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Transit Maps
Historical Map: San Joaquin County, California, c. 1910 Here’s a beautiful old illustrative map – this is from a prospectus advertising the benefits of...
a year ago
27
a year ago
Here’s a beautiful old illustrative map – this is from a prospectus advertising the benefits of settling in San Joaquin County, California in 1910. Part of depicting this as a desirable place to live and do business is showing the multitude of modern railway lines – including...
Maps Mania
Millions Flee War, Floods, and Persecution
2 weeks ago
James Cheshire
Anxiety and Mapping the Climate Crisis Many of the maps I have created in recent years address the climate crisis and I’ve been asked a...
over a year ago
55
over a year ago
Many of the maps I have created in recent years address the climate crisis and I’ve been asked a number of times about if I feel powerless in the face of the data I’m showing. I reflect on this here with Kit Rackley. Our chat also in part inspired this article in The...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 1 (Staging) Was there a name for that largely empty space beyond Washington’s Cascades Range and into the Idaho...
4 months ago
59
4 months ago
Was there a name for that largely empty space beyond Washington’s Cascades Range and into the Idaho Panhandle? A little research suggested the Inland Northwest, or perhaps a now lesser-used designation, the Inland Empire (not to be confused with a similarly named area of...
Adventures In...
How to emboss an imagery basemap Ah the simple pleasures of the World Imagery basemap. So much earth. So much imagery. So many...
a year ago
70
a year ago
Ah the simple pleasures of the World Imagery basemap. So much earth. So much imagery. So many corners of this world to explore. How can we take something so verdant and charming and just ratchet it up to eleven? We’ll use a water mask and some layer effects, that’s how! 0:00...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Kaiserslautern I hope to stay longer than 72 hours the next time I visit Germany. I don’t recommend such a short...
9 months ago
100
9 months ago
I hope to stay longer than 72 hours the next time I visit Germany. I don’t recommend such a short visit. However I went there for work as I do occasionally, and I had no choice. So that’s what I did. I landed in Frankfurt on Monday, drove down to Kaiserslautern, stayed through...
Transit Maps
Submission – BART “Heat Map” by Harsha Devulapalli Submitted by Harsha, who says: I’ve been a big fan of your blog for over a decade. Recently, I had...
6 months ago
83
6 months ago
Submitted by Harsha, who says: I’ve been a big fan of your blog for over a decade. Recently, I had the opportunity to replicate the BART transit map for a data visualization in a story I wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle. I would love to hear your thoughts on it! Transit Maps...
Adventures In...
Boost the Human Footprint in Imagery The World Imagery Basemap is a lovely resource spanning the Earth in all directions at all scales....
5 months ago
66
5 months ago
The World Imagery Basemap is a lovely resource spanning the Earth in all directions at all scales. If you want to add a level of context you can always add a reference overlay. But what about baking a reference overlay into the imagery in a way that makes it look, like, sort of...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 4 (Venturing North) The ultimate destination was Dayton, Ohio and it took about seven and a half hours to get there....
10 months ago
101
10 months ago
The ultimate destination was Dayton, Ohio and it took about seven and a half hours to get there. However we didn’t just sit in Dayton for an entire week. If I had to drive all that way you better believe I would do some County Counting along the way too. At this point I’ve...
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Diagram of Victorian Ferry Routes, 2024 by Bushland Maps Submitted by Bushland Maps, who say: Ferries are a bit of a forgotten mode of transport in...
2 months ago
51
2 months ago
Submitted by Bushland Maps, who say: Ferries are a bit of a forgotten mode of transport in Melbourne. With no integration into the fare system or journey planners, and with overarching public transport body PTV only “overseeing” three of the routes (which doesn’t have any...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Lines of the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway, 1927 Here’s a fascinating map of streetcar lines in Omaha, Nebraska in 1927, beautifully hand drawn on...
a year ago
77
a year ago
Here’s a fascinating map of streetcar lines in Omaha, Nebraska in 1927, beautifully hand drawn on top of a pre-printed single colour map of the area produced by the City’s engineering department. Not only does the map show the extent of all the streetcar lines (with 64.6 miles of...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 1 (Oahu: Honolulu Waterfront) Most of my work trips are pretty mundane. The last three were rather typical — Philadelphia, Tampa...
a year ago
56
a year ago
Most of my work trips are pretty mundane. The last three were rather typical — Philadelphia, Tampa and Atlanta — for example. Sometimes I go to more interesting places like my quick jaunt to Germany a few years ago. However, this time I hit the jackpot: Hawaii, Japan, and South...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 5 (University Loop) This was another early morning start although not as early as some of the others. We wouldn’t need...
4 months ago
41
4 months ago
This was another early morning start although not as early as some of the others. We wouldn’t need to drive very far anymore now that we’d settled into our temporary home in Lewiston, Idaho for four nights in a row. The Washington Race Sunrise came quickly and we soon found...
Adventures In...
On-the-Fly Generalization Hack for ArcGIS Pro Generalization is one of the most important tools in a map maker’s tool kit. Sometimes the...
a year ago
93
a year ago
Generalization is one of the most important tools in a map maker’s tool kit. Sometimes the complexity of our geometry needs to be smoothed out to best visually represent a place or appear best at various scales. Here is a way (complete hack, but surprisingly effective) to...
Adventures In...
Historical Topo Map Explorer (beta) The USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer is getting an update, and you can try out this new beta...
a year ago
74
a year ago
The USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer is getting an update, and you can try out this new beta version, here: LivingAtlas.ArcGIS.com/TopoMapExplorer The United States Geological Survey has a rich history of creating exquisite topographic quadrangle maps. These topo maps are...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Indiana I-69 Time Zone Crossing If you’re driving along Indiana’s portion of Interstate 69, say from Evansville to Bloomington, you...
a month ago
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a month ago
If you’re driving along Indiana’s portion of Interstate 69, say from Evansville to Bloomington, you are going to cross a Time Zone boundary. It happens between Mile Markers 37.5 and 39.0, about forty minutes north of Evansville at normal highway speeds. But please note that the...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 4 (Lewis & Clark Country) We were now officially between races. A day earlier I ran a half-marathon in Pendleton, Oregon and I...
4 months ago
53
4 months ago
We were now officially between races. A day earlier I ran a half-marathon in Pendleton, Oregon and I had to do it again in Clarkston, Washington the following day. So this was the rest day, or at least it was for me. Most participants in the Mainly Marathons Northwest series...
Musings on Maps
Along Narnia’s Enchanted Shores As we face an age when the norms of legal conduct in the United States stand to be shredded, we have...
2 months ago
53
2 months ago
As we face an age when the norms of legal conduct in the United States stand to be shredded, we have been suggested to benefit from looking, both for perspective and solace, if only for relief, to fantasy literature as … Continue reading →
Maps Mania
The Digital Twin's Digital Twin
a week ago
GeoCurrents
The New York Times Maps Trump as Having Defeated Biden in 2024 I have long been a fan of the political cartography of the New York Times and have often used its...
a month ago
1
a month ago
I have long been a fan of the political cartography of the New York Times and have often used its maps in my courses and blog posts. But this year I am not so impressed. Consider, for example, the map detail that I have posted below, taken from a full-page cartographic exercise...
somethingaboutmaps
A Free eBook of Terrain Lines Friends, earlier this week I mentioned that I’d completed a whole bunch of terrain sketches using...
3 months ago
52
3 months ago
Friends, earlier this week I mentioned that I’d completed a whole bunch of terrain sketches using some novel techniques that allowed me to create a hachure drawing style from digital elevation data. If you’d like to see the whole set, I’ve now assembled them into a quick eBook...
Adventures In...
How to Make a Hexagonal Cartogram in ArcGIS Pro Of course maps are just the most fascinating and information dense graphical information products...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
Of course maps are just the most fascinating and information dense graphical information products around…in my unbiased opinion. I can, and do, go on and on about the deep and pervasive benefits of spatial representations. But…well…sometimes a map, strictly speaking, can have...
Adventures In...
Blend Mode Helper Blend modes can be a complex thing to wrap one’s head around. Experimentation is the best teacher,...
a year ago
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a year ago
Blend modes can be a complex thing to wrap one’s head around. Experimentation is the best teacher, but even then there are lots of variabilities involved, depending on the layer you use to experiment. The Blend Mode Helper Map (and its constituent Blend Mode Helper layer) reduces...
Transit Maps
Official Map: Newark International Airport Regional Rail Connections, 2023 Every so often, I come across a transit map that is just so unfit for purpose that all I can do is...
a year ago
98
a year ago
Every so often, I come across a transit map that is just so unfit for purpose that all I can do is scratch my head and ponder, “Just why?” This is one of those maps. Produced by (or on behalf of) Newark International Airport, it purports to show regional rail services that you...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Sydney Railway Layout, c. 1940 Unearthed on Twitter (It’ll always be Twitter to me, no matter what Elon says) by @crossing_lights,...
a year ago
28
a year ago
Unearthed on Twitter (It’ll always be Twitter to me, no matter what Elon says) by @crossing_lights, this is quite an extraordinary find. Long-time readers may have seen the 1939 version of this diagram (and the digital recreation that I made). Here’s the thing: the general...
somethingaboutmaps
Leopard Map Disassembly Friends, it’s been a long while since I last wrote up a walkthrough of one of my mapping projects....
a year ago
65
a year ago
Friends, it’s been a long while since I last wrote up a walkthrough of one of my mapping projects. So, today, let’s break down a piece that I made earlier this year for Scientific American magazine. This is actually the first of three pieces that I’ve made for Scientific American...
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Map: Improved Cercanías Madrid Map by Jace Submitted by Jace, who says: A while ago I saw your review of the Cercanías Madrid [our 2022 review...
5 months ago
72
5 months ago
Submitted by Jace, who says: A while ago I saw your review of the Cercanías Madrid [our 2022 review is here – Cam], and, as a regular user of the system, I too find the map quite bad: Uneven distances between lines, mismatched fonts in the route bullets, and overall lack of...
Map of the Week
The Salt Front The salt front is the point where a river becomes too salty to be safe for drinking water. The front...
2 months ago
2
2 months ago
The salt front is the point where a river becomes too salty to be safe for drinking water. The front moves upstream from the river’s mouth as less freshwater flows downstream to dilute it. I’d never heard of a salt front until I read about it in a recent article in...
Maps Mania
The USA is Closing for Business
2 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 8 (Completing the Circuit) Too soon the Costa Rica adventure approached its end and it was time to wrap things up with a final...
a year ago
18
a year ago
Too soon the Costa Rica adventure approached its end and it was time to wrap things up with a final few activities. The route involved the usual complexities, driving down the mountain from Monteverde and heading towards the airport outside of San José. We also took a little...
Adventures In...
The Geoholics Podcast I got to join The Geoholics podcast this week and had a fun conversation with Kent Groh, Ryan Kelly,...
over a year ago
58
over a year ago
I got to join The Geoholics podcast this week and had a fun conversation with Kent Groh, Ryan Kelly, and Nik Smilovsky Here is a link to the episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sHBwsGyfAoZE3ra5RaeVB?si=f1f3bdf9ab3b4695 Here’s the episode’s description: Raised by two...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 1 (Road Trip) It feels like I just got back from Costa Rica and then I’m right back on the road again. True...
a year ago
42
a year ago
It feels like I just got back from Costa Rica and then I’m right back on the road again. True enough, we made it home for only a couple of weeks before we began an extended drive through the southeastern United States. However, those were the only dates that worked with...
GeoCurrents
Declining Human Fertility and Urbanization in the United States A recent GeoCurrents post on Utah’s declining birth rate included maps of the Total Fertility Rate...
4 weeks ago
1
4 weeks ago
A recent GeoCurrents post on Utah’s declining birth rate included maps of the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of the U.S. by state in 2008 and 2022. Comparing the state-by-state data from these two years yields a map of total fertility change during this period (posted below). As this...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 6 (Bournemouth) We didn’t go far but it seemed like a world apart, traveling from an isolated corner of Dorset into...
