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I didn’t have a proper vacation in awhile. Then, unexpectedly, I had abundant time on my hands. I also needed to bring a kid home from Michigan State University who just finished the first year of a graduate program. So I planned a delightfully inefficient route through rural eastern Ohio to build my County Counting […] The post Taming the Frontier, Part 1 appeared first on Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places.
2 days ago

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More from Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Culpeper Co., Virginia

I enjoy county counting but it becomes increasingly difficult to reach new counties as my count increases. That’s why I began a sub-variant involving overnight counties. You see it counts “more” by my arbitrary rules if I spend an entire night there instead of simply passing through. That’s because it involves a tangible financial commitment, […] The post Culpeper Co., Virginia appeared first on Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places.

3 months ago 28 votes
Indiana I-69 Time Zone Crossing

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 situation gets genuinely weird as you cross between zones […] The post Indiana I-69 Time Zone Crossing appeared first on Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places.

5 months ago 86 votes
Osage Orange

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 Crescent Trail along […] The post Osage Orange appeared first on Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places.

6 months ago 75 votes
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 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 Festival. The Biggest […] The post Great American Beer Festival (and More) appeared first on Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places.

6 months ago 74 votes

More in cartography

Make a cross stitch style map in ArcGIS Pro

Yes, yes, maps are spatial communication devices and we can obsess over precision and clarity. But it all depends on your map’s purpose. Maps are also designed objects so they can carry within them the power of sentiment. Memory, joy, nostalgia. Or just plain old wonder and curiosity. Here’s how you can create a charming …

10 hours ago 2 votes
Panorama Italia Tapestry

There was no Map of the Week last week. That is because I was on vacation in northern Italy with my wife and brother in law who provided some local knowledge and translation services. A typical vacation for me involves taking pictures of interesting maps I find along the way. There are at least a couple of blog posts worth of these maps. Here is a tapestry map (a mapestry?) I saw in the airport in Venice.   Often there is an interesting story behind the maps that is not obvious at first glance. Especially when the map is hanging on the way to the airport security line where one cannot linger for long. This tapestry was commissioned by the Italian Olympic Committee to hang in Casa Italia, the residence that hosted Italy’s athletes in Paris for the 2024 Olympics. Giovanni Bonotto, creative director of textile manufacturer Fabrica Lenta directed the project. It was woven on wooden mechanical shuttle looms dating from 1956. It The map showcases Italian innovators, architecture, industry, regional products and food. At the bottom left corner is a list of regional dishes. Artificial Intelligence was used to design the icons on the map. The entire tapestry is made from recycled plastic yarn as a tribute to the circular economy. Appropriately the map, showing Marco Polo now hangs in the Venice Marco Polo Airport.  You can see a video of Bonotto’s process here.

a week ago 8 votes