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Adventures In...
Throwing Shade In Wild Color I once heard someone say that standard hillshade (one-direction light source) ignores half of the...
over a year ago
96
over 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...
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...
over a year ago
132
over 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...
GeoCurrents
Economic Factors Behind the Alberta Secession Movement in Canada Several recent GeoCurrents posts have emphasized similarities in the electoral geographies of the...
2 months ago
29
2 months ago
Several recent GeoCurrents posts have emphasized similarities in the electoral geographies of the United States and Canada. But there are also some major differences, particularly regarding state/province voting patterns and levels of economic development. In the U.S., the...
GeoCurrents
The Controversial Expansion of Gray Wolves in the United States As discussed in the previous post, the gray wolf has made a remarkable but controversial recovery in...
a month ago
16
a month ago
As discussed in the previous post, the gray wolf has made a remarkable but controversial recovery in Europe. The same is true in the United States. In the mid twentieth century, wolves were found only in Alaska, far northeastern Minnesota, and the western half of Michigan’s Upper...
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...
11 months ago
116
11 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Silver Line Extension The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority opened its eleven mile Silver Line extension on...
over a year ago
64
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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 5 (Lake and Caves) As I planned the trip, I tried to intersperse mellow days with active days and most of the time I...
a month ago
19
a month ago
As I planned the trip, I tried to intersperse mellow days with active days and most of the time I followed those guidelines. Originally Day 5 was designed as something low-key in Collingwood without any driving. However, plans shifted a tiny bit and we did more than we...
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...
a year ago
138
a year 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...
Maps Mania
Godview AI
6 months ago
Maps Mania
Europe in Drought
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Spies in the Sky - Satellites of the Cold War
20 hours ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Red Sea Attacks
4 months ago
Maps Mania
A Panorama of Victorian London
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Unlocking Google’s Hidden Maps
2 months ago
GeoCurrents
Wolves in the Gaza Strip? The Geography of the Coyote-Like Arabian Wolf The gray wolf is usually seen as a wilderness species, an animal that needs vast expanses of habitat...
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
The gray wolf is usually seen as a wilderness species, an animal that needs vast expanses of habitat far from human concentrations, as well as sizable populations of large herbivores to prey upon. Yet many distribution maps, including one featured in the Wikipedia article on the...
Maps Mania
The Future of Urban Mobility
5 months ago
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...
over a year ago
151
over 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...
Map of the Week
Iditarod Course Change Alaska’s famous Iditarod dog sled race concluded last week. Global warming meant the route needed to...
4 months ago
46
4 months ago
Alaska’s famous Iditarod dog sled race concluded last week. Global warming meant the route needed to be moved further north to start at Fairbanks instead of Anchorage. -Map via Anchorage Daily News While not the first time the route has run from Fairbanks, this year’s race...
Maps Mania
Scrambled Maps in the Wild
4 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 2 (Downtime) Well, we made it to Canada and we decided to settle down for our first full day. I promised the...
a month ago
23
a month ago
Well, we made it to Canada and we decided to settle down for our first full day. I promised the family I’d take it easier and try to avoid over-scheduling them for once. But I’m not someone who can ever stop moving entirely so “easier” meant no activities further away than an...
Maps Mania
The Meaning Behind Our Place Names
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The Map to Your Heart
4 days 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
129
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...
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...
8 months ago
94
8 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...
GeoCurrents
Are Continents Rooted in Plate Tectonics? Tectonic plates are the basic building blocks of the Earth’s lithosphere, its outermost rocky layer....
4 months ago
32
4 months ago
Tectonic plates are the basic building blocks of the Earth’s lithosphere, its outermost rocky layer. As these large segments of crust slowly move, landmasses and sea expanses are gradually rearranged. The current configuration of tectonic plates shows a tight connection with the...
GeoCurrents
Mapping Continents Based on Continental Crust As the previous GeoCurrents post argued, the division of the terrestrial world into a handful of...
4 months ago
25
4 months ago
As the previous GeoCurrents post argued, the division of the terrestrial world into a handful of continents derives in part from the division of the Earth’s crust into tectonic plates. But there is another geological factor equally pertinent to the concept of “continent.” It...
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...
a year ago
123
a year 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...
Maps Mania
Russia's Disinformation Network Mapped
3 months ago
GeoCurrents
The Biological Significance of Micro-Continents: The Fascinating Caecilians of Seychelles (and Other... On the surface, there is little to distinguish small islands on continental fragments from oceanic...