6 months ago
76
6 months ago
We didn’t go far but it seemed like a world apart, traveling from an isolated corner of Dorset into its most populous area. That led us to Bournemouth (map), a coastal town along the English Channel. There are so many ancient places in the United Kingdom but this is not one of...
Adventures In...
How to make a “peeled edge” area of interest effect Sure, everyone loves a good raised area-of-interest effect. But what about a peeled edge area of...
6 months ago
94
6 months ago
Sure, everyone loves a good raised area-of-interest effect. But what about a peeled edge area of interest? It’s a snazzy trick and maybe just the sort of flair that your map needs! And it’s simpler than maybe you’d guess. To give your area of interest a peeled edge effect, you...
Map of the Week
My Favorite New Jersey Drone Map Here is my favorite “map” showing the drone hysteria over New Jersey. It’s from Instagram...
2 months ago
2
2 months ago
Here is my favorite “map” showing the drone hysteria over New Jersey. It’s from Instagram user wmh_x_0, aka Oona Harrigan.   It is based on these maps of drone sightings that have been going around the internet. The “globe” text is there because she is known for designing sad...
James Cheshire
The era of the megalopolis: how the world’s cities are merging James Cheshire, UCL and Michael Batty, UCL On November 15 2022, a baby girl named Vinice Mabansag,...
over a year ago
54
over a year ago
James Cheshire, UCL and Michael Batty, UCL On November 15 2022, a baby girl named Vinice Mabansag, born at Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, Philippines, became – symbolically – the eight billionth person in the world. Of those 8 billion people, 60% live in a town or...
Map of the Week
Soprano Land The Sopranos is having a bit of a moment with the recent HBO documentary about David Chase....
5 months ago
2
5 months ago
The Sopranos is having a bit of a moment with the recent HBO documentary about David Chase. Illustrator Robert Sikoryak made a nice map to orient fans to the New Jersey landscape of the show. You can click above to see a larger version. I've only watched bits of the show so I...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 5 (Relaxing in Tamarindo) Rainy season doesn’t mean the same thing across the entirety of Costa Rica. Nor does it start...
a year ago
19
a year ago
Rainy season doesn’t mean the same thing across the entirety of Costa Rica. Nor does it start suddenly or retain consistent intensity. So our drive to Guanacaste Province’s drier Pacific coast during the earlier part of the season promised plenty of sunshine. That was our plan...
somethingaboutmaps
Simple Oblique Views in Blender While many people use my Blender shaded relief tutorial, and associate me with the software, I’m...
over a year ago
63
over a year ago
While many people use my Blender shaded relief tutorial, and associate me with the software, I’m really not much of a 3D cartographer. I make oblique-view maps only rarely, and when I do, it’s usually in a simplified, abstract style, rather than the detailed, naturalistic...
Map of the Week
Ice Flows in Greenland The Atlas of the Invisible was published a few years ago. The maps show trends in the earth’s...
2 months ago
2
2 months ago
The Atlas of the Invisible was published a few years ago. The maps show trends in the earth’s climate and demographics that are largely hidden to the naked eye. I never got a chance to review it but was recently struck by this visualization. A detailed description of the...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 7  (Hodgepodge) The Dayton trip came to an end but I still had a bunch of stuff to talk about that didn’t fit into...
9 months ago
101
9 months ago
The Dayton trip came to an end but I still had a bunch of stuff to talk about that didn’t fit into any of the earlier articles. Naturally I’ve collected them all together within this final compilation to serve as a wrap-up. Then we can call this one done and move onto the next...
Adventures In...
5 Minutes to Make a Map! We’ve all been there. A request comes in and you don’t have a lot of time. Like 5 or 10 minutes....
12 months ago
85
12 months ago
We’ve all been there. A request comes in and you don’t have a lot of time. Like 5 or 10 minutes. What! Ok, ok, be cool, this is going to be ok. Just breathe…and think. Think. Yes, we’ve got this. We’ve got the tools and the resources to crank out a serviceable map in the amount …
James Cheshire
The Scarred Landscape of the Climate Crisis I’ve been obsessively checking satellite imagery to witness the UK turn from green to yellow, thanks...
over a year ago
73
over a year ago
I’ve been obsessively checking satellite imagery to witness the UK turn from green to yellow, thanks to the period of extreme heat and lack of rain Europe has been enduring. The parched landscape is unlike anything I’ve seen before and a cloud free day today (10th August) has...
Maps Mania
Where's the Gulf of Mexico?
2 weeks ago
James Cheshire
Being creative is reason enough to try different data visualization A simple line chart might be all you need to communicate the patterns in a dataset, but it might not...
over a year ago
59
over a year ago
A simple line chart might be all you need to communicate the patterns in a dataset, but it might not be given a second glance. Getting the viewer to work a little harder to interpret and think about a graphic can be a very effective way of generating engagement. This is where the...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Argentine Railways, 1907 Now this is a map! This is just superb cartography: detailed, clear and lovely to look at. I love...
over a year ago
70
over a year ago
Now this is a map! This is just superb cartography: detailed, clear and lovely to look at. I love the way that brown is used for mountainous features, and a light blue is used for water features – it allows this information to be visible, but it doesn’t compete with the overlaid...
Maps Mania
It's Groundhog Day (Again & Again & Again)
2 weeks ago
Adventures In...
How to make this thematic map, and stuff One of the great joys of working here at Esri is the opportunity to collaborate with amazing people....
6 months ago
92
6 months ago
One of the great joys of working here at Esri is the opportunity to collaborate with amazing people. Recently I had the opportunity to present at the User Conference about thematic mapping, with Sarah Bell and Kenneth Field. It was a lot of fun and we all surprised each other...
somethingaboutmaps
The Projection Collection Returns About a year ago, I released The Projection Collection, a set of 77 trading cards based on map...
a year ago
50
a year ago
About a year ago, I released The Projection Collection, a set of 77 trading cards based on map projections. Each card features a unique map produced by one of 65 different cartographers. While my colleagues and I did our best to let everyone know about these cards, some people...
James Cheshire
Atlas des Unsichtbaren Thrilled to announce the publication of German edition of Atlas of the Invisible: Atlas des...
over a year ago
49
over a year ago
Thrilled to announce the publication of German edition of Atlas of the Invisible: Atlas des Unsichtbaren. It is published by Hanser, who also did an amazing job with our previous book Die Wege der Tiere, and available in all good bookshops across the German speaking world. Click...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 7 (Hill Country) The extended road trip finally arrived at its western terminus in the Texas Hill Country. This also...
a year ago
70
a year ago
The extended road trip finally arrived at its western terminus in the Texas Hill Country. This also marked my first visit to Burnet County, a rural locale situated northwest of Austin. Locals pronounce it something like BURN-it, and that’s how it felt as the mercury hit 103°...
Maps Mania
Roads, Railways, Runways & Rivers
a month ago
somethingaboutmaps
Thoughts on Practical Cartographic Education While I have not conducted a formal survey, I think I have the right impression when I say that most...
over a year ago
61
over a year ago
While I have not conducted a formal survey, I think I have the right impression when I say that most university cartography courses, at least in the United States, are taught by people whose primary job (when they are not teaching) is not the regular production of maps. These...
Musings on Maps
Gaza, Again–and Again The Gaza Strip’s spatiality continues to puzzle and fascinate–as much as the pressing question of...
a year ago
116
a year ago
The Gaza Strip’s spatiality continues to puzzle and fascinate–as much as the pressing question of its sovereignty. The two are of course intertwined, and the boundaries of Gaza are historically defined. The perimeter around the Gaza Strip was in a … Continue reading →
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Detour to Ashtabula About two and a half years ago I planned to capture three unvisited counties at the far northeastern...
8 months ago
95
8 months ago
About two and a half years ago I planned to capture three unvisited counties at the far northeastern corner of Ohio. Unfortunately it didn’t happen due to a snowstorm that dumped about a foot of snow on the target area. So instead I changed my plans and focused on Michigan’s...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Osage Orange It seemed strange to fixate on a single tree for more than a decade but that’s exactly what...
2 months ago
48
2 months ago
It seemed strange to fixate on a single tree for more than a decade but that’s exactly what happened. I notice it a few weeks every autumn and then quickly forget about it for another year. That all started sometime around 2013 when I began to ride a stretch of the Capital...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 4 (Bug Loop) Sure, the southern United States has more than its fair share of pesky bugs that most people...
a year ago
41
a year ago
Sure, the southern United States has more than its fair share of pesky bugs that most people actively avoid. Mosquitos, horseflies, and palmetto bugs probably top that list. So it probably sounds strange that we devoted an entire day to insects, particularly to the appreciation...
James Cheshire
If Data Could Talk Podcast We sat down with Andy Cotgreave for the If Data Could Talk podcast to give some behind the scenes...
over a year ago
64
over a year ago
We sat down with Andy Cotgreave for the If Data Could Talk podcast to give some behind the scenes insights about our collaborative process and some of the work that went into Atlas of the Invisible.
Transit Maps
Fantasy Map: Washington Commanders 2023 “Season Map” Posted yesterday on the Commanders’ Twitter account, here’s a Washington Metro-themed map of the...
a year ago
64
a year ago
Posted yesterday on the Commanders’ Twitter account, here’s a Washington Metro-themed map of the team’s 2023 season. It basically just places the team’s opponents for the year on a vaguely US-shaped map using some Metro iconography and colours and calls it a day. It’s...
James Cheshire
COVID inquiry heard Boris Johnson ‘struggled’ with graphs – if you do too, here are some tips James Cheshire, UCL and Rob Davidson, UCL In March 2020, the UK government’s chief scientific...
a year ago
86
a year ago
James Cheshire, UCL and Rob Davidson, UCL In March 2020, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, presented to the nation a graph showing “the shape of an epidemic”. The red line depicting the number of predicted COVID cases rose to a steep peak before...
Adventures In...
Vintage Retro Old-School 1890s Basemap for ArcGIS Pro Here’s how to stack up some tile layers and blend them up to concoct a basemap that wouldn’t look...
6 months ago
78
6 months ago
Here’s how to stack up some tile layers and blend them up to concoct a basemap that wouldn’t look out of place in 1890. Except that you wouldn’t have anywhere to plug in your monitor so it would be hard to show it to people back then. Ok bring a small generator. Wait, all these …
Adventures In...
The Bounding Box Podcast The one where I chat with Rene Rubalcava about the importance of unstructured data-play, the risk of...
over a year ago
69
over a year ago
The one where I chat with Rene Rubalcava about the importance of unstructured data-play, the risk of metrics becoming the goal, where to find inspiration, brewing chaos into professional development, and loving our neighbors!
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Mackinac’s Orbit, Part 11 (What’s Brewing?) Twelve Mile Circle readers don’t really care about my brewery visits. I get it. You won’t offend me...
over a year ago
56
over a year ago
Twelve Mile Circle readers don’t really care about my brewery visits. I get it. You won’t offend me if you skip this article or scroll through the pictures without reading anything. I really do this more for myself to create a record of my visits that extend beyond the simplicity...
Maps Mania
GeoGuessr for History Buffs
a month ago
Map of the Week
Merry Gridmas! Gridviz is a Javascript library for visualizing gridded (raster) data. They created a Christmas...
a month ago
2
a month ago
Gridviz is a Javascript library for visualizing gridded (raster) data. They created a Christmas themed map showing land use with holiday emojis.  Also if you visit the Gridmas page you can watch the snow fall over Europe. You can pan and zoom around, however if you try to go...
Adventures In...
How to Make a Historical Animation with Landsat Here’s how to whip up a three decade animation of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest,...
11 months ago
73
11 months ago
Here’s how to whip up a three decade animation of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, using Landsat Explorer. And it only takes a few minutes. … 0:00 Intro0:20 Assembling the animation1:47 Checking the result2:14 Saving an animation as an MP42:44 More animation examples3:33...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 1 (The Wright Stuff) When people have asked, I’ve told them with a straight face that we didn’t go to Daytona for Spring...
