Google maps for time travellers

[Sonsofthepharaohs]

How many times have you tried to calculate how long it would take your characters to travel between X and Y place, however many years ago? Well, historians at Stanford University have done HR writers a solid - by creating google maps for the ancient Roman world:

https://orbis.stanford.edu/

Not sure how long this has been in existence, but I came across it by chance in a news article today, and thought it was worth sharing.

The map reveals how much it would have cost to travel on roads and seas across the Roman Empire in 200 CE, and calculates the route based on the season or mode of transport chosen. [...] Map modes include travelling by foot, horses, relay, oxcart, porter, private chariot, and during a rapid military march.

Doesn't help me much for ancient Egypt, but it's a good indication of various speeds by mode of transport, which can be applied to other routes as well.

Now, if they could just get to work on that time machine...

 

[Thecla]

Couldn't manage without it. It's amazing and very, very useful. There are a few glitches in Pontus et Bithynia, at least (it doesn't like using the road network for some reason and routes everything by sea), but one can extrapolate.

 

[Maryn]

I don't even write historical, but just had to bookmark it anyway. Cool!

 

[Lakey]

Thanks for sharing this! Cool resource.

 

[benbenberi]

Very useful, even for much later periods. It shows the overland travel time between Paris and Marseilles as 28 days, for instance; in the 17th century that same trip typically took 3 weeks, so at best a few days faster. (I imagine there were periods in between when the trip would have taken significantly longer, if indeed it was possible at all.)

 

[Norsebard]

Thanks for the link!

Norsebard

 

[ReadytoScout]

Thanks for sharing this, amazing resource. I've been asked to write a story set in Roman Britain and want to do it, but have been dragging my feet. Maybe this will help

 

[thall]

This is so neat. Thank you for sharing!