Timeline of Cartography By kjcarpenter 6700 BCE Map of Catal Hyuk 3000 BCE Babylonian clay tablets 3000 BCE first map of the moon 600 BCE map of Babylonian empire 600 BCE Pythagoras determines earth is a sphere 200 BCE Eratosthenes determines the circumference of earth establishes coordinate grid 150 BCE Hipparchus creates early system of latitude based on the sun 150 Ptolemy creates world map with coordinates for 8,000 locations 476 Roman Empire collapses Scientific cartography halts in Europe Jan 1, 830 Al-Khwarizmi produces world map partly based on Ptolemy's work Jan 1, 1030 Al-Biruni develops triangulation Jan 1, 1375 Abraham Cresques produces world map using portolan maps Jan 1, 1569 Gerardus Mercator publishes his first projection for navigation Jan 1, 1730 sextant developed Jan 1, 1763 John Harrison develops accurate clock for determining longitude at sea Jan 1, 1884 International Meridium Chooses Greenwich as the prime meridium Period: Jan 1, 1980 to Dec 31, 1999 Geographic Information Systems and Global Positioning System Developed (GPS) high quality maps produced from aerial and satellite imagery