10 months ago
93
10 months ago
When people have asked, I’ve told them with a straight face that we didn’t go to Daytona for Spring Break, no, we went to Dayton. As in Ohio. As in probably the least likely Spring Break destination in the United States. We managed to avoid warm weather, sandy beaches, and...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 8 (Postscript: Interesting Signs) I know that some of the articles in this series veered into heavy topics. So let’s take things in a...
a year ago
65
a year ago
I know that some of the articles in this series veered into heavy topics. So let’s take things in a less serious direction for a moment now that I’ve completed the travelogue portion. It’s no secret that I enjoy signage, the more unusual the better. Sometimes I even collect them...
GeoCurrents
Highway 61 Revisited Revisited in 2024: Bob Dylan, Geography, and the Blues Watching the superb and sublimely acted recent film A Complete Unknown has inspired me to revisit...
2 weeks ago
1
2 weeks ago
Watching the superb and sublimely acted recent film A Complete Unknown has inspired me to revisit the songs of Bob Dylan. In doing so, I have once again been impressed with his geographical vision, marked by effective invocations of place. His frequent use of place names in...
Musings on Maps
Swing States, Battleground States and Hot Spots Are the maps of President Trump's 2024 electoral evidence of a sudden shift or deep undercurrents of...
3 months ago
50
3 months ago
Are the maps of President Trump's 2024 electoral evidence of a sudden shift or deep undercurrents of disaffection? The sudden partisan shift of voting maps suggest a dark undercurrents in American politics. Continue reading →
Adventures In...
Detect and measure wildfires with Sentinel-1 Explorer Our human visual systems collect light from a pretty narrow slice of the electromagnetic spectrum....
6 months ago
81
6 months ago
Our human visual systems collect light from a pretty narrow slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. But there is so much more light to see. Radar systems use photons with much longer wavelengths that can break through clouds and smoke, and because the energy is sent from the...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Diagram of Passenger Stations in the Sydney Metropolitan Area, 1928 There’s a lot to like about this simple little track diagram of Sydney’s rail system from 1928....
6 months ago
77
6 months ago
There’s a lot to like about this simple little track diagram of Sydney’s rail system from 1928. There’s a lot of different angles – both with route lines and station labels – but it still manages to hang together as a coherent whole. A big part of that is the dead straight...
Map of the Week
Terrain Representations from the Atlas of Design In last week’s post I reviewed Volume 7 of the Atlas of Design. As an occasional cartographer I have...
3 months ago
2
3 months ago
In last week’s post I reviewed Volume 7 of the Atlas of Design. As an occasional cartographer I have been interested in how topography is represented in maps for a long time. This atlas volume provides many contrasting examples. From the “cartographic realism” of Tom Patterson’s...
Adventures In...
Add Multiple Maps to One Layout Of course Alaska and Hawaii are glorious places, beloved by all for their lovely inhabitants and...
5 months ago
88
5 months ago
Of course Alaska and Hawaii are glorious places, beloved by all for their lovely inhabitants and majestic natural environs. It would be an error of omission should they not appear in a map of the United States, but it would also be a shame to shoe-horn them in looking sad with an...
Adventures In...
Thoughts on the Cartographer’s Role in an AI Future A few moments ago I was asked by a student about the “development of cartography over the next 10...
11 months ago
71
11 months ago
A few moments ago I was asked by a student about the “development of cartography over the next 10 years.” Here’s my somewhat off-the-cuff response, though my thoughts have been steeping in this for the past year or so. In the next 10 years artificial intelligence, and probably...
Maps Mania
Jumbled Maps
a week ago
somethingaboutmaps
Projection Connections: A Very Nerdy Poster Friends, I’m excited to offer to you a new poster. Not a map this time around, but something...
over a year ago
74
over a year ago
Friends, I’m excited to offer to you a new poster. Not a map this time around, but something map-related. A 16 × 24-inch tangled web showing how 100+ different map projections are all related to each other: Projections are a niche topic even among cartographers, so I don’t...
Map of the Week
Latitude Twins This map, on Reddit shows major North American cities replaced by European or Middle Eastern ones...
3 weeks ago
3
3 weeks ago
This map, on Reddit shows major North American cities replaced by European or Middle Eastern ones with the same approximate latitude. It illustrates the interesting climate fact that because of the Gulf Stream, Europe is much warmer further north. Thus Chicago is equivalent to...
Maps Mania
The MAGA Plugin for Interactive Maps
3 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 8 (Onward to London) Finally we reached the end of our time in Dorset. I enjoyed that quiet corner of England and I felt...
6 months ago
83
6 months ago
Finally we reached the end of our time in Dorset. I enjoyed that quiet corner of England and I felt we covered it pretty thoroughly. Now we needed to drive back to London where a whole new set of adventures awaited. Stonehenge However, we couldn’t go straight back because of...
Adventures In...
Three Maps & the Truth You may have heard that “all maps lie” and that’s right (also, here’s some required reading). Each...
2 months ago
64
2 months ago
You may have heard that “all maps lie” and that’s right (also, here’s some required reading). Each map is a collection of compromises, whether they’re geomatic (your projection and scale choices), editorial (your choice of subject and what you’ve chosen to show and not show), and...
Adventures In...
John Snow’s Cholera Map Reimagined John Snow’s map of the 1854 London cholera outbreak was revolutionary in that it clearly drew a...
a year ago
58
a year ago
John Snow’s map of the 1854 London cholera outbreak was revolutionary in that it clearly drew a visual connection between deaths and the locations of well pumps. It helped contribute to the idea that cholera was a water-borne disease and effectively marks the creation of the...
somethingaboutmaps
Getting Local: A Map Disassembly Though it’s only been a couple of months since the last time I did a map breakdown, I feel like it’s...
a year ago
18
a year ago
Though it’s only been a couple of months since the last time I did a map breakdown, I feel like it’s time for another. While my own instincts are to avoid repetition, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my YouTube-watching habits, it’s that a creator can put out a regular...
GeoCurrents
Two New Demography Lectures Uploaded on YouTube Two new lectures in the series on global demography have been uploaded on the GeoCurrents YouTube...
a week ago
2
a week ago
Two new lectures in the series on global demography have been uploaded on the GeoCurrents YouTube channel.  The first, number 5 in the series, looks at the ancient world, and the second (#6) looks at late antiquity and the early medieval period (roughly 400-750 CE). The second of...
Map of the Week
Your Climate in 60 Years This fall's supercharged hurricanes are a reminder that despite the dishonest rhetoric coming from...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
This fall's supercharged hurricanes are a reminder that despite the dishonest rhetoric coming from top Republican politicians, global warming is definitely not a hoax. The University of Maryland has a new mapping tool to show you where on earth your climate will most resemble in...
Maps Mania
The Black History Month Map
3 days ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Mitten Accomplished I got a unique opportunity to visit counties in a corner of the Midwest I hadn’t touched much when...
over a year ago
51
over a year ago
I got a unique opportunity to visit counties in a corner of the Midwest I hadn’t touched much when my older kid decided to go to college in Michigan. But it didn’t offer a lot of time for my quest, just a four year window before graduation. Even so, I set what I thought was...
somethingaboutmaps
Independent Study: A Reflection Earlier this summer, I decided to embark on an educational experiment: I wanted to create a version...
a year ago
16
a year ago
Earlier this summer, I decided to embark on an educational experiment: I wanted to create a version of the independent study groups that I used to co-teach when I was at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in which students would work on a mapping project, and meet weekly for...
Map of the Week
A Blue Map of China This past weekend I finally got to the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library to see...
5 months ago
2
5 months ago
This past weekend I finally got to the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library to see their exhibit, Heaven and Earth: The Blue Maps of China on one of its final days. Yes, I should have visited months ago when I could have encouraged readers to see it but though they...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 3 (Exploring La Fortuna) The second full day in La Fortuna promised abundant showers although not continuously. It was the...
a year ago
33
a year ago
The second full day in La Fortuna promised abundant showers although not continuously. It was the rainy season after all and it rains, and people deal with it. Frankly, the bright sunshine of the previous day was a fluke. So we understood all of this ahead of time and we devised...
Transit Maps
Unofficial Map: High-Speed Rail of France, 2023 by Lars’ Transport Maps Well, this is just beautiful. Having made my own diagram on the same subject matter way, way back in...
a year ago
77
a year ago
Well, this is just beautiful. Having made my own diagram on the same subject matter way, way back in 2011, I think I’m qualified to say that this is a rousing success. The maps have some similarities – routes are colour-coded either by their Paris origin station or operator...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Silver Line Extension The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority opened its eleven mile Silver Line extension on...
over a year ago
37
over a year ago
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority opened its eleven mile Silver Line extension on November 15, 2022. I couldn’t be there on opening day but I still wanted to check out the new stations while they were relatively “new.” So I checked in with my frequent travel...
Adventures In...
Make this AI-inspired topo landscape please Many weeks ago I saw an achingly beautiful bit of AI-generated terrain art shared by Esri’s glorious...
a year ago
91
a year ago
Many weeks ago I saw an achingly beautiful bit of AI-generated terrain art shared by Esri’s glorious instagram account. Initially I was a bit intimidated by the robots; it was so charming and tactile and wondrous and dreamlike and sinuous. But also…inspiring. I wondered if I...
somethingaboutmaps
2024 Freelance Rate Survey Results Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s survey of freelance cartographer...
4 months ago
57
4 months ago
Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s survey of freelance cartographer rates and business practices! Our apologies for the delay in posting the results; life has been busy for both Aly and myself. Before we get to the survey results, here are some handy...
Adventures In...
Make this 3D printed globe please Ah, it’s that time of year when we geographers pour ourselves a steaming mug of hot coffee and place...
a year ago
93
a year ago
Ah, it’s that time of year when we geographers pour ourselves a steaming mug of hot coffee and place a stroopwafel over it until the caramel is nice and gooey and take the hand of other nearby geographers and sing O Denneboom together. Say, what’s with all the Dutch references?...
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Map: Arendal Region Transit Map, Norway by Hazael Hi! I made this transit diagram myself. I saw there was no “real” map with all the stations for the...
5 months ago
73
5 months ago
Hi! I made this transit diagram myself. I saw there was no “real” map with all the stations for the region of Arendal in Norway, so I decided to do this project. I would love to read your comments and criticisms! Transit Maps says: There’s a lot to like about this diagram – a...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Broomfield and Denver Weekend I’ve been traveling a lot lately. It feels like I just got back from the Pacific Northwest, and...
3 months ago
49
3 months ago
I’ve been traveling a lot lately. It feels like I just got back from the Pacific Northwest, and before that England, and then I’m heading right back out the door again. This should do it for awhile though; I need some rest. But this trip was a little different because I was there...
Maps Mania
An Extremely Distorted Map of the US Election
a month ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Rail and Bus Map of Southeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 Submitted by Lachlan, who says: Brisbane dropped a new transit map and it is EXTREMELY pretty. I’m a...
4 months ago
57
4 months ago
Submitted by Lachlan, who says: Brisbane dropped a new transit map and it is EXTREMELY pretty. I’m a big fan. Definitely the best-designed official transit map in Australia in my opinion. It even acknowledges the rapid bus routes and the G-Link light rail! I wish it could have...
somethingaboutmaps
Another Atlas of Minor Projects A few years ago, I compiled a PDF of various small odds-and-ends mapping projects that I’d done....
a year ago
91
a year ago
A few years ago, I compiled a PDF of various small odds-and-ends mapping projects that I’d done. Now, I’ve done it again. Please enjoy Another Atlas of Minor Projects, which houses a few dozen cartographic items that needed a home. These are all small, mostly-quick projects that...
Map of the Week
A Really Greater New York New York City just introduced congestion pricing in an attempt to eliminate gridlock. There have...
a month ago
2
a month ago
New York City just introduced congestion pricing in an attempt to eliminate gridlock. There have been many other plans over the years to alter the city to improve traffic flow, also to create housing and solve environmental problems. One of the most ambitious plans was this one,...
Adventures In...
