【精英翻譯】的部落格

From Maps to Apps

整座城市都是我的畫布！

精英翻譯社轉自https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0062/350961/web/

These days, a map, or a map app, isn’t just a map...or an app.

今日，地圖或地圖應用程式不只是地圖 —— 或應用程式而已。

Where would we be without maps? The answer is...lost. Ever since their invention, maps have gone from being an explorer’s best friend to a tool for making great art. Let’s take a look.

如果沒有地圖我們會身處何方呢？答案就是 —— 迷路。自從地圖發明以來，地圖從成為探險家最好的朋友一路變成創作偉大藝術的工具。就讓我們來一探究竟吧。

The earliest known maps aren’t actually of the Earth. They are of the stars! In southwestern France, dots found in the Lascaux caves dating back to 14,500 BC map stars such as Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Maps of places on Earth came much later, perhaps around 7,000 BC. Those early maps showed only parts of small villages. The earliest map of the greater world, the Babylonian World Map, was drawn in 600 BC, but it only showed the “known world,” which is now known as the Middle East.

已知的最早地圖其實繪製的並非地球。它們描繪的是星空！在法國西南方拉斯科洞窟內所發現的點點壁畫，其歷史可追溯至西元前一萬四千五百年，它們繪製了如織女星、天津四及牛郎星等位置圖。地球上各地的地圖後來才問世，時間或許約在西元前七千年。那些早期的地圖只呈現了小村落中的某些部分。最早的大範圍世界地圖，即巴比倫世界地圖，是於西元前六百年繪製的，但只呈現出當時的「已知世界」，也就是現在的中東區域。

Today we have maps of each and every place. Nancy Chandler’s Map of Bangkok, for example, used to be in the hands of every traveler in Thailand. It had all the hard-to-find back alleys and off-the-beaten-path sites. However, in 2019, the Chandler family map business finally went under. It closed because these days, anyone can locate anything in Bangkok using online map apps such as Google Maps.

今日，我們有世界各地的地圖。例如，過去每位到泰國的旅客都人手一本萳西‧錢德勒的曼谷手繪地圖。這份地圖繪出了所有難找的小巷和人跡罕至的地點。然而到了 2019 年，錢德勒家族的手繪地圖事業終於歇業落幕。關門大吉的原因是因為現今任何人都可以使用如 Google 地圖等線上地圖應用程式來找到有關曼谷的一切。