Maplab

MapLab: Underwater Worlds

A biweekly tour of the ever-expanding cartographic landscape.
Great Barrier Reef Expedition 1928-1929 Scientific Reports

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E.C. Marchant, the cartographer aboard the Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928-1929, was remarkably DIY. To chart the coral corridors fringing the Australian coast, he used a jerry-rigged plane table made of a wooden board, a camera stand, and a foresight made of floss. “This home-made plane table was in constant use for two summers and came to no harm,” his team later recalled.