Tolkien Style Maps in a GIS: part 3, Water “The world has changed. I see it in the water.” In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the...
a year ago
46
a year ago
“The world has changed. I see it in the water.” In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the reckoning of a Lord of the Rings style fantasy map, right in ArcGIS Pro. We map-makers get to breathe honest to goodness geographic life into the seminal aesthetic found in the LOTR...
Adventures In...
Make these ornaments please It’s that time of year when geographers the world over gather together in, let’s be honest, just...
2 months ago
46
2 months ago
It’s that time of year when geographers the world over gather together in, let’s be honest, just slightly awkward office holiday parties. We dedicate 82-86% of our mental capacities to socializing with our colleagues over deserts and drinks, while the remaining 14-16% remain...
Adventures In...
How to make this drought map in ArcGIS Online Here’s how to make the drought map used in the Drought Aware app. This video covers creating a...
2 months ago
58
2 months ago
Here’s how to make the drought map used in the Drought Aware app. This video covers creating a custom imagery basemap, modified to best support thematic data, and a styling method for the overlain drought polygons so they tint the imagery a color based on severity and have a...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 2 (Oahu: Beyond Waikiki) I didn’t spend all of my limited time strictly within the confines of Waikiki Beach and downtown...
a year ago
53
a year ago
I didn’t spend all of my limited time strictly within the confines of Waikiki Beach and downtown Honolulu. Whether work-related or during precious spare time I did explore more of southeastern Oahu than I had on my previous trip. Unfortunately I couldn’t linger much and truly...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Trams of Brisbane, Queensland, 1957 A simple but nicely drawn map of tram services in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1957. The lack...
a year ago
79
a year ago
A simple but nicely drawn map of tram services in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1957. The lack of any sort of key for the routes means that users need to have some familiarity with the city to decipher where trams might go. The pamphlet that the map is part of includes...
Adventures In...
Puget Sound 3D block diagram Here’s a map of the Puget Sound area that I made a couple years ago for presentations to folks in...
a year ago
109
a year ago
Here’s a map of the Puget Sound area that I made a couple years ago for presentations to folks in the US northwest. Recently I wanted to work some more at labeling in a 3D environment and found this to be a handy target. Additionally, I thought it would be fun to make more use …
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 9 (Postscript: Brew It) This is it, the final stop on the Asia-Pacific series, and this one is especially for me. I always...
a year ago
76
a year ago
This is it, the final stop on the Asia-Pacific series, and this one is especially for me. I always have mixed feelings about the brewery articles because they’re rather self-indulgent. So viewers should feel free to skip past this one and wait until the next series begins because...
Musings on Maps
Perilous Waters The voyage to the Titanic promoted cartographic fantasies of discovery and exploration, but only in...
a year ago
52
a year ago
The voyage to the Titanic promoted cartographic fantasies of discovery and exploration, but only in international waters. The maps of legal oversight Stockton Rush avoided demand to be recognized as a creation of globalism, as much as a luxury diversion of the super-rich. ...
Maps Mania
What If Asteroid 2024 YR4 Hit Your Town?
4 days ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 3 (Let the Races Begin) The main reason we went to the Inland Northwest was to run some races. It also became an excuse to...
4 months ago
54
4 months ago
The main reason we went to the Inland Northwest was to run some races. It also became an excuse to experience a part of the country I hadn’t explored much. Either way, the first of the races was finally about to begin. The Oregon Race We walked through the dark to a park along...
Maps Mania
Godview AI
a week ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Map: Brussels S-Train by Elliot H Submitted by Elliot, who says: I’ve come across this blog a couple of months ago, and have been...
a year ago
54
a year ago
Submitted by Elliot, who says: I’ve come across this blog a couple of months ago, and have been lurking ever since. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at designing a trasit diagram, and having gotten some free time, I decided to redesign the S-Train diagram for Brussels. So here...
Map of the Week
Bad News For Local News Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It...
3 months ago
2
3 months ago
Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It highlights the dire state of print journalism with maps to illustrate the problems. This one highlights counties that are on the watch list to become news deserts. News deserts...
Musings on Maps
“You Know,–It’s Over” “I am looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now,” President Trump told Jordan’s Abdullah II, “and...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
“I am looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now,” President Trump told Jordan’s Abdullah II, “and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.” Trump seemed not to consider the scale of American arms’ involvement in its destruction, but to … Continue reading →
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 3 (Museums) Sure, I visited the various Wright Brothers museums, historical sites, and memorials but they...
10 months ago
91
10 months ago
Sure, I visited the various Wright Brothers museums, historical sites, and memorials but they weren’t the totality of Dayton’s remarkable legacy. It wasn’t even the reason why we visited. I mentioned the younger kid’s interest in all things aeronautical earlier and it traced back...
Musings on Maps
Security Walls: “This is Just the Beginning” Attending New Year’s service in an Oxford Orthodox synagogue, I paused when the ritual prayer book I...
a year ago
92
a year ago
Attending New Year’s service in an Oxford Orthodox synagogue, I paused when the ritual prayer book I held–a Machzor-moved smoothly from prayers to George VI (it was an old one) to prayers for the Israel Defense Forces. The rabbi, who … Continue reading →
Maps Mania
Introducing Terra Draw
4 weeks ago
Musings on Maps
A Global Landscape of Growing Glacial Loss With frozen glaciers disappearing into the oceans at an unprecedented rate, the rise of an...
a year ago
51
a year ago
With frozen glaciers disappearing into the oceans at an unprecedented rate, the rise of an ecotourism of glacier viewing is hardly unexpected. But the rise of new heights of glacial melt that are feared for much of the arctic this … Continue reading →
Map of the Week
30 Day Map Challenge-Admiring the Work of Others For the past several years November for me has meant working on the 30 Day Map Challenge. This year...
3 months ago
2
3 months ago
For the past several years November for me has meant working on the 30 Day Map Challenge. This year I’ve been too busy to participate - also I really needed a break from it. Not participating means I’ve been able to admire the work of other cartographers. Here are some highlights...
Transit Maps
Submission – Fantasy Map: Tram Network for Bristol, England by Elliott Sargent Submitted by Elliott, who says: I’ve been a fan of your work for a while now, and thought I’d submit...
over a year ago
58
over a year ago
Submitted by Elliott, who says: I’ve been a fan of your work for a while now, and thought I’d submit my own work for judgement. I’ve had a crack at designing a map for an as-yet non-existent tram and bus network for Bristol, UK, a city in dire need of reliable, integrated public...
somethingaboutmaps
A New, Unrelated Blog Kindly readers: I wanted to let you know that I’ve started another little publication, one which has...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
Kindly readers: I wanted to let you know that I’ve started another little publication, one which has nothing to do with maps, but I figure is worth telling you about anyway: I climb trees recreationally, and I’ve decided to start writing about my thoughts and experiences. Perhaps...
somethingaboutmaps
My Decade with Blender It occurs to me that I have been Blendering for a long time. In fact, it’s been almost exactly a...
9 months ago
105
9 months ago
It occurs to me that I have been Blendering for a long time. In fact, it’s been almost exactly a decade since I gave my first public presentation on the technique of generating shaded relief using Blender. And in that time, the method has been adopted far more widely than I could...
Maps Mania
Your Personal AI Travel Guide
4 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 7 (South Korea: The DMZ) The Korean War never actually ended. Rather, it froze in place at an armistice line on July 27,...
a year ago
47
a year ago
The Korean War never actually ended. Rather, it froze in place at an armistice line on July 27, 1953. So there’s a multi-decade ceasefire, a truce, but no agreed-upon resolution of hostilities. A four kilometre wide Demilitarized Zone acts as a buffer between North and South...
Adventures In...
Vignettes for the Win! A vignette is a darkening (or lightening) of the edges of a composition, to subtly frame it and draw...
3 months ago
55
3 months ago
A vignette is a darkening (or lightening) of the edges of a composition, to subtly frame it and draw the eye in to the middle. It’s an old photographer’s darkroom trick. Lucky for us, I’ve spent many hours in the darkroom and have grown to appreciate the charm and effectiveness...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 2 (Take a Walk) Dayton is decently sized place with about 130,000 residents in the city proper and about 800,000 in...
10 months ago
92
10 months ago
Dayton is decently sized place with about 130,000 residents in the city proper and about 800,000 in the larger metropolitan area. So that makes it large enough for some attractions and urban amenities, but nobody would mistake it for a city that never sleeps. I figured I might...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Graduated It seemed like just yesterday that Twelve Mile Circle chronicled the kid who designed an imaginary...
9 months ago
110
9 months ago
It seemed like just yesterday that Twelve Mile Circle chronicled the kid who designed an imaginary town and counted various forms of transportation. Now my elementary aged student is all grown up, a newly-minted university graduate. Those interceding years passed much more...
somethingaboutmaps
Automated Hachuring in QGIS I seem to have accidentally come up with a method for duplicating a centuries-old terrain...
7 months ago
106
7 months ago
I seem to have accidentally come up with a method for duplicating a centuries-old terrain representation technique. If you’ve looked at old maps, you’ve probably seen hachures: lines that run up and down along the slope of terrain features. There were a wide variety of approaches...
Transit Maps
Official Map: C-TRAN Bus Network, Vancouver, Washington, October 2023 Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Transit Maps has never taken a look at the map for Portland’s...
a year ago
31
a year ago
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Transit Maps has never taken a look at the map for Portland’s northern neighbour, the (original) Vancouver. With the recent addition of their second “The Vine” BRT route along Mill Plain Boulevard, now seems like a good time. At first glance, it...
somethingaboutmaps
Projection Cards: Now a Reality A couple months back, I floated an idea for making some fun trading cards based on map projections....
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
A couple months back, I floated an idea for making some fun trading cards based on map projections. I’m very happy to report that several dozen of you responded and contributed designs to help make the set happen. I’ve been spending several weeks on managing everyone and working...
Adventures In...
Draw complex polygons in ArcGIS Pro, super fast Sometimes I realize that in the amount of time I’ve spent looking for detailed data, I could have...
2 weeks ago
11
2 weeks ago
Sometimes I realize that in the amount of time I’ve spent looking for detailed data, I could have just created it. Often, water polygons at the scale you need for your mega-detailed map just aren’t available. Here’s how to draw a complex polygon in ArcGIS Pro super easily. And,...
Adventures In...
Find and download vintage USGS topo maps The new Historical Topo Map Explorer is out of beta and ready for you to dive into a collection of...
8 months ago
101
8 months ago
The new Historical Topo Map Explorer is out of beta and ready for you to dive into a collection of over 180,000 beautiful vintage USGS topo maps! Use this updated Living Atlas app to geographically browse, download, export, and even animate, these cartographic objects of joy....
GeoCurrents
Two Additional Global Demography Lectures Uploaded Two additional lectures on global demography have been uploaded on the GeoCurrents YouTube channel....
2 hours ago
2
2 hours ago
Two additional lectures on global demography have been uploaded on the GeoCurrents YouTube channel. The first covers the period from 700 to 1500, focusing on the Black Death of the mid-fourteenth century and its repercussions.  The second lecture covers the period from 1500 to...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Long Island Rail Road Screen Maps at Grand Central Madison Submitted by Griffin, who says: I work upstairs in the old Grand Central and was every excited to...
over a year ago
60
over a year ago
Submitted by Griffin, who says: I work upstairs in the old Grand Central and was every excited to check out the new station this morning. Spotted this new map on the wall down there, thought you might find it interesting. Transit Maps says: Oh, I do like this. Graphically strong...
Maps Mania
Automatically Mapping YouTube Videos
2 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 7 (Tankfest) Finally the single event that justified our entire trip to England arrived, the renowned Tankfest....
6 months ago
80
6 months ago
Finally the single event that justified our entire trip to England arrived, the renowned Tankfest. It’s everything the name implies, a festival of military tanks, and it happens only once a year on the grounds of the Tank Museum in Bovington (map). This is what the younger kid...
