TomTom helps show off Amsterdam's rich mapmaking history, and future, in museum exhibition

TomTom is partnering with an Amsterdam-based museum to shine a light on the city's rich history of mapmaking and turn our gaze towards its future.

It's quite serendipitous when you think about it. TomTom, a geolocation tech company and one of the world's most prominent mapmakers, being based in Amsterdam. The Dutch capital has, for hundreds of years, been a global mapmaking hub. And that story continues today, with TomTom leading the charge.

From March 2 to July 16, 2023 (the exhibition has now been extended to August 20, 2023), the Allard Pierson, in Amsterdam, will be telling this story with the support of TomTom as part of its Maps Unfolded: From Atlas to Street Map exhibition.

The Allard Pierson's Maps Unfolded exhibition explores the historic and continued importance of Amsterdam as a global mapmaking hub.

The Allard Pierson houses and maintains the Amsterdam map and atlas collection, a trove of some 135,000 loose maps, 4,500 atlases and a number of globes. Many of which were made in Amsterdam as the city's cartography industry boomed in the 17th century.

For its exhibition, the museum's curators are picking the best of the collection to demonstrate the important role Amsterdam has played, and continues to play, in global mapmaking.

The display reveals an enormous and diverse collection of maps from the 15th century and tells the stories behind them

Maps on display include those made by the likes of Blaeu, Ortelius, Ptolemaeus and Bos. Maps Unfolded also pays particular attention to Indonesia, Suriname and the Antilles. Old and more recent maps provide valuable insight into colonial relationships and how they've been interpreted over time.

The Allard Pierson, situated in Rokin, Amsterdam. The museum is home to one of the world's most varied and important map and atlas collections. Credit: Wikimedia CC.

The final stop on this journey through mapmaking's history will be with TomTom. The modern-day mapmaker will show off how maps have evolved from paper documents and artistic works, to become rich and hyper-detailed digital representations of the world around us. The display shows off modern cartographic techniques that are crucial for creating dynamic and constantly updating maps.

Drs. Reinder Storm, one of the events curators and a specialist of the Amsterdam map collection, says it's no coincidence that Amsterdam remains significant in the landscape of global mapmaking.

It's long been a place of trade and diversity, bringing together people from all over the world, he says. This brought the skills, knowledge and experience needed to map the world with great accuracy. With TomTom based in Amsterdam, that seems to still be the case today.