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Mauro

Who is Mauro?

Mauro Data Mapper is named after Fra Mauro who was a 15th century Venetian Monk and also a famous cartographer. A diligent scholar, and enthusiast of ancient greek geographers such as Ptolemy, Mauro created the most detailed map of the world at the time, featuring thousands of texts and illustrations.

Unlike other explorers who would embark on expeditions to gather their own data about the world, Mauro adopted a different approach and based himself at the port in Venice. He interviewed travellers who would give their detailed interpretations of the countries they had visited. Mauro then merged this information together to generate maps which were rich with contextual data. Unusually for the time, these maps were based on authoritative sources and proofs of existence, rather than religion and superstition.

This philosophy lies at the heart of Mauro Data Mapper, which not only aims to be a hub of detailed metadata, but also allows users to make and share their own insights, understanding and experience.

Fra Mauro map

The Fra Mauro map of the world, shown above (source: Wikipedia), was produced between 1448 and 1459 as a commission for King Alfonso V of Portugal. Containing thousands of texts and illustrations, the map would have measured over five square metres. For a higher-resolution version, click here.

Fra Mauro's Mappa Mundi along with a copy dated 1804 are stored in the British Library. To find out more about these historic items, watch the video below, courtesy of the British Library.

Further reading