GeoCurrents
Does Creativity Decline with Age? The Case of Bob Dylan (Part 2) The previous GeoCurrents post examined critical rankings of the best Bob Dylan songs, which I...
a week ago
1
a week ago
The previous GeoCurrents post examined critical rankings of the best Bob Dylan songs, which I graphed in terms of Dylan’s age when he wrote the songs in question. In this last of three posts on Dylan, the same technique is used for other rankings of his songs. The first graph...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Union Pacific Annual Report Map, 1980 Here’s an absolutely cracking diagrammatic map that appeared as a fold-out sheet in Union Pacific...
6 months ago
86
6 months ago
Here’s an absolutely cracking diagrammatic map that appeared as a fold-out sheet in Union Pacific annual reports from about 1978 through 1981, maybe slightly longer. I first saw this as a photograph of a partial part of the map, but it didn’t take me too long to find the whole...
Maps Mania
GeoGuessing Reimagined
3 weeks ago
Maps Mania
Biographical Mapping
3 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 6 (Houston) The heat really cranked up as we entered Texas, never dropping below a daily high of 100° Fahrenheit...
a year ago
57
a year ago
The heat really cranked up as we entered Texas, never dropping below a daily high of 100° Fahrenheit (38° Celsius). Here my hybrid working vacation transitioned completely to pure work for a day. That’s where I needed to attend meetings at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston...
Map of the Week
Old World Language Families This isn’t a map, though there are small maps embedded, but an awesome graphic using the tree...
2 weeks ago
3
2 weeks ago
This isn’t a map, though there are small maps embedded, but an awesome graphic using the tree metaphor to detail the spread of languages. The size of the foliage represents the approximate population of speakers of each language. The graphic contains Indo-European and...
somethingaboutmaps
A New Take on an Old Style Gentle readers, I have some exciting things to share with you. After several months of tinkering and...
3 months ago
56
3 months ago
Gentle readers, I have some exciting things to share with you. After several months of tinkering and toolmaking, I have created a series of posters of iconic peaks (and other terrain), illustrated in a sketch style inspired by old hachure drawings. There are 37 designs to choose...
Maps Mania
Rain and Snow Effects for Mapbox
2 weeks ago
Map of the Week
30 Day Map Challenge-One Final Note In writing yesterday’s post I forgot about this awesome music video about the 30 Day Map Challenge....
2 months ago
2
2 months ago
In writing yesterday’s post I forgot about this awesome music video about the 30 Day Map Challenge. The lyrics are French with English subtitles and it’s fun to hear how musical words like choropleth and story map can sound in French. “Some people sell houses, chickens, bidets, I...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: GoBus Ohio, 2024 Submitted by Leo, who says: The state-supported GoBus system in Ohio has a somewhat strange route...
6 months ago
81
6 months ago
Submitted by Leo, who says: The state-supported GoBus system in Ohio has a somewhat strange route scheme (e.g. no direct route from Columbus to Cleveland, or Columbus to Cincinnati via Dayton) but their map, despite being overall fairly poor, makes some interesting stylistic...
James Cheshire
Newspapers and the 1976 Drought With each new temperature record that tumbles the UK, climate skeptics have a standard stock phrase:...
over a year ago
45
over a year ago
With each new temperature record that tumbles the UK, climate skeptics have a standard stock phrase: ‘it was this hot in 1976’. Of course it wasn’t, and crucially the planet overall was not as hot then as it is now. Parts of the UK media have had their part to play in fueling...
somethingaboutmaps
Take the 2024 Freelance Mapper Survey Friends and colleagues, it’s time once again for the survey that Aly Ollivierre and I conduct every...
11 months ago
118
11 months ago
Friends and colleagues, it’s time once again for the survey that Aly Ollivierre and I conduct every two years. We ask people who do freelance mapping work about their fees and other business practices, in order to help bring more transparency to our little niche of the world, and...
Maps Mania
Synchronized Street View Tours
2 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 3 (Japan: Tokyo Temples and Tourists) I arrived in Japan on a Friday evening, having lost an entire day crossing the International Date...
a year ago
59
a year ago
I arrived in Japan on a Friday evening, having lost an entire day crossing the International Date Line from Honolulu. But it also meant I got a free weekend in Tokyo before resuming work on Monday. It’s easier and cheaper to stay in a hotel all weekend than go half way around the...
Adventures In...
Analysis in the Browser Here is a two-pack with some small adventures with data in ArcGIS Online. The first is a smashing of...
a year ago
31
a year ago
Here is a two-pack with some small adventures with data in ArcGIS Online. The first is a smashing of two fields into a new frankenfield ready for mapping, and the second shows how to create entirely new map layers and cram them with meaningful attributes. … Sometimes you have all...
GeoCurrents
New GeoCurrents Lecture Series on Global Demography I have posted the first of an estimated 16 illustrated lectures on global population on the...
3 weeks ago
1
3 weeks ago
I have posted the first of an estimated 16 illustrated lectures on global population on the GeoCurrents YouTube channel. These lectures are derived from a class that I am currently teaching in Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program (adult education) called “Population...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 6 (Beyond the Beach) My flirtation with idleness ended. I simply couldn’t sit around Tamarindo another day doing nothing...
a year ago
15
a year ago
My flirtation with idleness ended. I simply couldn’t sit around Tamarindo another day doing nothing or I’d grow increasingly frustrated. So the relaxation was fine for awhile but now I needed to find something else to do. Surfing lessons didn’t seem like a thing for me but plenty...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 5 (Mississippi Gulf) Next we returned to familiar territory. I’ve mentioned the Mississippi Gulf Coast many times on...
a year ago
33
a year ago
Next we returned to familiar territory. I’ve mentioned the Mississippi Gulf Coast many times on Twelve Mile Circle because I go there fairly regularly and I have a lot of family there. However, my last trip was way back in 2019 and only for a long weekend. Somehow I never figured...
Adventures In...
Tolkien Style Maps in a GIS: part 4, Assembly “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” In this 4-part series...
a year ago
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a year ago
“There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the reckoning of a Lord of the Rings style fantasy map, right in ArcGIS Pro. We map-makers get to breathe honest to goodness geographic life into the seminal...
somethingaboutmaps
An Educational Experiment (Edit: sign-ups are now closed. I received over 150 responses for 4 available slots, which has been...
a year ago
81
a year ago
(Edit: sign-ups are now closed. I received over 150 responses for 4 available slots, which has been great but overwhelming. I may offer this again in the future if it goes well, so make sure to follow me on Twitter and subscribe to the blog, to be notified of when this happens.)...
somethingaboutmaps
Journey’s End Nearly five years ago, I completed a project that, to my mind, remains the most significant of my...
a month ago
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a month ago
Nearly five years ago, I completed a project that, to my mind, remains the most significant of my cartographic career: An Atlas of Great Lakes Islands, manually printed in cyanotype, with a hand-stitched binding. I wanted to share this project with all of you, but there were only...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
From Skyline to Valley A family friend had a big round-number birthday recently and we drove down to Central Virginia for...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
A family friend had a big round-number birthday recently and we drove down to Central Virginia for the celebration. Meanwhile, I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to add to my various travel lists so I wondered how might I combine the two. I thought about county counting...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 10 (More Typical London) Unlike the previous day, we focused our final full London day on places more regularly associated...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Unlike the previous day, we focused our final full London day on places more regularly associated with typical tourists. Sometimes we do that. Occasionally I displayed my normal geo-oddity proclivities but mostly it was about cramming as much as possible into the hours before...
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Map: Tramways in Gdańsk, Poland by Arsen Mosiichuk, 2024 Submitted by Arsen, who says: Hello, this summer I with Sergey Steblina as art-director designed a...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Submitted by Arsen, who says: Hello, this summer I with Sergey Steblina as art-director designed a transit map of Gdańsk trams. I am very interested what Transit Maps think about this. Transit Maps says: Overall, this is very solid and clean work – very much in the style of...
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Map: Metrovalencia by Tom Göpel Submitted by Tom, who says: Hi Cameron, first I would like to mention that I greatly appreciate your...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Submitted by Tom, who says: Hi Cameron, first I would like to mention that I greatly appreciate your work and have learned lots about transit maps from your blog alone. It was also this blog that inspired me to try to design my own maps. It’s a great joy to me now. Here, I would...
Adventures In...
Tolkien Style Maps in a GIS: part 1, Forests “Most of the trees are just trees, of course; but many are half awake.” In this 4-part series we’ll...
a year ago
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a year ago
“Most of the trees are just trees, of course; but many are half awake.” In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the reckoning of a Lord of the Rings style fantasy map, right in ArcGIS Pro. We map-makers get to breathe honest to goodness geographic life into the seminal aesthetic...
Maps Mania
The Gulf of Kleptocracy
yesterday
Adventures In...
How to make tapered rivers in ArcGIS Pro Cartographers will often exaggerate the natural scale of a mapped feature to help it communicate...
over a year ago
62
over a year ago
Cartographers will often exaggerate the natural scale of a mapped feature to help it communicate something of its nature. Some examples are vertical exaggeration of terrain or the very existence of point symbols (cities aren’t actually that big). We embellish for effect. Making a...
somethingaboutmaps
The Dream Lives I know lately I’ve been in commercial mode, pointing you toward various projects of mine that you...
3 months ago
50
3 months ago
I know lately I’ve been in commercial mode, pointing you toward various projects of mine that you can support by giving me money. And I promise I’ll get back to less commercial musings as time goes on. But for now, I also want to alert you to a way you can give other people...
Adventures In...
Layout sandwich Here’s how to make an ArcGIS Pro layout where certain elements of the map step over the neatline and...
a year ago
29
a year ago
Here’s how to make an ArcGIS Pro layout where certain elements of the map step over the neatline and the graticule is relegated only to the oceans. Because that looks cool! Mapping has a long and handsome history of neatlines that are interrupted by bits of land spilling over it,...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Cumberland Parkway Time Zone Crossing Time Zone crossings in the United States generally happen at state borders which of course are...
a year ago
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a year ago
Time Zone crossings in the United States generally happen at state borders which of course are easily recognizable landmarks. So you simply cross the state line and you change your watch. No big deal. Unfortunately Time Zones cut right through the middle of some states, like...
GeoCurrents
Third Global Demography Video Available The third lecture in the current series on global demography has been recorded and uploaded on the...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
The third lecture in the current series on global demography has been recorded and uploaded on the GeoCurrents YouTube channel and can be found here. This lecture covers demographic patterns and processes from the origin of modern humans some 200,000 years ago to the initial...
somethingaboutmaps
Projection Cards I had a whimsical idea a few months ago: map projection trading cards. Something nerdy and...
over a year ago
59
over a year ago
I had a whimsical idea a few months ago: map projection trading cards. Something nerdy and map-related that you could collect and exchange at conferences. I poked around at some design ideas for a while, and here’s what I’ve come up with so far. This is the front side of the...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 5 (Venturing West) My second day of county counting focused west of Dayton, once again targeting five new counties....
10 months ago
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10 months ago
My second day of county counting focused west of Dayton, once again targeting five new counties. This time I planned to capture Butler and Darke counties in Ohio; and Union, Fayette, and Randolph counties in Indiana. Hopefully this excursion would also take about three hours like...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Atlanta BeltLine – Eastside Trail I arrived in Atlanta, Georgia for business. On the final day I wrapped-up and had a little time to...
a year ago
53
a year ago
I arrived in Atlanta, Georgia for business. On the final day I wrapped-up and had a little time to visit a family member who lives in the city. That became a good excuse to head over to the Grant Park neighborhood on Atlanta’s eastside. We spent most of our late afternoon walking...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 4 (Japan: Exploring Tokyo) Sure, the tourists sites were great, but Twelve Mile Circle readers know I like to follow tangents...
a year ago
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a year ago
Sure, the tourists sites were great, but Twelve Mile Circle readers know I like to follow tangents even when I do that. I’m always on the hunt for the unusual, or at least the unusual to me. I’m sure everything seemed perfectly normal to anyone from Japan. So I made sure I...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 3 (Apalachicola) Next we began the actual “road” portion of the road trip as Atlanta receded into the distance behind...
a year ago
26
a year ago
Next we began the actual “road” portion of the road trip as Atlanta receded into the distance behind us. We spaced our drives into four segments of 5-6 hours each to make them manageable. I figured that would cover a decent distance without consuming the entire day. The first leg...