4 months ago
34
4 months ago
On the surface, there is little to distinguish small islands on continental fragments from oceanic islands that have no continental connections. Careful observation, however, can reveal some interesting differences. The Seychelles microcontinent in the Indian Ocean is an...
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
82
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....
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
77
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...
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
108
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...
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....
a year ago
117
a year 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...
Maps Mania
Rebuilding the Berlin Wall
5 months ago
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...
9 months ago
39
9 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...
Maps Mania
Live London Underground Trains
4 months ago
Maps Mania
EthnoGuessr
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Roads, Railways, Runways & Rivers
7 months ago
Maps Mania
State of the Global Climate 2024
4 months ago
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
127
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...
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
95
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...
Maps Mania
Mapping Myths Across the World
5 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
A Usefully Useless Projection Friends, I’m excited to share that I have just completed a world physical map, in my new asymmetric...
4 months ago
56
4 months ago
Friends, I’m excited to share that I have just completed a world physical map, in my new asymmetric monstrosity projection. It’s free to download, or if you want to buy a 30″ × 20″ print, you can also do that (and I will be pleasantly surprised). If you download it and print it...
Maps Mania
Spinning at a Thousand Miles an Hour
4 months 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...
10 months ago
88
10 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
A Guided Street View Tour of the World
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The Future of Street View Has Arrived
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Where Mamdani Beat Cuomo
a month ago
Maps Mania
The Fentanyl Supply Chain
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Drinking & Eating in the Sun
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Hunger Maps
2 months ago
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...
9 months ago
107
9 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 →
Maps Mania
The Tariff Busting Map Game
4 months ago
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...
a year ago
118
a year 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...
Maps Mania
Mapping the Cultural Impact of Gentrification
a month ago
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...
9 months ago
87
9 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...
Maps Mania
When is Pothole Season?
3 weeks ago
Maps Mania
Searching Text in Street View
2 weeks ago
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...
9 months ago
99
9 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...
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...
a year ago
103
a year 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...
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....
11 months ago
119
11 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 –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 4 (Japan: Exploring Tokyo) Sure, the tourists sites were great, but Twelve Mile Circle readers know I like to follow tangents...
over a year ago
85
over 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...
Maps Mania
Routing for Vampires
a month ago
Maps Mania
What If Asteroid 2024 YR4 Hit Your Town?
6 months ago
Adventures In...
The Dress: perceptual madness and what it means for mappers
5 days ago
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
100
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...
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...
8 months ago
33
8 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 –...
Costa Rica, Part 6 (Beyond the Beach) My flirtation with idleness ended. I simply couldn’t sit around Tamarindo another day doing nothing...
over a year ago
40
over 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 –...
Ontario, Day 8 (Toronto Tourist) We woke up that morning to our final full day in Canada and we decided to speedrun as much of...
a month ago
16
a month ago
We woke up that morning to our final full day in Canada and we decided to speedrun as much of Toronto as we could manage. Unfortunately due to constraints of distance and endurance we barely scratched the surface. There will need to be a next time. So what was the most Canadian...
Adventures In...
I Got a Drone, part 1: Unboxing & Goals I heard regular people can just buy, and then remotely pilot, small flying robots with exquisite...
4 days ago
4
4 days ago
I heard regular people can just buy, and then remotely pilot, small flying robots with exquisite cameras. I figure these things have to have some utility in the mapping realm, so I got the cheapest one I could find that might get me going on making some basic maps. Why? Why not?...
GeoCurrents
A Major Win for the Left in Canada’s 2025 Election – But Not in Alberta or Saskatchewan The Conservative Party was widely expected to win Canada’s April 28 federal election. As recently as...
3 months ago
38
3 months ago
The Conservative Party was widely expected to win Canada’s April 28 federal election. As recently as January 2025, the party was polling well ahead of the governing Liberals (see the graph posted below). But after U.S. President Donald Trump began calling Canada the “fifty-first...
Musings on Maps
Counterfeit Puppets: Hustler’s University, Red Pills and the Manosphere HU–“Huster’s University”–bills itself as the only real access to a world of Money Makers where they...
5 months ago
59
5 months ago
HU–“Huster’s University”–bills itself as the only real access to a world of Money Makers where they can lead a fulfilling life, able to lead those who enter to an alternative reality, mentoring users who ar able to click on “the … Continue reading →
Maps Mania
Rain and Snow Effects for Mapbox
6 months ago
Maps Mania
Zoom, Pan, and Explore: Sutro Tower in 3D
5 months ago
Adventures In...
