This layer is a georeferenced image of a map of San Diego. The map was published by the Marston Company in celebration of its Golden Anniversary. Joseph Jacinto “Jo” Mora came to the United States as a child, studied art in the New York, then worked for Boston newspapers as a cartoonist. He was a man of many other talents, artist-historian, sculptor, painter, photographer, illustrator, muralist and author. Later in life, he became quite a renown artist. In 1903, Mora came to California and ultimately did his fabulous work mostly there. Reproduction edition by the San Diego History Center. Jo Mora's wonderful combination of fun, historical knowledge and sense of color are highlighted in this detailed bird's eye view style map of San Diego - what there was of it, since most of the map is green (agriculture and the country) or blue for the sea. However an indication of the future is seen in a pictograph marked SUBDIVISION with a salesman expansively gesticulating to a couple with a bag marked IOWA. At sea a lookout on the ship Cabrillo exclaims "Caramba! You'd never know the old place now." The border depicts historical events. At lower left are images of six buildings and fantastical beasts who are to be seen at Balboa Park. The historic map layers in the Google Earth Rumsey Map Collection have been selected by David Rumsey from his large collection of historical maps, as well as some from other collections with which he collaborates. All the maps contain rich information about the past and represent a sampling of time periods, scales, and cartographic art, resulting in visual history stories that only old maps can tell. Each map has been georeferenced by Rumsey, thus creating unique digital map images that allow the old maps to appear in their correct places on the modern globe. Some of the maps fit perfectly in their modern spaces, while othersgenerally earlier period mapsreveal interesting geographical misconceptions of their time. Cultural features on the maps can be compared to the modern satellite views using the slider bars to adjust transparency. The result is an exploration of time as well as space, a marriage of historic cartographic masterpieces with innovative contemporary software tools. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.