Adventures In...
Illumination Cartography Here are a few flavors of a technique, illumination cartography, that uses data to shed light on its...
10 months ago
100
10 months ago
Here are a few flavors of a technique, illumination cartography, that uses data to shed light on its underlying basemap. There’s something satisfying about presenting a phenomenon as revealing geography rather than obscuring it. Love, John
Musings on Maps
The Dystopia of Diagolon: Irrational Cartographies of Secession The quandary of our own abundant if not inexhaustible repertoire of mapping abilities and skills of...
over a year ago
59
over a year ago
The quandary of our own abundant if not inexhaustible repertoire of mapping abilities and skills of visualization are tried by the spread of COVID-19. As dashboards, news agencies, and media offered new maps and staked new skills of mapping, maps … Continue reading →
Adventures In...
How to Make Features Illuminate an Underlying Basemap Sure, we can make features look like they are glowing. But how can we make them look like they are...
a year ago
26
a year ago
Sure, we can make features look like they are glowing. But how can we make them look like they are casting light on the basemap below? Here’s a silly little trick using crafty symbology and blend modes in ArcGIS Pro. In this case we’ll use glorious stork migration paths,...
Maps Mania
Dive into Your Maritime History
3 weeks ago
Transit Maps
New Official Map: San Francisco Muni Metro Map with Central Subway This map has actually been out for a while, but today – celebrating the full opening of the Central...
over a year ago
58
over a year ago
This map has actually been out for a while, but today – celebrating the full opening of the Central Subway – seemed like the appropriate day to post about it. Design-wise, this is very much an evolution of previous efforts (see my review of the post-COVID resumption of service...
Map of the Week
Make Your Own Ferraris Map While researching the Ferraris Atlas of Belgium from my last post, I came across a Github page that...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
While researching the Ferraris Atlas of Belgium from my last post, I came across a Github page that lets you create your own Ferraris style map using QGIS. The author, Manuel Claeys Bouuaert did an excellent job creating a hand drawn looking style using modern technology....
Map of the Week
Fastest Growing and Shrinking Cities This map shows the fastest growing and shrinking cities in the United States and Canada using 2023...
a month ago
2
a month ago
This map shows the fastest growing and shrinking cities in the United States and Canada using 2023 data. The map appears on Visual Capitalist and the data is only for the city populations, it does not reflect the overall metropolitan areas. The top seven population gainers are...
Map of the Week
Countries with Women Leaders Here is a map from the Washington Post, via Reddit showing countries past & present with women as...
3 months ago
2
3 months ago
Here is a map from the Washington Post, via Reddit showing countries past & present with women as heads of state. Click it (and then again) for higher resolution. We in the United States like to think we are the most advanced country in the world but by this metric we are well...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 6 (South Korea: Seoul) I didn’t get much time to wander around Seoul like I did in Tokyo. Every day was a work day and it...
a year ago
103
a year ago
I didn’t get much time to wander around Seoul like I did in Tokyo. Every day was a work day and it was a brief stop. So I was confined mostly to what I could see from the windshield as we drove through the city or from the hotel. However, this was my first trip […] The post...
Transit Maps
15% Off All Prints in the “Transit Maps” Store Just a reminder that the best way to support the site is by buying a print from our online store,...
2 months ago
46
2 months ago
Just a reminder that the best way to support the site is by buying a print from our online store, because you get something awesome in return! We’re having a Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday sale with 15% off all prints. Choose from my original...
Musings on Maps
The Office of the Geographer and Art of the Deal There is plenty of blame going round this election cycle on the Democratic Party for having given...
3 months ago
60
3 months ago
There is plenty of blame going round this election cycle on the Democratic Party for having given material assistance–if not tacitly supported–the bombing Palestinian inhabitants and settlements in Gaza by Israeli Defense Forces. The drumbeat of disquiet about the Democratic …...
Transit Maps
New Official Map: Los Angeles Metro with Regional Connector, 2023 Just dropped on the LA Metro Twitter account, here’s a first look at their new system map once the...
a year ago
77
a year ago
Just dropped on the LA Metro Twitter account, here’s a first look at their new system map once the Regional Connector opens at noon, this Friday June 16. First off, one prediction I made in my previous review [October 2022] has been proven true: this map marks the end of the old...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 6 (County-Centric) We were now between race days again, with two races down and one more to go. So we could do pretty...
4 months ago
48
4 months ago
We were now between race days again, with two races down and one more to go. So we could do pretty much whatever we wanted now and I decided to focus on some county counting. It was all virgin territory to me and I intended to cover as much of it as I could during […] The post...
Musings on Maps
Fifteen Two-Hundred Pound Bombs Dropping at least fifteen two hundred pound bombs equipped with precision guidance systems–bunker...
4 months ago
62
4 months ago
Dropping at least fifteen two hundred pound bombs equipped with precision guidance systems–bunker busters that could penetrate deep underground and flatten built structures–that killed Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and much of his high command follows a terrifying explosion of...
Adventures In...
North Arrow Necessity Can a map still be considered a map if it doesn’t have a north arrow? Yes. A north arrow is an...
6 months ago
59
6 months ago
Can a map still be considered a map if it doesn’t have a north arrow? Yes. A north arrow is an optional map accompaniment and you should think critically about your map to determine for yourself if it needs a north arrow or not. For what it’s worth, often a map should not have a...
Adventures In...
How to add mist to terrain in ArcGIS Online There are lots of reasons to cloak your terrain in a fluffy ephemeral layer of mist. It gives an...
over a year ago
59
over a year ago
There are lots of reasons to cloak your terrain in a fluffy ephemeral layer of mist. It gives an overall sense of the slope and elevation trends in your view, it showcases meandering river valleys in a charming realism, hilltops peak through with clarity and drama…and it just...
Transit Maps
Submission – New Official Map: UTA Rail and BRT Map, 2023 Submitted by Browne, who says: UTA, the primary transit provider for northern Utah, has officially...
a year ago
83
a year ago
Submitted by Browne, who says: UTA, the primary transit provider for northern Utah, has officially launched its newest BRT service, and with it, a new transit map. The OGX is a new BRT route from Ogden Central Station, downtown, Weber State University, and down to McKay-Dee...
Transit Maps
Submission – Fantasy Map: New York Regional Rail Concept by James G Submitted by James, who says: I created this map based on various concepts (mainly the work of Alon...
6 months ago
81
6 months ago
Submitted by James, who says: I created this map based on various concepts (mainly the work of Alon Levy) for through-running regional rail in the New York region. This network would integrate all of the current commuter rail networks, increasing frequencies to metro-like levels,...
Map of the Week
The Atlas of Design, Volume 7 Note to readers on this platform: I also publish this blog on Substack. You may find that the...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
Note to readers on this platform: I also publish this blog on Substack. You may find that the pictures below show up a little better than here. The Atlas of Design is a biannual production of the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS). It highlights some of the...
Transit Maps
Historical Maps: Private Railways and Extra-urban Tramways of Italy, 1936 I stumbled across this atlas of maps the other day and had to share. A few sample pages are below –...
a year ago
77
a year ago
I stumbled across this atlas of maps the other day and had to share. A few sample pages are below – head to the originating website to view all 20 of them. Enjoy! Source: Stagniweb.it
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 4 (Bristol) In retrospect we probably should have done this as an overnight trip. As we soon learned, there’s no...
7 months ago
80
7 months ago
In retrospect we probably should have done this as an overnight trip. As we soon learned, there’s no fast, direct way to drive from Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck to Bristol (map). Google says it should take a couple of hours in optimal conditions which sounds doable, if a bit slow....
Musings on Maps
Putting out Fires and Ensuring Water Flow Before the mass firings of civil servants, members of government, and oversight by the Trump...
5 hours ago
2
5 hours ago
Before the mass firings of civil servants, members of government, and oversight by the Trump administration, we were already shocked by two major disruptions that suggest the danger of the new President’s reflexive knee-jerk responses from his over-sensitive gut. Both–the …...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Greater Copenhagen Rail Map, 2024 Submitted by Jakob, who says: The M4 branch extension to Copenhagen South has just opened, and with...
6 months ago
88
6 months ago
Submitted by Jakob, who says: The M4 branch extension to Copenhagen South has just opened, and with it, a much improved map compared to 2019 [My review of the 2019 map can be found here – Cam]. The Circle Line is now more spacious, junctions are labeled more clearly, and metro...
Adventures In...
Easy map data downloads for graphic designers Graphic designers! Here’s an easy way to grab beautiful accurate open map data for your design work....
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
Graphic designers! Here’s an easy way to grab beautiful accurate open map data for your design work. Real data. No tracing. Download vector map data as points, lines, and polygons, all styled and ready for your work in Illustrator or whatever program you use. Maps rule, and it’s...
Map of the Week
The Ferraris Atlas of Belgium While I was at the British Library in May, I spent much time admiring and puzzling over this...
4 months ago
2
4 months ago
While I was at the British Library in May, I spent much time admiring and puzzling over this atlas. The Ferraris maps of the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) were created by Count (and cartographer) Joseph de Ferraris in the 1770's. He was commissioned by Austrian empress...
GeoCurrents
New Demography Video: Pro-Natalism vs. Anti-Natalism The second GeoCurrents YouTube video has been posted, which examines the current debate between...
3 weeks ago
1
3 weeks ago
The second GeoCurrents YouTube video has been posted, which examines the current debate between anti-natalists, who think that the world is severely overpopulated and therefore want to reduce birthrates, and pro-natalist, who are concerned about plunging fertility and therefore...
Musings on Maps
Sea Surface Temperatures With global ocean surface temperatures shot way off the charts by mid-March, beyond forty years...
a year ago
32
a year ago
With global ocean surface temperatures shot way off the charts by mid-March, beyond forty years satellites have monitored sea surface temperatures, we’ve been struggling to map the changes in sea-surface temperatures, both globally and locally, in satisfactory and meaningful...
somethingaboutmaps
On the Practice of Wobbling We live in an era in which maps (and plenty of other graphics) are made with digital tools....
a year ago
105
a year ago
We live in an era in which maps (and plenty of other graphics) are made with digital tools. Workflows vary, but the end result is that a lot of us base our cartography entirely on clean vector shapes and neat raster grids. For example, I talked earlier this year about a map I...
Musings on Maps
Maps and Metaphors The war around Gaza is not for territory, but rather for the destruction of the presence of a terror...
a year ago
95
a year ago
The war around Gaza is not for territory, but rather for the destruction of the presence of a terror network that has entrenched its power base deep underground. In many case, deeper than thought.  While Israel has been pretty clear about … Continue reading →
Map of the Week
30 Day Map Challenge 2024-Part 2 Here is the second half of the 30 Day Map Challenge. The one where I don’t make anything but just...
2 months ago
2
2 months ago
Here is the second half of the 30 Day Map Challenge. The one where I don’t make anything but just sit back and enjoy the work of others. The first half of the month was reviewed here. I will start on Day 23 where the prompt was memory. There were quite a few good entries for this...
Musings on Maps
“They’re Eating Dogs” “If exotic non-human animals inhabited the edges of the inhabited world in medieval cosmologies,...
5 months ago
80
5 months ago
“If exotic non-human animals inhabited the edges of the inhabited world in medieval cosmologies, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the MAGA candidate who has done much to resurrect the contours of theocratic Neo-medieval maps of the world is perpetuating stories of … Continue...
GeoCurrents
Does Creativity Decline with Age? The Case of Bob Dylan In a recent lecture on declining birthrates, I mentioned pronatalist worries about a corresponding...
2 weeks ago
1
2 weeks ago
In a recent lecture on declining birthrates, I mentioned pronatalist worries about a corresponding decline in our ability to solve problems and address crises, due mainly to the aging of the population. Creative thinking, according to this argument, is primarily an attribute of...
Maps Mania
There's Something About Islands
a week ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 2 (Jurassic Coast) We were firmly based in Swanage after the long day of travel and ready to explore our new...