Illumination Cartography Here are a few flavors of a technique, illumination cartography, that uses data to shed light on its...
a year ago
137
a year 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
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...
9 months ago
93
9 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,...
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.)...
6 months ago
41
6 months 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...
Maps Mania
800K Galaxies - 1 Map
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping Whale Superhighways
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Sudanese Civil War
3 months ago
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
121
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....
Maps Mania
I Traveled the World Through Trending Videos
a month ago
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...
10 months ago
97
10 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...
Inner Glow Effect for Polygons in ArcGIS Online Sure, there’s a glorious drop shadow effect in the ever-more-capable ArcGIS Online Map Viewer to...
4 months ago
59
4 months ago
Sure, there’s a glorious drop shadow effect in the ever-more-capable ArcGIS Online Map Viewer to give features a sweet glow, BUT there’s no inner glow effect. How do we cast that beautiful glow inward? I’ll admit that I’ve been stumped by this one for longer than I care to admit,...
Maps Mania
Where is Your Dinner From?
5 days ago
Maps Mania
The Largest Gathering in Human History
2 months ago
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...
a year ago
131
a year 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...
Maps Mania
The Google Maps Platform Awards
2 months ago
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
111
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
Prosecuting Crimes Against Humanity
2 months ago
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...
over a year ago
50
over 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...
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...
10 months ago
35
10 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
Quick Project: Queensland Rail Network Diagram Okay, as promised in the previous post, here’s my version of the Queensland passenger rail network...
a month ago
20
a month ago
Okay, as promised in the previous post, here’s my version of the Queensland passenger rail network as a diagram. As is usual for these redesigns, I’ve only spent a few hours on this – just to show that better design doesn’t necessarily need to take a lot of time. Everything is...
Musings on Maps
Fifteen Two-Hundred Pound Bombs Dropping at least fifteen two hundred pound bombs equipped with precision guidance systems–bunker...
10 months ago
122
10 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...
Map of the Week
Tracking the Disappeared The United States Disappeared Tracker is a new Tableau visualization from Danielle Harlow. It shows...
4 months ago
47
4 months ago
The United States Disappeared Tracker is a new Tableau visualization from Danielle Harlow. It shows where people have been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This map is part of a dashboard that “visualizes person brought into ICE custody when the...
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 months ago
49
6 months 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...
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...
over a year ago
57
over 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 6 (Owen Sound) Our time along the southern tip of Georgian Bay was quickly drawing to an end but we still had one...
a month ago
23
a month ago
Our time along the southern tip of Georgian Bay was quickly drawing to an end but we still had one more destination along the shoreline towards the northwest. But first I took my final early morning stroll through Collingwood before the family woke up. I retraced some of the more...
James Cheshire
Atlas des Unsichtbaren Thrilled to announce the publication of German edition of Atlas of the Invisible: Atlas des...
over a year ago
77
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...
somethingaboutmaps
A Free eBook of Terrain Lines Friends, earlier this week I mentioned that I’d completed a whole bunch of terrain sketches using...
9 months ago
98
9 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...
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
100
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...
Maps Mania
Your Personal AI Travel Guide
6 months ago
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...
9 months ago
92
9 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 1 (Choices) I’ve been to Canada a few times but never for very long. One time when I was a kid, maybe ten years...
a month ago
25
a month ago
I’ve been to Canada a few times but never for very long. One time when I was a kid, maybe ten years old, we went to Toronto for a couple of days. It was so long ago that I can’t even remember most of the details anymore. However, every trip I’ve done afterwards lasted no […] The...
GeoCurrents
Exploring the Urban/Rural Electoral Divide in Canada, and Its Exceptions Although the Canadian electorate is more leftwing than that of the United States, the two counties...
2 months ago
33
2 months ago
Although the Canadian electorate is more leftwing than that of the United States, the two counties have similar electoral geographies (see the previous GeoCurrents post). In both the U.S. and Canada, population density figures prominently in the political divide: the more urban...
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...
7 months ago
117
7 months 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...
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...
7 months ago
36
7 months 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...
Maps Mania
Creating Quick Maps for Free
4 weeks ago
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...
a year ago
115
a year 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...
Maps Mania
Free TV & Radio Maps
4 months ago
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
107
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!
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
100
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...
Maps Mania
The MAGA Plugin for Interactive Maps
6 months ago
Musings on Maps
Victory! Sensing a need for administering a national shot of dopamine without much to accomplish for n end to...
