsplash
Icons:
Marker by AS Design on Noun Project via CC BY 3.0
Arrow by Luis Astianah on Noun Project via CC BY 3.0
Arrows by André Luis on Noun Project via CC BY 3.0
Cursor by Adrien Coquet on Noun Project via CC BY 3.0
