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I love this so much! I just discovered this after ldsliviving spotlighted the new availability of the mapping tool.
Decades ago, I’d try finding cities mentioned in the Bible in the hard copy scripture maps, but not all of them were listed. I just spent the past week going through the last portion of Isa 10/2 Ne. 20…it was a struggle to find online maps of what are now nonexistent villages. I finally found something, but it didn’t have all of them. But the mapping tool had them!
I also like the idea of having a more concrete idea of the geography. I have children with special needs who struggle with abstract thinking. They’re very visual. So I’m used to using pictures, illustrations, etc. This becomes another tool…I’m looking forward to exploring the 360 degree options as well.
I love the information about Ninevah. I was the primary music leader last year, and we learned “Follow the Prophet.” When we learned about Jonah, I used a map to talk about how far away he tried to go. Senior primary enjoyed it.
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The PDF of this article only contains a small part of the article.
Yes, because the graphics are best shown on the website. As noted in the PDF, “Editor’s Note: Because the black and white hardcopy version of the journal cannot do justice to the numerous color figures in the article, only the abstract is reproduced here. For the full article, see the Interpreter website.”
I made a small contribution to this field a few years ago. I scoured Sorenson’s 1984 book and plotted his geographic proposals into Google Earth, and made it available for viewing and for download:
http://www.lehislibrary.blogspot.com/2011/07/book-of-mormon-mesoamerican-geography.html
Taylor,
If you could get the ball rolling on doing something like KC Kern’s website, I think that would be great. Mr. Kern’s website is very impressive, though it did shake my faith a little bit. As a lifelong member, I was always taught that the Book of Mormon took place in Central America, not Burma! I’ve been waiting all my life for someone to dig up King Benjamin’s bones in Nicaragua or identify the exact location of Zarahemla in Panama – it would sure silence all those anti Mormons!
Thanks in advance,
Greg
The byu mapscrip is great!
Are there plans to add geo links to the BOM and PGP?
I know the locations are speculative, but it would be very interesting to see the Sorenson model projected for the BOM.
There have been discussions similar to your suggestions, potentially having a filter where one can choose from a variety of Book of Mormon geography proposals to be superimposed over different areas. However, no development has been made (until there are some additional funds).
Very helpful, Taylor, and a nice introduction to a new tool for mapping and analysis of biblical texts. Now, could you extrapolate your comments to include the Book of Mormon? What, for example, do you think of K. C. Kern’s use of maps at his website http://bookofmormononline.net/ ?
Also, could you have someone at Interpreter get the pagination right for your article? Thanks.
The pagination is correct, pp. 257-258. Because of the high resolution color images used in the article it was decided to only publish the main content of the article online, and keep the print version to the abstract only.
I’ve met K.C. Kern and have talked with him about tools like these. I like his website and believe that it provides useful tools to help people study the Book of Mormon.
Thank you, Taylor. You wrote:
“Humans are visual learners. The content area of scripture is primarily conceptual and abstract, and thus many readers struggle to master the core fundamentals of history, geography, and themes of the scriptural texts…learners are now able to explore the scriptures in new ways, to visit the scriptures geographically, to read on location, to experience the reality that the Bible occurred in a real place, defined and influenced by geography, by time and place.”
This is why true knowledge of the real places of the Book of Mormon is helpful and important, and misconceptions of its geography can be detrimental.