5 months ago
57
5 months ago
Sensing a need for administering a national shot of dopamine without much to accomplish for n end to war in Ukraine–despite promises of one being imminent–and with less low-rate beachfront properties available than hoped for amidst the rubble in Gaza, … Continue reading →
Maps Mania
Automatically Mapping YouTube Videos
6 months ago
Maps Mania
The Black History Month Map
6 months ago
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
128
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?...
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
139
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...
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
92
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...
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...
10 months ago
256
10 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...
Maps Mania
The Doomsday Glacier
a month ago
GeoCurrents
Map Art or Scientific Cartography? Many maps, in my view, are also work of art, regardless of their creators’ intentions. Some maps,...
4 months ago
23
4 months ago
Many maps, in my view, are also work of art, regardless of their creators’ intentions. Some maps, however, are explicitly made as art, and as such are not designed to convey spatial information beyond that found in the mere geographical shapes that they contain. Increasingly, it...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 4 (Penetanguishene and Beyond) I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce Penetanguishene, and I still don’t. Typing it isn’t any...
a month ago
19
a month ago
I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce Penetanguishene, and I still don’t. Typing it isn’t any easier. I had to cut-and-paste the name to make sure I got it right. Nonetheless, that’s where we pointed the car on our fourth day in Ontario, about an hour northeast of...
Map of the Week
A Really Greater New York New York City just introduced congestion pricing in an attempt to eliminate gridlock. There have...
7 months ago
29
7 months 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,...
GeoCurrents
Who Are “The Laurentian Elite?” Where Is “Laurentian Canada?” & Why Do Americans Ignore the Saint... Canada’s western separatists often refer disparagingly to “the Laurentian elite” and “Laurentian...
2 months ago
43
2 months ago
Canada’s western separatists often refer disparagingly to “the Laurentian elite” and “Laurentian Canada,” terms that are not familiar to most readers in the United States. These terms derive from the region around the Saint Lawrence River, Canada’s political, economic, and...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Transit Map of Denpasar, Bali, 2025 Submitted by Ida Bagus Nararya Adityananda, who says: This is the new transit network map of...
5 months ago
62
5 months ago
Submitted by Ida Bagus Nararya Adityananda, who says: This is the new transit network map of Denpasar, Bali metro per January 1st 2025. After the closure of Trans Metro Dewata buses that connects 4 regencies and city in Bali. Now, only Trans Sarbagita operates with its 2 corridor...
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
109
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
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
139
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...
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...
over a year ago
80
over 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...
somethingaboutmaps
Projection Cards I had a whimsical idea a few months ago: map projection trading cards. Something nerdy and...
over a year ago
92
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...
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
164
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 →
Map of the Week
Mapping The Surf Malin and Mizen is a company that makes specialty maps like the California Surf Map   I love the...
3 months ago
26
3 months ago
Malin and Mizen is a company that makes specialty maps like the California Surf Map   I love the wavy lines and details showing ideal wind and swell directions, coordinates, shark sightings, etc. The hand drawn details on the land are also very nice.  The company is named...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 7 (Toronto Orientation) We left the southern shores of Georgian Bay and I already missed the area. It turned out great even...
a month ago
17
a month ago
We left the southern shores of Georgian Bay and I already missed the area. It turned out great even if I knew next to nothing about it before I researched the trip. However, all things come to an end and now I had a better-known part of Ontario to explore. I hadn’t spent any time...
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...
over a year ago
93
over 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...
Maps Mania
How to Learn the Countries of the World
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Air Tours of the World
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Exploring the Amazon
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Discover the Toxin Polluters Near You
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Daily MapGame Challenge
a month ago
Maps Mania
How Deep was That Earthquake?
4 months 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...
over a year ago
86
over 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...
Map of the Week
Bad News For Local News Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It...
9 months ago
38
9 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...
GeoCurrents
Mapping the Return of Wolves in Europe As I was preparing to resume posting on GeoCurrents after a short hiatus, I decided to examine...
a month ago
23
a month ago
As I was preparing to resume posting on GeoCurrents after a short hiatus, I decided to examine recent posts on the fascinating but unfortunately named Reddit site called “MapPorn.” As always, I was struck by many contributions, but what really caught my eye was a five-map...
Maps Mania
Introducing Smart Maps
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Scrambled Vintage Maps
5 months ago
GeoCurrents
GeoCurrents Listed as One of the 100 Best GIS Blogs and Websites in 2025 I am pleased to report that GeoCurrents has been selected by FeedSpot as one of the “100 Best GIS...
