Can some one explain the differences between photographs new maps and ancient maps?

Question

If possible in detail.
Thanks :D

Answer 1

Ancient maps were created by using estimated travel times and accurate determinations of NS (from the height of the sun) but inaccurate EW, because good timing devices were not available. Therefore they depended on a person at ground/sea level estimating the shape.
More recent maps but those made before aerial photography are built on accurate latitude and longitude measurements because of accurate clocks that could be carried on ships across oceans. Also, improvements in surveying permitted long baseline surveys of land areas such as the famous one of India.
In recent times, maps based on photography have become even more accurate with GPS providing pinpoint accuracy of reference points that would have taken hours of work and calculations in the past.

Answer 2

If a photograph had all the detail and information of a map, it'd be a pretty confusing photograph. Photographs and maps can be used together though. One photograph can give allot more detail of a cliff one had to climb compared to the contour lines of a topographical map. But in terms of one or the other, they are quite different. I'm rather afraid to think of how much it would cost for a wide angle lens that could capture as much as a map has.