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Map with red buildings standing out from green landscape with mountains in the background.
Detail of Los Angeles, California. Semi-Tropic Homestead Co., 1894. G&M.

Getting A Bird’s Eye View

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This is a guest post by Robert Morris, Acquisitions Specialist in the Geography and Map Division.

The Geography and Map Division’s (G&M) collection of panoramic maps portray U.S. and Canadian cities and towns as if viewed from a few thousand feet above at an oblique angle. Bird’s-eye views, perspective maps, and aerial views are other names associated with this type of cartography. While not drawn to scale, they do show street patterns, buildings, waterways, and the surrounding landscape. G&M’s collection dates largely from the post-Civil War period through the 1920s.

Bird's eye view map in color that shows buildings, bridges, and many ships around Norfolk, Virginia.