4 months ago
23
4 months ago
I am pleased to report that GeoCurrents has been selected by FeedSpot as one of the “100 Best GIS Blogs” for 2025. It is an honor to receive this recognition and I give my sincere thanks to FeedSpot for the acknowledgement, although I do have to say that GeoCurrents is more a...
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
135
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 –...
Taming the Frontier, Part 2 The drive up to Michigan was something I did for myself, and I visited a number of historical and...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
The drive up to Michigan was something I did for myself, and I visited a number of historical and cultural sites along the way. But I took the trip to drive a kid home for the summer and now I had a passenger for the rest of the ride. So I front-loaded most of the […] The post...
Maps Mania
Switzerland’s Landscape - Reimagined
5 months ago
Map of the Week
Random Italy Maps I will finish off my series of posts from my recent trip to Italy with a few random maps I saw in my...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
I will finish off my series of posts from my recent trip to Italy with a few random maps I saw in my travels. Hopefully these are interesting beyond my personal whims. I will start with this raised relief map of the Valpolicella wine region hanging on the wall of the Tenuta Santa...
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
144
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
Expansionist Energies and Political Synergies: Unpacking the Brave New World of DOGE Donald Trump has so skillfully adopted terms and coopted concepts by slapping his name on them to...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
Donald Trump has so skillfully adopted terms and coopted concepts by slapping his name on them to rebrand them as his own, in ways we may do well to question if this is entirely impulsively done. From CPAC to the … Continue reading →
Maps Mania
A Time Machine for Maps
a month ago
Maps Mania
Institute for Men Says Women Are Underpaid
a month ago
Adventures In...
Stories Here are some StoryMap stories that I’ve written over the years… Piracy & Time Travel How Deep is...
over a year ago
91
over 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
Solve the Global Treasure Hunt!
2 weeks 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...
12 months ago
118
12 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...
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....
6 months ago
65
6 months 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...
somethingaboutmaps
Going Live I know it’s short notice, but I wanted to let you all know that I’m doing a livestream tomorrow....
6 months ago
79
6 months 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...
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...
a year ago
108
a year 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...
Women in GIS Workshop If you aren’t doing anything else on the allotted 2.5 hours of January 24, 2025, then consider...
7 months ago
104
7 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
No News is Bad News
3 months ago
Map of the Week
Panorama Italia Tapestry There was no Map of the Week last week. That is because I was on vacation in northern Italy with my...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
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....
GeoCurrents
The Myth of Continents Revisited: GeoCurrents YouTube Video As it has been more than a quarter century since the publication of my book The Myth of Continents...
a month ago
30
a month ago
As it has been more than a quarter century since the publication of my book The Myth of Continents (co-written with my wife, Kären Wigen), I have long thought that the topic deserved reconsideration. An opportunity came in May 2025, when I was invited to give a talk in Stanford’s...
Maps Mania
Mapping the MutiVerse
a week ago
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...
8 months ago
119
8 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 –...
Cicada Chase, Day 1 What would be a good present for someone who just graduated from college with a degree in...
a year ago
123
a year 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...
Adventures In...
Time-warp walkability mapping in ArcGIS Pro In my mental model of a walkability map it’s not enough to know how far away something is, but also...
a week ago
13
a week ago
In my mental model of a walkability map it’s not enough to know how far away something is, but also how long it takes me to get there. My perceptions of the same distances, but with different walk times, are much different. There are realities that slow me down like...
Map of the Week
Three Part World Via Newsweek - The current tyrants governments of the United States, Russia and China may be wishing...
a month ago
32
a month ago
Via Newsweek - The current tyrants governments of the United States, Russia and China may be wishing for a three superpower world where spheres of influence are carved up among them.   You can hover to identify the countries.  Apparently the southern hemisphere does not rate...
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
116
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...
somethingaboutmaps
Planetfall Gentle readers, I have just wrapped up a fun side project that will be of great interest to a very...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
Gentle readers, I have just wrapped up a fun side project that will be of great interest to a very small number of you. The result of one of the most technically demanding efforts of my career, I am very pleased to share it with you. Most of you will wonder what this place is, …...
GeoCurrents
Canada’s Population Is Clustered Near the Southern Border, Yet Is Nonetheless Distanced from the... Although it is often claimed that 90 percent of the people of Canada live within 100 miles of the...
2 months ago
41
2 months ago
Although it is often claimed that 90 percent of the people of Canada live within 100 miles of the U.S. border, this assertion is of dubious validity. Reputable sources put the figure closer to 80 percent. Statistics Canada more convincingly claims that 66 percent of Canadians...
