There's no denying that Google Maps makes it easy to navigate a city ... of the way things were back in the Greco-Roman era, says ancient mapping scholar Roberta Casagrande-Kim.

The wealth of the geographical literature of China, for instance ... as well as from the maps, a fairly accurate idea of the knowledge of geography possessed by the Chinese in early times.

"It's a contribution of ancient Chinese geography to the whole world," Shan said. "The map reflects the frequent business and cultural communication between China and countries along the ancient ...