How were these maps made? Where did the information come from?

All of the maps that are displayed or made available for downloading on this site have been created by the IAM project for those purposes. This is not to say, however, that the IAM maps were created from scratch. IAM obtained a set of digital map bases (terrain, outlines, cultural data) from the APA’s Classical Atlas Project, and these were used to create the maps on this site. The digital map bases were developed from public-domain, digital elevation data contained in the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency's Digital Chart of the World. These data were processed by the Classical Atlas Project’s cartographers at Mapquest.com (formerly Geosystems Global Corporation) in Lancaster, PA, into elevation-tinted topographical bases and ancillary materials in Adobe Illustrator format. These bases were transmitted electronically to the UNC Classics Department computer laboratory, where IAM project staff members created subsets of the map bases and added cultural data and labeling, using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator software. During the latter stages of this process, IAM staff members had review access to high-resolution, scholarly maps under production at the Classical Atlas Project.

To find out more about the map-making process and the data sources used, please consult the Classical Atlas Project’s Overview page.

Are more detailed maps available?

The short answer is: not quite yet, but soon. IAM’s mission is to provide freely-distributable materials designed to support high school and undergraduate instruction, via the world wide web. This mission, and IAM’s funding status, preclude the creation and free distribution of highly detailed scholarly maps of the ancient/classical world. This latter task is the goal of the APA’s Classical Atlas Project, which has been underway for some ten years now, and will produce a definitive, scholarly atlas in print in September 2000. The maps to be included in the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World have been developed by an international team of expert scholars, and show much more detail, at a much finer scale, than the IAM maps do, and include many additional features (fortification lines, roads, etc.). Please visit the Atlas Project web site to obtain more information about the Barrington Atlas and to reserve a copy at the special, pre-publication price.