To understand a geographical area maps are essential. But maps on the Internet are problematical because any map with enough resolution to show detail to make the map informative and interesting would be too large to display quickly and to navigate easily. This leads to
Aramco World and Zoomified Maps
I was first introduced to the journal Aramco World when I was a K-12 Visiting Scholar during the summer of 2001 at the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at UC Berkeley.
There were three teachers chosen, Kay Corcoran, 6th grade teacher at Del Mar School in Tiburon, California, Donna Kasprowicz, 6th grade teacher at Corte Madera Middle School, Portola Valley, California (her project was The Ramayana in Southeast Asia) and myself.
Kay’s project was Monsoon Winds to the "Land of Gold": Maritime Spice Trade from Southeast Asia to Rome. Her FOCUS QUESTION was : How did spices get to the Roman Empire from Southeast Asia in ancient times? One of her research sources was Aramco World, and I still remember her excitement in pouring over the November/December 2000 issue that included an article on The Hidden History of Scented Wood, part of the Spice Island trade. As it turned out this scented wood, which goes many names including “ud” or “aloeswood” is located in all the SEA countries and I was able to track down sources in the northwestern part of Laos.
Anyways, that was my first introduction to Aramco World and over the last year I discovered that they’re now online and in fact The Web Marketing Association named Saudi Aramco World “Best Magazine Website” for 2004. I’ll second the commendation. This is a classy website, that is both interesting and informative and useful to teachers that more than meets their stated goal of broadening knowledge of the cultures, history and geography of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their connections with the West.
Which leads to my discovering the use of zoomified maps. In the July/August 2005 issue their subject focus is on “The Indian Ocean and Global Trade.” Included on the home page is a link to a trade routes map. It’s a beautiful map and being zoomified it allows you to zoom up and get a detailed perspective on any area of the map.
What does it mean to zoomify a map/image? I went to the Zoomify.com website and it states, “Zoomifyer EZ makes using high-resolution images in your Web pages easy to do and fast to view! Show the world your photos, maps, scans - whatever - with no need to down-res, on any Web server, with just a tiny Flash movie and a few lines of HTML! Perfect for any Web designer!”
Well, not being a professional website designer, I was a little skeptical, but saw some great potential and decided to try it out. There aren’t very many good maps of Southeast Asia, as my high school students would say it’s “scandalous.” But I did find a National Geographic Map, purchased it and had it scanned at Fed Ex/Kinkos (did you know educators can apply for a discount card?). I then downloaded the FREE!!! Zoomify EZ in the Mac version and followed the directions and believe it or not, it works! Here’s the link to my zoomified SEA map
My next zoomify project will be to take some of the large Hmong storycloths I have purchased in Laos (six by eight feet or so) and zoomify them.
Beautiful pictures! I lived there as a child back in the '50's and seeing your pictures brought back some great memories. Thank you
Posted by: Glenn Ausderau | December 30, 2005 at 06:04 PM