Full Width [alt+shift+f] Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]
Top Categories > cartography
#all #programming #technology #history #startups #life #science #literature #architecture #creative #design #finance #travel #comics #AI #indiehacker #cartography Muted Categories [alt+←][alt+→]
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...
3 weeks ago
13
3 weeks 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...
Adventures In...
Make a seafloor map in the spirit of Marie Tharp & Heinrich Berann Here’s how you can make a map inspired by the glorious collaboration of geologist Marie Tharp and...
4 months ago
44
4 months ago
Here’s how you can make a map inspired by the glorious collaboration of geologist Marie Tharp and landscape painter Heinrich Berann. We’ll use ArcGIS Pro (injected with a special terrain toolbox provided by cartographer, author, and public figure Ken Field), its amazing raster...
Maps Mania
The Google Maps Platform Awards
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Nationwide Sakura Map
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Jumbled Maps
5 months ago
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
106
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...
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
121
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...
GeoCurrents
Adding New “Continents” to the Map of the World – and thus Approaching the World-Regional Model Almost all maps found in online image searches of “continents map” depict the standard...
3 months ago
30
3 months ago
Almost all maps found in online image searches of “continents map” depict the standard seven-continent model of the U.S. educational establishment. A few, however, deviate from the scheme by adding additional continents. Such adjustments are understandable, as the standard model...
Maps Mania
The Atlas of Drowned Towns
2 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 4 (Lewis & Clark Country) We were now officially between races. A day earlier I ran a half-marathon in Pendleton, Oregon and I...
9 months ago
88
9 months ago
We were now officially between races. A day earlier I ran a half-marathon in Pendleton, Oregon and I had to do it again in Clarkston, Washington the following day. So this was the rest day, or at least it was for me. Most participants in the Mainly Marathons Northwest series...
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
125
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...
Maps Mania
The Real-Time 15 City Map
a month ago
somethingaboutmaps
The Unnecessary Peril of the Fuller Projection Throughout my career, I’ve heard a variety of rumors and conflicting opinions about whether or not...
over a year ago
93
over a year ago
Throughout my career, I’ve heard a variety of rumors and conflicting opinions about whether or not you can get in trouble for using the Fuller projection. Let's find out if it's true.
Maps Mania
2025 German Election Maps
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Like Google My Maps but Better
a month ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Madrid Cercanías Rail Network, December 2024 Submitted by Juan, who says: I send the new version of the Renfe-Madrid Cercanías network. It seems...
6 months ago
79
6 months ago
Submitted by Juan, who says: I send the new version of the Renfe-Madrid Cercanías network. It seems to me that it has improved quite a lot the previous version. This previous version had crossroads, angles, etc. I would like to know your opinion about this new map. Transit Maps...
Maps Mania
A Panorama of Victorian London
2 months ago
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
88
over a year ago
I got to join The Geoholics podcast this week and had a fun conversation with Kent Groh, Ryan Kelly, and Nik Smilovsky Here is a link to the episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sHBwsGyfAoZE3ra5RaeVB?si=f1f3bdf9ab3b4695 Here’s the episode’s description: Raised by two...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 10 (More Typical London) Unlike the previous day, we focused our final full London day on places more regularly associated...
11 months ago
110
11 months ago
Unlike the previous day, we focused our final full London day on places more regularly associated with typical tourists. Sometimes we do that. Occasionally I displayed my normal geo-oddity proclivities but mostly it was about cramming as much as possible into the hours before...
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
68
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...
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...
8 months ago
33
8 months ago
Here is a map from the Washington Post, via Reddit showing countries past & present with women as heads of state. Click it (and then again) for higher resolution. We in the United States like to think we are the most advanced country in the world but by this metric we are well...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 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
86
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...
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
124
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...
Maps Mania
The Map of the Internet
3 weeks ago
Maps Mania
Introducing Smart Maps
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Free TV & Radio Maps
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Has a Nuke Gone Off?
3 weeks ago
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 week ago
15
a week 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...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Rail and Bus Map of Southeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 Submitted by Lachlan, who says: Brisbane dropped a new transit map and it is EXTREMELY pretty. I’m a...
9 months ago
129
9 months ago
Submitted by Lachlan, who says: Brisbane dropped a new transit map and it is EXTREMELY pretty. I’m a big fan. Definitely the best-designed official transit map in Australia in my opinion. It even acknowledges the rapid bus routes and the G-Link light rail! I wish it could have...
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...
9 months ago
32
9 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...
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
94
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...
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
33
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...
