According to the Oxford English Dictionary a geometrical pace is a pace of 5
feet; 'geometrical' here probably relates to the original meaning of 'geometry'
as 'land measurement'. This still begs the question of whether these were
English feet of 12 inches, or Roman feet equivalent to about 11.65 English
inches (based on a Roman mile (mille passuum) of 5000 feet); was there a
different Scottish foot?.
Incidentally, I walk at about 600 paces to the kilometre, which probably doesn't
help anyone very much, except to show that I'm taller than the average Roman
soldier.
Richard Abbott
Birmingham Central Library
Göran Bäärnhielm <[log in to unmask]> on 07/12/2001 17:30:46
Please respond to lis-maps - a forum for issues related to map & spatial data
librarianship <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
cc: (bcc: Richard Abbott/LeisureServices/BCC)
Subject: Re: Geometric paces
The 5-feet pace is the ancient Roman one, in fact a *double* pace, so
rather reasonable, and the Roman mile is 1000 (mille) of those, but the
Swedish (ancient) mile was 36,000 feet.
Göran Bäärnhielm, Map Curator
Kungl. biblioteket - The Royal Library - National Library of Sweden
P.O. Box 5039, SE-102 41 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel.: +46-8-463 4180. Fax: +46-8-463 4328.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Francis Herbert skrev:
>
> Presumably that which the average 'land measurer' or 'surveyor of land'
> (i.e. what 'geometer' actually means) paces. How long is a Scottish land
> surveyor's stride compared to an Englishman's? Also: Speed didn't
> personally survey (cf meaning of French 'surveiller') everything he
> draughted and/or published. And, of course (as another confusing
> contribution), a Swedish mile equals 9 (I think) English ... Enjoy your
> weekends pondering the meaning of life.
>
> Francis Herbert
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.rgs.org
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jay Heywood [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: 07 December 2001 16:46
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Geometric paces
> >
> > Thanks for the information Richard. It is the 'geometric' bit that's
> > bothering me ...... what IS a 'geometric' pace!
> >
> > Also, these maps were drawn in Scotland, which might confuse the issue
> > even further ......
> >
> > 5 feet is quite a pace!
> >
> > Jay Heywood
> >
> > Project Cataloguer
> > Charting the Nation, Department of Geography
> > University of Edinburgh
> >
> > Tel: 0131 650 9508 or 44 131 650 9508
> >
> > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > www.geo.ed.ac.uk/charting/ <http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/charting/>
> >
> > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > www.geocities.com/jayheywood <http://www.geocities.com/jayheywood>
> >
> > **************************************************************************
> > **********************
> > Charting the Nation is a component of the Research Support Libraries
> > Programme
> > **************************************************************************
> > **********************
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Richard Oliver <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 4:17 PM
> > Subject: Re: Geomteric paces
> >
> > If it's of any use, I understand that John Speed's paces on his town
> > maps of the early 17th century were 5 feet to 1 pace. 1 inch to 100
> > of
> > these paces would thus be 1:600 (5 x 12 x 100). But perhaps Mr S's
> > paces weren't geometric!
> >
> > Richard Oliver
> >
> > On Fri, 7 Dec 2001 13:32:45 -0000 Jay Heywood < [log in to unmask]
> > <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> >
> > > I have a scale on a ms. map, circa 1715/16, which reads "100
> > geometric paces to 1 inch". To work out the scale fraction etc., is this
> > the same as an ordinary 'pace', (insofar as there can be one standard
> > 'pace') or something different?
> > >
> > > Jay Heywood
> > >
> > > Project Cataloguer
> > > Charting the Nation, Department of Geography
> > > University of Edinburgh
> > >
> > > Tel: 0131 650 9508 (+44 131 650 9508)
> > >
> > > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > > www.geo.ed.ac.uk/charting/ <http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/charting/>
> > >
> > > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > > www.geocities.com/jayheywood <http://www.geocities.com/jayheywood>
> > >
> > >
> > **************************************************************************
> > **********************
> > > Charting the Nation is a component of the Research Support
> > Libraries Programme
> > >
> > **************************************************************************
> > **********************
> > >
> >
> > -------------------
> > Richard Oliver, B.A., D.Phil., F.B.Cart.S.,
> > School of Geography & Archaeology
> > University of Exeter
> > Exeter, EX4 4RJ
> > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> >
> >
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