7 months ago
82
7 months ago
We were firmly based in Swanage after the long day of travel and ready to explore our new surroundings. However, we were still pretty tired so we stuck close to home and made it an easy day. Swanage sits near the eastern end of the 96 mile (154 km) Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World...
Map of the Week
Let America be America Again When white people like me write about Black History Month, it can seem quite performative. However,...
6 days ago
8
6 days ago
When white people like me write about Black History Month, it can seem quite performative. However, in an era when our “leaders” are trying to erase black history, it is important for all of us to keep it visible. This poem map was inspired by a Langston Hughes poem called “Let...
Adventures In...
Dashing Maps There are lots of reasons why cartographers use dashed lines in their maps. Sometimes there are a...
3 months ago
54
3 months ago
There are lots of reasons why cartographers use dashed lines in their maps. Sometimes there are a lot of different sorts of lines going around and it’s the best way to differentiate between different categories of things. Or we can embed meaning into them, like a dashed line...
Maps Mania
What is Your Ecoregion?
5 days ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 4 (Brew Day) We hadn’t visited any breweries in the first several days but that was about to change. It turns out...
a year ago
33
a year ago
We hadn’t visited any breweries in the first several days but that was about to change. It turns out Costa Rica has a fairly lively craft brewery scene and we were moving into an area rich with them. Several fell within our direct path between La Fortuna and Tamarindo and that...
somethingaboutmaps
Challenging the Idea of a Bad Map We’re just a couple of weeks away from the 30 Day Map Challenge, an annual celebration of...
a year ago
70
a year ago
We’re just a couple of weeks away from the 30 Day Map Challenge, an annual celebration of cartographic creativity. I know some of you are already brainstorming about what you might do this year. Each day has a prompt, and you’re encouraged to make a map that day that is based on...
Adventures In...
Reimagining a classic Cheysson thematic map There is no one right way to make a map. Especially data-heavy thematic maps. In that spirit my...
a year ago
38
a year ago
There is no one right way to make a map. Especially data-heavy thematic maps. In that spirit my friend and colleague Ken Field recently challenged Sarah Bell and I to each re-imagine a few wonderful classic maps. This is a tall order, but I found some comfort and encouragement...
Map of the Week
Los Angeles Wildfire Extent The extent of the forest fires in and around Los Angeles is horrific and may become even worse in...
a month ago
3
a month ago
The extent of the forest fires in and around Los Angeles is horrific and may become even worse in the next few days. The New York Times has some very detailed maps showing the extent of destruction. Here is a close up of Altadena from the Hurst Fire. via New York Times -...
Map of the Week
The Auschwitz Exhibition This past weekend I saw a traveling exhibition in Boston about the Auschwitz concentration camp. It...
5 months ago
2
5 months ago
This past weekend I saw a traveling exhibition in Boston about the Auschwitz concentration camp. It contains over 700 objects from shoes to gas masks to implements of torture and experimentation. The exhibit was co-produced by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and has been in...
Adventures In...
How to Reattach Land that Spills Over the International Dateline If you’ve ever made a world map before, you may have noticed that bit of Siberia that spills over...
a year ago
49
a year ago
If you’ve ever made a world map before, you may have noticed that bit of Siberia that spills over the International Dateline only to magically appear on the left edge of the world. When it comes to projecting our not-2D world onto a 2D surface, we have to draw the line somewhere....
Adventures In...
GIS Day 2024 They say it’s the mappiest day of the year, but here’s a short video we made for GIS Day way back at...
3 months ago
57
3 months ago
They say it’s the mappiest day of the year, but here’s a short video we made for GIS Day way back at the mappiest place on earth (aka the Esri User Conference) back in July! November felt like forever away, but you know how all that goes. Thanks to Jo Ann Prichniewski for...
Adventures In...
How to find (and style!) detailed water polygons for your map I often struggle to find high resolution polygons for things that tend to change, like water, urban,...
a year ago
54
a year ago
I often struggle to find high resolution polygons for things that tend to change, like water, urban, ice, whatever. Here’s how you can wrangle some up-to-date, detailed, water polygons for your small or medium scale maps (plus five different ways you can style them up)… Here’s...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Cicada Chase, Day 2 The first day of cicada chasing exceeded expectations and we hoped for similar results on the...
8 months ago
110
8 months ago
The first day of cicada chasing exceeded expectations and we hoped for similar results on the second. However the weather began to change overnight with downpours possible during daylight hours. Local meteorologists predicted a line of thunderstorms rolling through the Midwest,...
Adventures In...
Stories Here are some StoryMap stories that I’ve written over the years… Piracy & Time Travel How Deep is...
a year ago
58
a year ago
Here are some StoryMap stories that I’ve written over the years… Piracy & Time Travel How Deep is Challenger Deep? Julie’s Improbable Flight How to Write a Story, starring sharks and hurricanes Gap, Pass, Notch, & Saddle College Football Air Mile Index Rivers of Plastic Smoking,...
Maps Mania
3D Print Your World
a week ago
Maps Mania
Before New York
12 hours ago
Adventures In...
How to Make this Animated Map of Blue Whale Migration I have a deep admiration for the stirrings inside animals that drive them to undertake...
a year ago
33
a year ago
I have a deep admiration for the stirrings inside animals that drive them to undertake thousands-of-miles journeys to far flung locations, and back, in concert with the passage of the our earth around its sun. I’ve reflected on it in writing what became a surprisingly...
Transit Maps
Book Review: “Iconic Transit Maps” by Mark Ovenden, 2024 After 2003’s Metro Maps of the World and 2015’s Transit Maps of the World (our review here), this is...
2 months ago
56
2 months ago
After 2003’s Metro Maps of the World and 2015’s Transit Maps of the World (our review here), this is Mark Ovenden’s third offering on the subject of global transit maps and diagrams. The question to be asked, then, is simply – is a new book on the same subject worth it? In a...
somethingaboutmaps
The Unnecessary Peril of the Fuller Projection Throughout my career, I’ve heard a variety of rumors and conflicting opinions about whether or not...
over a year ago
62
over a year ago
Throughout my career, I’ve heard a variety of rumors and conflicting opinions about whether or not you can get in trouble for using the Fuller projection. Let's find out if it's true.
Maps Mania
The Flight of the Barn Swallow
6 days ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Tram and Busways of Casablanca, Morocco, 2024 Submitted by Leo, who says: On September 24, the Casablanca tramway network nearly doubled in length...
4 months ago
94
4 months ago
Submitted by Leo, who says: On September 24, the Casablanca tramway network nearly doubled in length with the opening of T3 and T4. The Casatramway network, operated by RATP, is depicted in the new map alongside the Casabusway BRT lines currently under construction. The map...
Transit Maps
Project: My UTA Rail and BRT Design Exploration I teased this in yesterday’s review of the new official UTA diagram, so here’s my exploration of a...
a year ago
50
a year ago
I teased this in yesterday’s review of the new official UTA diagram, so here’s my exploration of a few design ideas for an alternative version. As always with this type of project, I look for ways to approach the design problems for the diagram that are intentionally different to...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 1 (Do-Over) This was the trip we wanted to take last summer before our plans abruptly changed. Instead we went...
7 months ago
91
7 months ago
This was the trip we wanted to take last summer before our plans abruptly changed. Instead we went to Costa Rica for reasons I talked about before, and all of us had a wonderful time. Even so, I still felt bad that the younger kid lost out on the original destination. He wanted...
Adventures In...
Storybook Cartography ArcGIS Pro is a serious tool for serious GIS analysis. Are you ready for some seriously charming...
over a year ago
62
over a year ago
ArcGIS Pro is a serious tool for serious GIS analysis. Are you ready for some seriously charming illustration style cartography? Ok! . . Children’s maps are a valuable thing. They are often the first impressions the world of geography has on every single one of us. What an...
somethingaboutmaps
Going Live I know it’s short notice, but I wanted to let you all know that I’m doing a livestream tomorrow....
2 weeks ago
13
2 weeks ago
I know it’s short notice, but I wanted to let you all know that I’m doing a livestream tomorrow. It’s been well over 2½ years since my last one. I’ll be covering a few monochrome maps I made for an upcoming book. Please come on by to ask questions, offer feedback, and share your...
GeoCurrents
Demography Lecture # 4: Historical Population Patterns and Processes with the Spread of Agriculture... The fourth GeoCurrents lecture on global demography has been uploaded on YouTube and can be found...
2 weeks ago
1
2 weeks ago
The fourth GeoCurrents lecture on global demography has been uploaded on YouTube and can be found here. It examines population issues that arose after the development of agriculture, as well as those following the initiation of horse-based nomadic pastoralism. It first looks at...
James Cheshire
The long history of using maps to hold water companies to account James Cheshire, UCL Southern Water was handed a record fine of £90 million in July 2021 after...
over a year ago
42
over a year ago
James Cheshire, UCL Southern Water was handed a record fine of £90 million in July 2021 after pleading guilty to illegally discharging sewage along the rivers and coastline of Kent, Hampshire and Sussex. More than a year later, the headlines have not improved for Britain’s...
Map of the Week
Luko's World Last week we lost our dog, Luko (a shortened version of an overly long-winded name he came with.)...
a week ago
4
a week ago
Last week we lost our dog, Luko (a shortened version of an overly long-winded name he came with.) Lots of people will tell you they have the best dog but he was truly one of a kind. Completely sweet and a delight to all who have known him. A few years ago I made a colored...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Map at Bergenline Avenue Station Submitted by Kara, who says: At the (extremely cool) Bergenline Avenue station, [my partner and I]...
a year ago
64
a year ago
Submitted by Kara, who says: At the (extremely cool) Bergenline Avenue station, [my partner and I] stumbled across this official map that I’d never seen before, depicting both the HBLR and the PATH! It was actually all over that station, and it’s definitely a relatively old map,...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 2 (Walla Walla to Pendleton) We awoke in Walla Walla at the beginning of our first full day. We couldn’t check-in at our...
4 months ago
50
4 months ago
We awoke in Walla Walla at the beginning of our first full day. We couldn’t check-in at our accommodations in Pendleton, Oregon until mid-afternoon and the drive would only take about an hour. So we needed to find something we could do locally and we got another chance to explore...
Adventures In...
Throwing Shade In Wild Color I once heard someone say that standard hillshade (one-direction light source) ignores half of the...
a year ago
62
a year ago
I once heard someone say that standard hillshade (one-direction light source) ignores half of the terrain. While this is an exaggeration, it makes a good point. Earth has an atmosphere and light diffuses, bounces, and wraps around a terrain in a manner that a single light...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 3 (Dorchester) We began to explore a little further afield, still within Dorset, as we began to settle in to our...
7 months ago
74
7 months ago
We began to explore a little further afield, still within Dorset, as we began to settle in to our home for the week. That took us a little further west and a few miles inland from the English Channel. It included a lot of open countryside and then a sizeable settlement....
Adventures In...
Imagery basemap ready for data Imagery is the most detailed, most literal of basemaps. You are actually seeing a picture of what...
a year ago
81
a year ago
Imagery is the most detailed, most literal of basemaps. You are actually seeing a picture of what the ground looks like at any location. And while this sort of context can be incredibly useful, it can also wreck the way we see and understand thematic data that is draped over it....
Adventures In...
How to make this map of a melting glacier I’ve been to Columbia Glacier, just west of Valdez, Alaska, three times. The first was as a...
a year ago
77
a year ago
I’ve been to Columbia Glacier, just west of Valdez, Alaska, three times. The first was as a youngster in 1984, the second in 1987, and the final time in 2000. Each time, the ride by boat to the terminal edge of the ice where it calves into Prince William Sound, took a bit longer....