Maps Mania
The Future of Urban Mobility
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Synchronized Street View Tours
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Searching Text in Street View
10 hours ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Map: Brussels S-Train by Elliot H Submitted by Elliot, who says: I’ve come across this blog a couple of months ago, and have been...
a year ago
91
a year ago
Submitted by Elliot, who says: I’ve come across this blog a couple of months ago, and have been lurking ever since. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at designing a trasit diagram, and having gotten some free time, I decided to redesign the S-Train diagram for Brussels. So here...
Maps Mania
What If Asteroid 2024 YR4 Hit Your Town?
5 months ago
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...
9 months ago
83
9 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...
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,...
5 months ago
43
5 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...
Maps Mania
3D Racing Games
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Biographical Mapping
6 months ago
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...
2 weeks ago
15
2 weeks 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...
Adventures In...
Close Encounters of the Cartographic Kind I was watching the Steven Spielberg 1977 classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the...
a year ago
162
a year ago
I was watching the Steven Spielberg 1977 classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the family last night and nerded out when I saw a character that claimed to be a cartographer. I always do. It was the cartographer who recognized that the signals the aliens sent were...
Transit Maps
New Official Map: Los Angeles Metro with Regional Connector, 2023 Just dropped on the LA Metro Twitter account, here’s a first look at their new system map once the...
over a year ago
127
over a year ago
Just dropped on the LA Metro Twitter account, here’s a first look at their new system map once the Regional Connector opens at noon, this Friday June 16. First off, one prediction I made in my previous review [October 2022] has been proven true: this map marks the end of the old...
Maps Mania
Automatically Mapping YouTube Videos
5 months ago
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
125
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...
Maps Mania
How Deep was That Earthquake?
4 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
A New, Unrelated Blog Kindly readers: I wanted to let you know that I’ve started another little publication, one which has...
over a year ago
74
over a year ago
Kindly readers: I wanted to let you know that I’ve started another little publication, one which has nothing to do with maps, but I figure is worth telling you about anyway: I climb trees recreationally, and I’ve decided to start writing about my thoughts and experiences. Perhaps...
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
132
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...
Maps Mania
Snakes on a Plane(t)
3 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
Simple Oblique Views in Blender While many people use my Blender shaded relief tutorial, and associate me with the software, I’m...
over a year ago
94
over a year ago
While many people use my Blender shaded relief tutorial, and associate me with the software, I’m really not much of a 3D cartographer. I make oblique-view maps only rarely, and when I do, it’s usually in a simplified, abstract style, rather than the detailed, naturalistic...
James Cheshire
The era of the megalopolis: how the world’s cities are merging James Cheshire, UCL and Michael Batty, UCL On November 15 2022, a baby girl named Vinice Mabansag,...
over a year ago
93
over a year ago
James Cheshire, UCL and Michael Batty, UCL On November 15 2022, a baby girl named Vinice Mabansag, born at Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, Philippines, became – symbolically – the eight billionth person in the world. Of those 8 billion people, 60% live in a town or...
Maps Mania
Rain and Snow Effects for Mapbox
5 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 5 (Isle of Purbeck) Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck isn’t an island it’s a peninsula. It was probably more isolated and...
a year ago
117
a year ago
Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck isn’t an island it’s a peninsula. It was probably more isolated and difficult to reach in previous centuries. So maybe it felt like an island to people back when the English Channel was the primary “road” to the outside world. Even now it’s a...
Maps Mania
Red Dots for Dialysis Decline
a month 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
127
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
When is Pothole Season?
2 days ago
Maps Mania
The Tariff Busting Map Game
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping Myths Across the World
4 months ago
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...
a month ago
25
a month 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...
Maps Mania
The Doomsday Glacier
3 weeks ago
Map of the Week
Make Your Own Ferraris Map While researching the Ferraris Atlas of Belgium from my last post, I came across a Github page that...
9 months ago
32
9 months ago
While researching the Ferraris Atlas of Belgium from my last post, I came across a Github page that lets you create your own Ferraris style map using QGIS. The author, Manuel Claeys Bouuaert did an excellent job creating a hand drawn looking style using modern technology....
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
121
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...
Maps Mania
Prosecuting Crimes Against Humanity
a month ago
Maps Mania
Roads, Railways, Runways & Rivers
6 months ago
Maps Mania
Paving Paradise for the Ultra Rich
a month 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
16
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
Exploring the Amazon
4 months ago
GeoCurrents
Part 2 of “The Myth of Continents Revisisited” Video Posted on YouTube The second half of my lecture on continents has been posted on YouTube and can be found here. It...
a month ago
24
a month ago
The second half of my lecture on continents has been posted on YouTube and can be found here. It begins with the geological conception of the terms “continent” and “continental,” and then pivots to show why the continental scheme is of little if any use for understating either...
somethingaboutmaps
Leopard Map Disassembly Friends, it’s been a long while since I last wrote up a walkthrough of one of my mapping projects....
over a year ago
99
over a year ago
Friends, it’s been a long while since I last wrote up a walkthrough of one of my mapping projects. So, today, let’s break down a piece that I made earlier this year for Scientific American magazine. This is actually the first of three pieces that I’ve made for Scientific American...
