The rise of smart phones and GPs means maps are now always a tap away - but Google Maps' question for perfection leaves something to be desired: beauty.

Check out these beautiful - if sometimes geographically challenged – old maps of the Middle East.

1. Al-Idrisi (1154)

Source: Al-Jazeera

2. J. Hondius, Jr. (1630)

Source: Wikimedia

3. Piri Reis (1513)

Source: mapsys.info

4. Sebastian Münster (1488-1552)

Source: Wikimedia

5. Sebastian Münster (1488-1552)

Source: Wikimedia

6. Unknown (1475)

Source: Wikimedia

7. Mercator, Gerhard (1607)

Photo source: Wikimedia Source: Wikimedia

8. Flaminus (1681)

Source: Wikimedia

9. Visscher (1657)

Source: Wikimedia

10. Abraham Ortelius (1572)

Source: Wikimedia

11. Ortelius, Hondius (1595)

Source: Wikimedia