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 7 (On To Monteverde) Next we began our trek to Monteverde, into Costa Rica’s famed Cloud Forest. This is one of the...
a year ago
19
a year ago
Next we began our trek to Monteverde, into Costa Rica’s famed Cloud Forest. This is one of the nation’s smallest microclimates and one of its most intriguing. High in the mountains, a thick blanket of fog frequently envelopes the landscape and creates a gentile moisture. A steady...
somethingaboutmaps
2022 Freelancer Survey Results Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s survey of freelance cartographer...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s survey of freelance cartographer rates and business practices! Herein, you will find the results of the survey, sliced into a few different charts and visuals, all crafted by my survey partner Aly Ollivierre. For...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 2 (In the Shadow of the Volcano) We landed at Juan Santamaría airport in San José on a Friday afternoon, clearing Immigration and...
a year ago
35
a year ago
We landed at Juan Santamaría airport in San José on a Friday afternoon, clearing Immigration and Customs nearly effortlessly. Then we got a taste of rush hour traffic riding on the shuttle to retrieve our rental car. Driving conditions became a lot more difficult later in the...
Transit Maps
Unofficial Maps: Two new takes on the London Underground by Kenneth Field Back in 2019, Ken showcased an experimental alternative Tube Map based on a diamond motif (read the...
over a year ago
56
over a year ago
Back in 2019, Ken showcased an experimental alternative Tube Map based on a diamond motif (read the Transit Maps review here) that had mixed reactions from the community. He went away and absorbed that feedback, and – like a glutton for punishment – he’s back with not one, but...
Adventures In...
In a Slump, But Not Forever
a year ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Historical Map: Relief Map of Street Railway System in Pittsburgh and Vicinity, 1910 Submitted by Marc, who says: Hi ! I enjoy the historical maps, especially. Here’s my all-time...
6 months ago
75
6 months ago
Submitted by Marc, who says: Hi ! I enjoy the historical maps, especially. Here’s my all-time favorite historical map — a hand-made relief map of the Pittsburgh streetcar system, from 1910. Transit Maps says: Oh, I just love this, Marc! This fantastic map was included as part of...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 6 (Breweries) It’s the eternal question. Should I lump all of the brewery visits into a single article or should I...
9 months ago
76
9 months ago
It’s the eternal question. Should I lump all of the brewery visits into a single article or should I spread them within the series? Well, as always, it depends. This time I decided to discuss them all at once because of a simple fact of geography. We visited eight breweries...
somethingaboutmaps
Conventional Cartographic Wisdom that I have Failed to Grasp When I teach cartography, I am deliberate about not presenting my students with any rules. I do not...
a year ago
79
a year ago
When I teach cartography, I am deliberate about not presenting my students with any rules. I do not want obedience to memorized maxims — instead, I simply tell them about practices that I think are good ideas, and then I offer an explanation of my reasoning. The students can...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
St. Mary’s (and Calvert), Maryland County counting becomes increasingly difficult as I continue my glacially slow progress. Now it...
a year ago
81
a year ago
County counting becomes increasingly difficult as I continue my glacially slow progress. Now it takes more than five hours to reach the closest unvisited county from my home. Fortunately I found a workaround by shifting my focus to overnight county visits. There are plenty of...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Great American Beer Festival (and More) I hinted at ulterior motives in the last article about my long weekend in Denver. I didn’t travel...
3 months ago
49
3 months ago
I hinted at ulterior motives in the last article about my long weekend in Denver. I didn’t travel all the way out there just to casually tour around. Indeed, I had a very specific purpose in mind — checking off a bucket list item in fact — attending the Great American Beer...
Maps Mania
The New World Order
3 weeks ago
Adventures In...
Women in GIS Workshop If you aren’t doing anything else on the allotted 2.5 hours of January 24, 2025, then consider...
2 months ago
50
2 months ago
If you aren’t doing anything else on the allotted 2.5 hours of January 24, 2025, then consider tuning in to this Women in GIS workshop where I’ll share the process (and all the data and documents) for making this migration map. The cost is free, unless you count the 2.5 hours of...
Maps Mania
Your Local Business Chatbots
3 weeks ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: TRAM d’Alacant Fare Zones, 2023 Submitted by Roberto, who says: I would like to share the TRAM d’Alacant fare zone map. It describes...
over a year ago
84
over a year ago
Submitted by Roberto, who says: I would like to share the TRAM d’Alacant fare zone map. It describes the different zones and stops of this tramway/narrow gauge train in the Spanish province of Alacant (Alicante). It’s been reopened recently after six years of renovation works....
Adventures In...
Close Encounters of the Cartographic Kind I was watching the Steven Spielberg 1977 classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the...
9 months ago
116
9 months ago
I was watching the Steven Spielberg 1977 classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the family last night and nerded out when I saw a character that claimed to be a cartographer. I always do. It was the cartographer who recognized that the signals the aliens sent were...
Transit Maps
Submission – Historical Map: Duluth Transit Authority, 1982 Submitted by Darryl, who says: Going through old boxes in my basement, I came across this 1982 opus...
3 months ago
54
3 months ago
Submitted by Darryl, who says: Going through old boxes in my basement, I came across this 1982 opus from the Duluth Transit Authority. I may be biased because it’s the first transit map I ever saw, but I think it’s amazing, capturing the way the city nestles into the topography,...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 2 (Atlanta Revisited) I ventured into familiar territory as we started the trip, back to the same eastside of Atlanta that...
a year ago
26
a year ago
I ventured into familiar territory as we started the trip, back to the same eastside of Atlanta that I’d explored just four months prior. That wasn’t a coincidence. I enjoyed the area so much that I wanted the whole family to experience it too. So it made perfect sense to fly...
Musings on Maps
Floating Sargasso Sea Mapped from the Canaries to the West Indies, against a blank background, the Sargassum Belt seems...
a year ago
62
a year ago
Mapped from the Canaries to the West Indies, against a blank background, the Sargassum Belt seems removed from the levels of phosphorous of our coastal oceans leaving the high density of its thirteen million tons on a blank screen as the latest whacky disturbance of the...
Adventures In...
Tolkien Style Maps in a GIS: part 2, Mountains “I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains. And then find somewhere where I can rest.” In...
a year ago
92
a year ago
“I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains. And then find somewhere where I can rest.” In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the reckoning of a Lord of the Rings style fantasy map, right in ArcGIS Pro. We map-makers get to breathe honest to goodness geographic life...
Map of the Week
This One This one map (via New York Times) tells you quite a bit about what happened in the U.S. Election on...
3 months ago
2
3 months ago
This one map (via New York Times) tells you quite a bit about what happened in the U.S. Election on Tuesday. Aside from a few strange outliers (western Oklahoma, suburban Atlanta, northwest Michigan) The "red shift" happened across all regions and demographics. Hard to look at...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 9 (Atypical London) Before we left on our trip to England I promised everyone in the family that we would visit at least...
6 months ago
76
6 months ago
Before we left on our trip to England I promised everyone in the family that we would visit at least one thing they absolutely wanted to see. We completed that for the younger kid at Tankfest. Two more bucket list destinations happened during our first full day in London. We’re...
James Cheshire
More than arrows UPDATE: If you would like a detailed reflection on this, I have co-authored an article with Alex...
over a year ago
60
over a year ago
UPDATE: If you would like a detailed reflection on this, I have co-authored an article with Alex Kent entitled Getting to the Point? Rethinking Arrows on Maps. You can read it here. This week I took to Twitter to offer a critique on way we might map (at the time of writing) the...
James Cheshire
PhD Opportunity: An Atlas of Health and Social Inequalities Excited to announce that we have funding for a +3 studentship in the UCL Department of Geography for...
over a year ago
58
over a year ago
Excited to announce that we have funding for a +3 studentship in the UCL Department of Geography for the project “An Atlas of Health and Social Inequalities”. The research will be carried out in association with the Health Foundation and will comprise the creation of a range of...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 1 (Intentions and Observations) This was supposed to be the younger kid’s trip. It was his turn to select a destination — anywhere...
a year ago
33
a year ago
This was supposed to be the younger kid’s trip. It was his turn to select a destination — anywhere in the world — as a present for his upcoming high school graduation next year. The older one chose Australia back in 2018 and we expanded it to include New Zealand too. England...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 5 (Japan: Farther Afield) Monday arrived and I had to get back to work. A weekend in Tokyo was nice although I had other plans...
a year ago
55
a year ago
Monday arrived and I had to get back to work. A weekend in Tokyo was nice although I had other plans and that involved getting out of the city. After all, the whole premise for this trip was visiting U.S. military facilities USS Blue Ridge The 7th Fleet of the United States Navy...
somethingaboutmaps
Kickstarter 3: The Return For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the process of cyanotype printing, and have released a...
3 months ago
49
3 months ago
For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the process of cyanotype printing, and have released a number of projects based on this technique (including my favorite item I’ve ever made). Now, I’ve decided to take my recent work in developing terrain sketches, and turn it into a new...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 7 (Abrupt End) What should have been a ten day trip ended unexpectedly on the seventh day. The previous evening our...
3 months ago
52
3 months ago
What should have been a ten day trip ended unexpectedly on the seventh day. The previous evening our kid who was watching the house called to tell us about our soaking wet basement carpet. Our ancient boiler was leaking. So we immediately contacted our insurance provider, a water...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Madrid Cercanías Rail Network, December 2024 Submitted by Juan, who says: I send the new version of the Renfe-Madrid Cercanías network. It seems...
a month ago
35
a month ago
Submitted by Juan, who says: I send the new version of the Renfe-Madrid Cercanías network. It seems to me that it has improved quite a lot the previous version. This previous version had crossroads, angles, etc. I would like to know your opinion about this new map. Transit Maps...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Cicada Chase, Day 1 What would be a good present for someone who just graduated from college with a degree in...
8 months ago
92
8 months ago
What would be a good present for someone who just graduated from college with a degree in entomology? Well, how about a quick trip to the Midwest to hunt for bugs? May 2024 marked a special occasion that was well-reported (maybe over-reported) by the mainstream media: the...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 5 (Isle of Purbeck) Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck isn’t an island it’s a peninsula. It was probably more isolated and...
7 months ago
88
7 months ago
Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck isn’t an island it’s a peninsula. It was probably more isolated and difficult to reach in previous centuries. So maybe it felt like an island to people back when the English Channel was the primary “road” to the outside world. Even now it’s a...
Musings on Maps
“He Could Easily Destroy Us” Tucker Carlson's move to Twitter led him to celebrate it as the last preserve of free speech. But...
a year ago
117
a year ago
Tucker Carlson's move to Twitter led him to celebrate it as the last preserve of free speech. But his relation to speech was long slippery, best reflected on the heuristic display of the 2016 electoral map that was the logo of the pundit's nightly show's and its guiding...
Musings on Maps
“We Like Fighting Games” As he waited rather glumly for “the Feds” to arrive at his home, as his stepfather predicted, Airman...
a year ago
60
a year ago
As he waited rather glumly for “the Feds” to arrive at his home, as his stepfather predicted, Airman First Class Jack Douglas Teixiera may have pondered why he had posted classified maps of heated battle fronts in the Ukraine War … Continue reading →
Adventures In...
Cartography Workshop in Utrecht, April 2024 I’m going to be in the Netherlands April 23, 2024, to spend a day nerding out on map making. I’ll be...
a year ago
75
a year ago
I’m going to be in the Netherlands April 23, 2024, to spend a day nerding out on map making. I’ll be a guest of Esri Netherlands, and will lead this workshop day, called “Mapping Magic with John Nelson” (no pressure). It’s a kickoff to their Esri Connect 2024 event. Here’s a...
Transit Maps
What I’m Up To and the Future of the Blog Hi, everyone – it’s been a while! Quite a few people have written in lately wondering why I haven’t...
7 months ago
99
7 months ago
Hi, everyone – it’s been a while! Quite a few people have written in lately wondering why I haven’t updated the blog in a while, so I thought I should address that. Firstly, for those that were concerned something was wrong, I’d like to reassure you that I’m a-okay and everything...
Transit Maps
Submission – New Official Map: “Harmonized” Montréal Metropolitan Transit Services Map, 2023 A flurry of people have submitted this brand new map out of Montréal for review, so let’s get...
a year ago
76
a year ago
A flurry of people have submitted this brand new map out of Montréal for review, so let’s get straight to it! First of all, it’s important to note that is part of a new suite of maps and wayfinding signage that’s been in development since 2018, Using Montréal’s iconic “black...