Mapping
Translator: Cinder Translations
...
Jos lay on the grass, chewing on a blade of grass and idly watching a few soldiers around him lazily basking in the sun. The sunlight was a bit blinding, and Jos squinted as he looked at the figures in the distance moving busily.
"Hey, Tom, what do you think they're thinking up there? It's just a map, why go through all this trouble..."
"Jos!"
Before Jos could finish, a loud shout came from the distance.
At the sound of the voice, the group of soldiers immediately sprang to attention as if their bodies were wound-up springs.
"Got caught slacking off again, you bunch of idiots!"
Their sergeant—Sergeant Markalov—roared from behind, his voice like a cannonball.
Jos and the others stood at attention, facing forward and silent, inwardly cursing their bad luck for being caught by the sergeant.
Sergeant Markalov moved to stand before them, loudly reprimanding them: "Do you not understand? This isn't Alden or Byerldine; it's Emden, the former territory of the Kent family. We can't rule out the possibility of some crazies loyal to the usurper popping up out of nowhere. What if something really happens?"
Markalov gave them a severe scolding.
"In a place like this, vigilance is paramount. If any harm befalls the lord's precious students, you'll answer for it. Got it?"
"Yes, sergeant!" Jos and his comrades replied in unison, their voices tinged with despair.
"You'll each write me a report by tonight!"
"Yes, sergeant!" The response was accompanied by a groan.
The so-called "precious students" referred to by Markalov were the figures in the distance busy with their work. They were all students from Weis Academy.
A week ago, their squad leader had been transferred to the staff office, and the new squad leader had also come from the staff office—this was part of the rotation system enforced by Schroder. Every staff officer was supposed to periodically work with front-line troops to gain practical combat and work experience to avoid the pitfalls of mere theoretical knowledge.
With the new squad leader came a group of students who were apparently quite important, according to the squad leader. Major Bryce and Major Joyce had even dined with them personally.
Their purpose for coming was to conduct what they called "mapping"—essentially measuring and drawing accurate maps.
Markalov's unit had been assigned the task of assisting these students with their mapping work.
The students were divided into several groups, each working on different tasks. Markalov and his team followed them around, helping with carrying equipment and providing protection.
After being caught by Markalov, Jos and his comrades no longer dared to slack off, staying alert until dusk.
As night approached, Markalov took Jos and the others to the students. The orders were clear: the lord's precious students must not be overworked; it was time to bring them back to the barracks.
As they approached, they did not interrupt the students' work but observed instead.
Two students stood on a slope, each holding one end of a long bamboo stick (actually a bamboo ruler). Another student held a wooden board (a clinometer), aligning the bottom of the board with the bamboo ruler.
TL Note: A clinometer is a tool that is used to measure the angle of elevation, or angle from the ground, in a right - angled triangle.
The board was marked with a series of evenly spaced notches forming a semicircle, with the center of the semicircle on the side facing the sky. A vertical line was drawn through the semicircle's center.
A small nail was fixed at the center of the board, with a fine string hanging a small iron ball. The iron ball pulled the string straight down, with the string and the vertical line meeting at the center of the semicircle to form an angle.
Sergeant Markalov, puzzled, asked, "What are you doing? Is this what you call mapping?"
One student, focused on writing in a notebook, noticed Markalov's voice and looked up with a shy smile.
"Sergeant, we are measuring the horizontal distance between two points."
Jos asked, "Horizontal distance?"
"Yes, you see, this is a slope. The bamboo ruler measures the slant distance directly. We use this clinometer to find the angle of inclination—the angle between the bamboo ruler and the horizontal ground. Those notches forming the semicircle indicate the angle. By combining the slant distance and inclination angle, we can calculate the horizontal distance."
"Really? Is that all there is to it?"
"Yes, that's math for you." The student suddenly became enthusiastic. "The lord was right; math is the key to understanding the world."
"Did the lord teach you this?"
"Yes, the lord personally taught us about trigonometric functions. Lord Grayman knows so much!" The students looked at each other with admiration.
Markalov and the others were unfamiliar with trigonometric functions. "Uh… Why measure this so-called 'horizontal distance'?"
"This is a method taught by the lord called orthophoto projection. For example…"
The student explained the concept of map-making with animated gestures.
"If you place an object directly under a light source, the shadow it casts on the ground is its orthophoto projection. The map we're drawing is created by projecting features like mountains, rivers, buildings, roads, and fields onto a horizontal plane, which is represented by a piece of paper. This type of map is called a planimetric map."
TL Note: https://www.whiteclouds.com/3dpedia/planimetric-maps/
Jos scratched his head. "But we don't see you flying up to look at the projection."
The student laughed. "Of course, we can't fly. We rely on these reference points to measure and draw everything bit by bit."
He pointed to the surrounding area. The soldiers understood that the reference points were long poles with prominent flags.
"When drawing a planimetric map, we first mark the reference points on the paper. Then, based on these points, we measure and draw each block in detail…"
After listening to the students for a while, Markalov and Jos were still confused, as many terms were unfamiliar.
They had seen the maps created by the students, which looked quite different from the maps they had previously seen from officers. The old maps resembled artwork, with mountains, rivers, and buildings clearly depicted, but their accuracy was poor. The students' maps, on the other hand, appeared stern and abstract, filled with symbols, blocks, straight lines, and irregular curves (apparently called contour lines). According to the students, their maps were much more accurate than the old ones.
...
Before sunset, the soldiers escorted the students back to the barracks, carrying a large number of mapping tools like theodolites, leveling instruments, right angle squares, leveling plates, tripods, and other strange equipment.
After dinner, they received new orders from the camp: suspend mapping work. The First and Second Battalions would begin an attack on Bailan Castle tomorrow—just a feint, but it was essential to put pressure on the Kent family to draw the enemy's attention away from the vicinity of Biddeburg.
The allied forces defending Biddeburg were on the brink of collapse...
(End of the Chapter)
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