出版社：National Centre for Maps and Cartographic Heritage
摘要：Claudius Ptolemy, in his Geographia, gives a list of geographic coordinates ofspherical longitude and latitude of almost ten thousand point locations on the earthsurface, as they were known at his times. The list is organized in Tabulae which correspond to specific regions of the three known continents at that time, Africa, Asiaand Europe. Research on Ptolemy's Geographia has started at the University ofThessaloniki, Greece, in the eighties, focused mainly, but not exclusively, on data related to territories which are now under the sovereignty of the modern Greek state.This research is concentrated on the study and analysis of Toponymy, in one hand,but more specifically, on the intrinsic geometric structure given in Geographia, parameterized by the arrays of spherical geographic coordinates of longitude and latitude assigned to points on the earth surface apparently known at Ptolemy's times.The research concerns: a) the geometric properties related to the complete sets of coordinates of point locations (towns and points on natural features, as rivers, mountaincrests, promontories etc.) which are identified, or not, today, and b) the use of onlythe identified location of points in order to approximate non identified locations (inPtolemy's sense) on modern geographic layouts, assisted by relevant archaeologicalanalyses and evidences. The "Thessaloniki Project" on Ptolemy's Geographia ishighly supported by the application of a manifold of geodetic methodologies andtechniques, which are coupled with modern digital tools allowing powerful andprompt computational interactivity and visualization of the results in graphic environment, important factors in the analytical processing. The research is also supported and enhanced by the extensive comparative use of old maps created on thebasis of Ptolemy's Geographia, a process which permits the pure cartographic extension and enrichment of the project offeringin addition insights from the relevantstudy of Geographia born maps
关键词：Ptolemy's Geographia; Ptolemy's coordinates; Ptolemy maps; History of maps;map comparison; cartometry; optimal fitting
