MAPIFYSTATS / ANIMATED MAPS / 10
The Shrinking World
The same journey, through three eras. Compare researched historical journeys, dated transport networks and documented costs, waits and assumptions.
Timings: Pennsylvania Journal1766 (Trenton Historical Society transcription), Smithsonian John Bull benchmark, Amtrak2150 Sep30,2026. Diagram and arithmetic: MapifyStats. · Source release, rights & limitations
Philadelphia → New York: 1766 stagecoach: 48.00 elapsed hours; 1830s early railway: 5.00 elapsed hours; 2026 scheduled Acela: 1.45 elapsed hours. Replay uses a logarithmic time budget; dots illustrate corridor progress rather than observed intermediate positions.
| Place / record | Value | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1766 stagecoach | 48 elapsed hours | |
| 1830s early railway | 5 elapsed hours | |
| 2026 scheduled Acela | 1.45 elapsed hours |
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Timings: Pennsylvania Journal1766 (Trenton Historical Society transcription), Smithsonian John Bull benchmark, Amtrak2150 Sep30,2026. Diagram and arithmetic: MapifyStats. · Source release, rights & limitations
Start each traveler at its model's departure from Philadelphia. These are three documented corridor examples, with different evidence precision.
Timings: Pennsylvania Journal1766 (Trenton Historical Society transcription), Smithsonian John Bull benchmark, Amtrak2150 Sep30,2026. Diagram and arithmetic: MapifyStats. · Source release, rights & limitations
Synchronized comparison
Both maps share replay progress and geographic scale. Source periods appear in each title.
What the map shows
Philadelphia → New York: 1766 stagecoach: 48.00 elapsed hours; 1830s early railway: 5.00 elapsed hours; 2026 scheduled Acela: 1.45 elapsed hours. Replay uses a logarithmic time budget; dots illustrate corridor progress rather than observed intermediate positions.
Drag to explore; manual map movement releases guided following. Particle movement and travel progress are illustrative. Attribution stays with every exported image.
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Accessible source values
| Place / record | Value | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1766 stagecoach | 48 elapsed hours | |
| 1830s early railway | 5 elapsed hours | |
| 2026 scheduled Acela | 1.45 elapsed hours |
Accessible comparison values
Sources, rights & limitations
Timings: Pennsylvania Journal1766 (Trenton Historical Society transcription), Smithsonian John Bull benchmark, Amtrak2150 Sep30,2026. Diagram and arithmetic: MapifyStats. Basemap: Natural Earth (public domain), U.S. Census Bureau/us-atlas (public domain). Ancient Earth uses the reconstructed source-model land instead.
Data release: philadelphia-new-york-three-eras-v1. Retrieved 2026-10-04. Commercial use: approved. Export rights: approved-with-source-attribution.
- https://www.trentonhistory.org/His/transportation.html
- https://americanhistory.si.edu/press/fact-sheets/landmark-object-john-bull-locomotive
- https://content.amtrak.com/content/timetable/Acela.pdf
- https://www.loc.gov/item/01021358/
License: Original MapifyStats synthesis of factual timings and hand-authored corridor diagrams; source images, prose, logos and protected timetable layout are excluded. LoC1849 guide is public domain.
- Three specific corridor models, not a global speed surface or a complete transport network.
- Travel durations come from advertised or institutional benchmarks and one dated modern timetable. Their different precision is labeled.
- Historical terminals and modern stations differ. The comparison is between cities, excluding access and boarding costs.
- Moving dots illustrate progress along sourced corridors; intermediate historical arrival positions are not observations.
- The summer/winter control changes only the documented1766 stagecoach variant. The other models retain their dated or aggregate benchmark.
- Reverse journeys, arbitrary destinations and missing service dates are unsupported rather than assigned a uniform speed.
Units: travel: elapsed minutes · summary: elapsed hours · coordinates: longitude, latitude degrees.
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