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...
a year ago
130
a year 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...
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...
9 months ago
111
9 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...
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...
9 months ago
120
9 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 …...
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...
10 months ago
42
10 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...
Map of the Week
Letts’s Bird’s Eye View of the Approaches to India Is this a map, a landscape painting or a beautiful piece of propaganda? This panoramic map was...
3 months ago
53
3 months ago
Is this a map, a landscape painting or a beautiful piece of propaganda? This panoramic map was produced at the beginning of the 1900’s in London by W. H. Payne for Letts, Son & Co., a British stationary and map seller. The perspective is from a hilltop in British India, now...
Maps Mania
Wiki Explore
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Synchronized Street View Tours
6 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Revolutionary War
a month ago
Maps Mania
The USA is Closing for Business
6 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Detour to Ashtabula About two and a half years ago I planned to capture three unvisited counties at the far northeastern...
a year ago
129
a year 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...
Musings on Maps
“They’re Eating Dogs” “If exotic non-human animals inhabited the edges of the inhabited world in medieval cosmologies,...
10 months ago
124
10 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...
Maps Mania
A City's Grief in One Street
a month ago
Maps Mania
What is Your Ecoregion?
6 months ago
Maps Mania
Open Access, Open Source: OpenTimes
5 months ago
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...
a year ago
159
a year 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...
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...
a year ago
109
a year 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...
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
82
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...
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...
10 months ago
88
10 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...
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...
a year ago
117
a year 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....
Maps Mania
How Big is it Really?
a month ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Osage Orange It seemed strange to fixate on a single tree for more than a decade but that’s exactly what...
8 months ago
96
8 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...
Maps Mania
Red Dots for Dialysis Decline
a month ago
Maps Mania
America’s Carnegie Libraries on One Map
2 weeks ago
Adventures In...
Hack some bokeh into your ArcGIS Online map You know how you can crank up the sense of drama and studio photography professionalism by switching...
4 months ago
51
4 months ago
You know how you can crank up the sense of drama and studio photography professionalism by switching over to portrait mode on your phone’s camera? It just looks…cool. The subject is in focus and the peripheral background content is blurry. It’s actually how our eyes and brains...
Maps Mania
7 Free Alternatives to GeoGuessr
a week ago
Maps Mania
2025 German Election Maps
5 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Cicada Chase, Day 2 The first day of cicada chasing exceeded expectations and we hoped for similar results on the...
a year ago
144
a year 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,...
somethingaboutmaps
The Dream Lives I know lately I’ve been in commercial mode, pointing you toward various projects of mine that you...
8 months ago
101
8 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...
GeoCurrents
Is Apple Maps Erasing Druze Identity by Calling the “Jabal al-Druze” the “Jabal al-Arab”? Armed conflict over the past few weeks in southern Syria between the Druze and Bedouin militias...
2 weeks ago
18
2 weeks ago
Armed conflict over the past few weeks in southern Syria between the Druze and Bedouin militias receiving help from the Syrian military have taken over a thousand lives. As reported in the Kurdish press, Tawfiq al-Hijri, Deputy Head of the Foreign Relations Office of the...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Bonus Days On what was supposed to be the final morning, we entered Toronto Pearson Airport to catch an 11:00...
3 weeks ago
17
3 weeks ago
On what was supposed to be the final morning, we entered Toronto Pearson Airport to catch an 11:00 am Sunday flight back to Washington, DC. We finally threw in the towel around 6:00 pm after American Airlines repeatedly postponed the departure due to mechanical issues with the...
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...
9 months ago
37
9 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...
Map of the Week
Mapping Prejudice Mapping Prejudice is a project by a team of scholars and activists at the University of Minnesota....
5 months ago
58
5 months ago
Mapping Prejudice is a project by a team of scholars and activists at the University of Minnesota. The project maps racial covenants, clauses that were inserted into property deeds to keep people who were not White from buying or occupying homes.  The mapping page has an...
somethingaboutmaps
Map of the Month: An Experiment Friends, you might remember that, last year, I wrote to you about how I was finally able to see a...
3 months ago
31
3 months ago
Friends, you might remember that, last year, I wrote to you about how I was finally able to see a dream I’d had for many years come true: bringing together a bunch of map creators onto a single website. I had hoped that this would only be the beginning of our cooperation with...
GeoCurrents
Canadian Provinces and U.S. States Economically Compared As noted in the previous GeoCurrents post, Alberta is Canada’s most prosperous and economically...
