Described as a “an absurd guide to the regular wish-it-wasn’t-so paranoia of running as a woman in the city“, the Guide to Running While Female in Central Phoenix shows what to look out for along running routes in central Phoenix. This map is produced by Steady Hand Maps. Jen Urso is an accidental cartographer, more of an artist who was asked to make a map. She has since made many very attractive hand drawn maps including the one above. The legend is simple, three symbols for where you can safely run in a sports bra (it gets extremely hot there), where you will get cat calls and places you should only run in the daytime. Here is a zoomed in area. It gives some detail for those of us who don’t have to think about this stuff when going out in public. Urso in her blog post begins with this quote; “I thought it was a funny and obvious map of my experience as a woman runner. The thing that shocked me the most was how shocking it ended up being…to men.“ She concludes with “My map, in its absurdity, points out that this is not and should not be normal or acceptable. We want to go outside, alone, and feel strong and capable. We just want to run.“ If you want to dig deeper, you can listen to her interview on the Phoenix NPR station or watch one on FOX-10. For more maps by Jen Urso, you can browse through her map showcase here. Here is an example she did for a dance studio in St. Louis.

At a global AIDS conference the U.S. State Department showed this map of Africa.  -map via Reuters, reformatted to better fit the page. Every country is incorrectly located and indicated with ridiculous shapes. Nigeria, where the US has troops deployed is shown in the middle of the Sahara desert and about twice its actual size.  The Reuters article mentions a visible artificial intelligence watermark indicating it was made with OpenAI. It does bear similarities with other AI-generated maps, particularly the bulbous Ghana-Côte d’Ivoire mashup that points to southwestern Africa and the Cameroon dot going nowhere. The color scheme is awful too. A perfect example of bad AI meeting geographic illiteracy in an incompetent, uncaring government.

Semiquincentennial is a mouthful. So much that my spell check doesn’t believe it’s a word. The Bicentennial, which I’m old enough to remember well was easier to pronounce, and celebrate. I won’t make any grand statements, instead here are some fun, interesting or alternative maps of the United States to celebrate its 250th birthday. I’ll start with the original inhabitants of this land. This is one of the maps of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, previously featured here in this post. Tribal Map 2000 You can see the whole map here. License Plate Map (one of many) -via Photowall If the states were based on watersheds: The United Watershed States of America -via Next City The United States drawn as Fifty States with Equal Population This is an attempt from Neil Freeman to make the Electoral College more fair - good luck either way that! More here. Speculative fiction - USA in the Man in the High Castle The Man in the High Castle is a 1962 novel by Philip K. Dick, which imagines a world in which the Axis powers won World War II. Map from Wikimedia Commons. It looks like Long Island might be safe. I’m not sure where some of these oddly specific boundary jogs come from. A less depressing speculative map (unless you hate rail) - Sci fi coast to coast high speed rail network.  -via Greater Greater Washington Finally, for dessert here is the Most Popular Pie by State -via Holiday Calendar

Old Friend of the blog Michael Karpovage whose Pictorial Savannah map was highlighted here many years back has a new map of Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia. This is “not just a cemetery map, but a passionately built tribute to the namesake and creative visionary behind the landscape”. Mr. Simri Rose was an urban planner, horticulturalist and historian who aided in laying out the City of Macon.  This cemetery was part of the Rural Cemetery Movement, establishing cemeteries as parks and escapes from the crowded nearby cities.  The map also includes the adjoining Oak Ridge Cemetery that was set aside for the city’s black population, segregated even in death. Famous people buried here include 4 of the 6 original members of the Allman Brothers Band, who are interred together in a family style plot.  The map has a “mushroom tour” of Allman Brothers sites that you can follow on a purple dotted line. The mushrooms are an homage to the psychedelic imagery of their 1970’s era. Included in the tour are the graves of Elizabeth Reed and Little Martha as well as Phil Walden, co-founder of Capricorn Records. A few pictures from their album covers and publicity shots were taken here as well.  There is also a video tour that Karpovage narrates on his page. He takes you on his bicycle through many of the Allman Brothers sites as well as monuments to other significant residents such as Colonel Joseph Bond, whose original marble statue was confiscated en route to Macon and is now in a cemetery in Kentucky.

I’ve been meaning to go to The Map Center since I met proprietor Andrew Middleton about 2 years ago at an event. Middleton won a contest to take over the store from its previous owner and moved from California to Pawtucket, Rhode Island to run the place. Finally, a Geospatial Professionals Network event was my excuse to head to Pawtucket. There are very few map stores left in the United States and most of them specialize in antique maps. The Map Center has carved out a niche in the more interesting (in my opinion) world of creative and eccentric maps. Also included are books, post cards and other ephemera such as this tray. For me, it was like being a kid in a candy shop. Here are some sample books. Here is a piece of an old Russian rail map. All the Hams of Massachusetts by Ricky Rainbow Beard. Of course, I couldn’t leave without buying a bunch of stuff I don’t need*, including this T-shirt, and a hard copy of the wonderful Cross-Sections through California by RJ Andrews.  *About the “stuff I don’t need” quote, Middleton says “no one will have their day ruined for lack of a thing I sell. But I do hope it makes people's lives richer and more filled with wonder and curiosity.“ It’s tough running a map store in an age of ubiquitous internet maps and GPS. He is planning on doing some more experiential stuff- classes in QGIS, event hosting and art exhibitions for that very reason. I hope the store survives so I can continue buying items that make my life richer.