2 months ago
35
2 months ago
As noted in the previous GeoCurrents post, Alberta is Canada’s most prosperous and economically productive province. But it does have, as might be expected, by the country’s highest cost of living. Although living costs in Alberta are above the national average, they are below...
Maps Mania
Federal Funding & Jobs Slashed
4 months ago
Maps Mania
The Russian Sabotage Map
4 months ago
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
154
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...
Map of the Week
Karen Wynn Fonstad's Middle Earth Maps I was not aware of Karen Wynn Fonstad until a recent article from the New York Times “Overlooked”...
4 months ago
55
4 months ago
I was not aware of Karen Wynn Fonstad until a recent article from the New York Times “Overlooked” series. Overlooked are obituaries about people whose deaths (in this case in 2005) were unreported in the Times. Fonstad created the Atlas of Middle Earth to accompany the works of...
Maps Mania
The World's Terrorist Hotpots
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The Marine Migration Map
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Draining the Planet
2 days ago
Maps Mania
The Best (and Worst) Cities for Rail Transport
5 months ago
Maps Mania
The Map of Nazi Camps & Ghettos
4 weeks ago
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
66
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...
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...
over a year ago
81
over 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...
Maps Mania
The Death of Local News
a month ago
Adventures In...
van Gogh style wind map Here’s how to use compositing to tint flowing wind patterns by underlying terrain colors. Why?...
3 months ago
27
3 months ago
Here’s how to use compositing to tint flowing wind patterns by underlying terrain colors. Why? Because rather than a basemap providing some context around a layer that inherently blocks your view of it, you can leverage the amazing compositing blend modes of the ArcGIS Online Map...
Maps Mania
Find Your Birthday Tree
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The Anti-MAGA Protest Mapper
3 months 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....
a year ago
139
a year 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...
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...
a year ago
130
a year 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...
Map of the Week
Merry Gridmas! Gridviz is a Javascript library for visualizing gridded (raster) data. They created a Christmas...
7 months ago
35
7 months 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...
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...
over a year ago
158
over 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...
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...
a year ago
142
a year 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....
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...
over a year ago
106
over 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...
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...
over a year ago
60
over 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...
Maps Mania
The Republic of Climate Change Deniers
5 months ago
Maps Mania
The Future Risk Index Rides Again
4 months ago
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,...
over a year ago
86
over 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...
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
108
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...
GeoCurrents
Mapping the Return of the Gray Wolf to California One of the most surprising aspects of the recovery of the gray wolf in the United States is the...
3 weeks ago
19
3 weeks ago
One of the most surprising aspects of the recovery of the gray wolf in the United States is the return of the species to California. Wolves had been eliminated from the state in the 1920s and were not expected to return any soon time, if at all. But in 2011, a single wolf made...
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...
a year ago
140
a year 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...
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,...
over a year ago
75
over 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...
somethingaboutmaps
Kickstarter 3: The Return For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the process of cyanotype printing, and have released a...
9 months ago
127
9 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...
Maps Mania
The Most Beautiful Places in the World
4 months ago
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...
a year ago
125
a year 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...
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...
a year ago
109
a year 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...
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...
11 months ago
105
11 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Culpeper Co., Virginia I enjoy county counting but it becomes increasingly difficult to reach new counties as my count...
5 months ago
47
5 months ago
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...
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
128
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...
Maps Mania
A Time Traveller's Guide to the Zoo
a month ago
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
100
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...
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
125
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...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Valley Metro Light Rail and Streetcar, Phoenix, Arizona, 2025 Submitted by a few people—sorry for the delay in getting to this!—including Shameek, who says:...
a month ago
26
a month ago
Submitted by a few people—sorry for the delay in getting to this!—including Shameek, who says: Phoenix is opening the new southern light rail extension and splitting the system into two separate lines, so naturally they released a new map! I like some of the ideas in here,...
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...
over a year ago
137
over 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...
Map of the Week
Wall Street Before the Wall This bird-eye diagram of lower Manhattan appeared in a Harpers Magazine article from 1908 titled...
4 months ago
42
4 months ago
This bird-eye diagram of lower Manhattan appeared in a Harpers Magazine article from 1908 titled “The Story of a Street.”  In 1844 the Dutch governor of New Amsterdam ordered the town’s citizens to construct a cattle guard at the north end of the settlement to keep the cattle...
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...
a year ago
116
a year 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...
Maps Mania
GeoGuessr for Photos
3 weeks ago
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...
6 months ago
66
6 months 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 →
Maps Mania
A Speculative Atlas of Climate Disaster
a week ago
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...
9 months ago
90
9 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...
Map of the Week
The First Ghetto The first ghetto was established in 1516 in Venice, Italy. Jewish residents were forced to live in a...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
The first ghetto was established in 1516 in Venice, Italy. Jewish residents were forced to live in a small industrial area by the government and locked in at night. Here is a picture of a ghetto map from I took while there a few weeks ago.  According to the sign Jews were only...
Musings on Maps
Floating Sargasso Sea Mapped from the Canaries to the West Indies, against a blank background, the Sargassum Belt seems...
over a year ago
114
over 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...
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
93
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...
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
129
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...
Maps Mania
The Real-Time 15 City Map
2 months ago
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...
6 months ago
88
6 months 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,...
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...
over a year ago
135
over 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...
Maps Mania
How the US Arms the Mexican Drug Cartels
2 months ago
Maps Mania
How Hazardous is Your Town?
3 weeks ago
Maps Mania
Celebrating 20 Years of Maps Mania
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Your Local Business Chatbots
6 months ago
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....
a year ago
131
a year 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...
Maps Mania
The 2024 Sea-Level Rise Map
3 months ago
Maps Mania
It's Groundhog Day (Again & Again & Again)
6 months 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...
over a year ago
41
over 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...
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...
a year ago
125
a year 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 –...
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
71
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...
Maps Mania
Ocean Warming Stripes
a week ago
Maps Mania
The 2025 Australian Election Map
4 months ago
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....
a year ago
131
a year 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 –...
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...
over a year ago
88
over 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...
Map of the Week
Soprano Land The Sopranos is having a bit of a moment with the recent HBO documentary about David Chase....
11 months ago
38
11 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...
Maps Mania
Underwater Weather Forecasts
2 months ago
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...
over a year ago
112
over 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 –...
Atlanta BeltLine – Eastside Trail I arrived in Atlanta, Georgia for business. On the final day I wrapped-up and had a little time to...
over a year ago
85
over 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...
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...
11 months ago
114
11 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...
Maps Mania
New Tesla Hack Map
4 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
Independent Study: A Reflection Earlier this summer, I decided to embark on an educational experiment: I wanted to create a version...
over a year ago
43
over 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...
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...
8 months ago
120
8 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...
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...
a year ago
160
a year 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...
Musings on Maps
Perilous Waters The voyage to the Titanic promoted cartographic fantasies of discovery and exploration, but only in...
over a year ago
88
over 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. ...
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
74
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...
Maps Mania
Ghost Signs: Phantoms of the Past
a week ago
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
69
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...
Map of the Week
Your Climate in 60 Years This fall's supercharged hurricanes are a reminder that despite the dishonest rhetoric coming from...
10 months ago
34
10 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 Start of Hurricane Season
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Walk Management System
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Donald Trump Surrenders the World to China
4 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
2025 AFC Freelancer Survey Though it’s been about a week since we sent it out there, I just recalled that I haven’t alerted all...
4 months ago
55
4 months ago
Though it’s been about a week since we sent it out there, I just recalled that I haven’t alerted all of you to the 2025 edition of the freelance cartographer survey that Aly Ollivierre and I conduct. Due to popular demand, we are going to try conducting it annually, rather than...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Taming the Frontier, Part 1 I didn’t have a proper vacation in awhile. Then, unexpectedly, I had abundant time on my hands. I...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
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...
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...
a year ago
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a year 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...
Maps Mania
The Flight of the Barn Swallow
6 months ago
GeoCurrents
A Semi-Serious Historically Based Alternative World Regionalization Model As I argued in the previous Geo-Currents post, the semi-standard world regional model is...
3 months ago
36
3 months ago
As I argued in the previous Geo-Currents post, the semi-standard world regional model is indispensable for understanding global geography. But as it is also highly flawed, it should be complemented with other models. I have therefore devised an alternative scheme, one designed to...
Musings on Maps
Sea Surface Temperatures With global ocean surface temperatures shot way off the charts by mid-March, beyond forty years...
over a year ago
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over 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...
Maps Mania
Urban Growth in Motion
5 months ago
Maps Mania
19th Century Street View of Chicago
3 months ago
Map of the Week
Where Does Your Water Go? I found this tool six years ago and meant to post it but forgot until now. Fortunately it still...
3 months ago
43
3 months ago
I found this tool six years ago and meant to post it but forgot until now. Fortunately it still works and is still pretty cool. You can click anywhere in the United States and trace the path of a raindrop to the ocean. I chose a random point northwest of White River City in...