Maps Mania
When Ocean Currents Collapse
a month ago
somethingaboutmaps
Conventional Cartographic Wisdom that I have Failed to Grasp When I teach cartography, I am deliberate about not presenting my students with any rules. I do not...
over a year ago
113
over a year ago
When I teach cartography, I am deliberate about not presenting my students with any rules. I do not want obedience to memorized maxims — instead, I simply tell them about practices that I think are good ideas, and then I offer an explanation of my reasoning. The students can...
Transit Maps
Submission – Historical Map: Suburban Tramways of Bordeaux, 1954 Submitted by Florian, who says: I submit this map because first of all, I live there and I was...
5 months ago
51
5 months ago
Submitted by Florian, who says: I submit this map because first of all, I live there and I was thrilled to learn there is a blog about transit maps design. And I love old maps, which I was also thrilled to see they are welcome here. This map dates from 1954, merely 4 years before...
somethingaboutmaps
2024 Freelance Rate Survey Results Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s survey of freelance cartographer...
9 months ago
96
9 months ago
Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s survey of freelance cartographer rates and business practices! Our apologies for the delay in posting the results; life has been busy for both Aly and myself. Before we get to the survey results, here are some handy...
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
139
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...
Maps Mania
The Reforestation Interactive Map
a month ago
Maps Mania
The World's Terrorist Hotpots
2 months ago
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
58
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...
Adventures In...
Make a cross stitch style map in ArcGIS Pro Yes, yes, maps are spatial communication devices and we can obsess over precision and clarity. But...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Yes, yes, maps are spatial communication devices and we can obsess over precision and clarity. But it all depends on your map’s purpose. Maps are also designed objects so they can carry within them the power of sentiment. Memory, joy, nostalgia. Or just plain old wonder and...
Maps Mania
The Treasure Hunting Game
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The Republic of Climate Change Deniers
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Revolutionary War
3 weeks ago
Maps Mania
New Tesla Hack Map
3 months ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Queensland Rail Network Submitted by Bushland Maps, who says: I have noticed that no one has submitted the Queensland Rail...
3 weeks ago
17
3 weeks ago
Submitted by Bushland Maps, who says: I have noticed that no one has submitted the Queensland Rail network map, so here it is! Sort of… I have attached the link to the web page rather than the image because the legend isn’t on the map, its actually below it on the webpage… That...
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
67
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...
Transit Maps
Book Review: “Iconic Transit Maps” by Mark Ovenden, 2024 After 2003’s Metro Maps of the World and 2015’s Transit Maps of the World (our review here), this is...
7 months ago
100
7 months ago
After 2003’s Metro Maps of the World and 2015’s Transit Maps of the World (our review here), this is Mark Ovenden’s third offering on the subject of global transit maps and diagrams. The question to be asked, then, is simply – is a new book on the same subject worth it? In a...
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
107
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...
James Cheshire
Newspapers and the 1976 Drought With each new temperature record that tumbles the UK, climate skeptics have a standard stock phrase:...
over a year ago
90
over a year ago
With each new temperature record that tumbles the UK, climate skeptics have a standard stock phrase: ‘it was this hot in 1976’. Of course it wasn’t, and crucially the planet overall was not as hot then as it is now. Parts of the UK media have had their part to play in fueling...
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
133
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...
Maps Mania
The Daily MapGame Challenge
2 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 4 (Bug Loop) Sure, the southern United States has more than its fair share of pesky bugs that most people...
a year ago
70
a year ago
Sure, the southern United States has more than its fair share of pesky bugs that most people actively avoid. Mosquitos, horseflies, and palmetto bugs probably top that list. So it probably sounds strange that we devoted an entire day to insects, particularly to the appreciation...
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...
3 months ago
46
3 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
Mapping the Sudanese Civil War
2 months ago
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
100
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...
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
80
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...
Maps Mania
State of the Global Climate 2024
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Open Access, Open Source: OpenTimes
4 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 7 (South Korea: The DMZ) The Korean War never actually ended. Rather, it froze in place at an armistice line on July 27,...
over a year ago
72
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...
Maps Mania
The Hotness Map No One Needed
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Millions Flee War, Floods, and Persecution
5 months ago
Maps Mania
The Largest Gathering in Human History
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Invasion of America
4 months ago
James Cheshire
Anxiety and Mapping the Climate Crisis Many of the maps I have created in recent years address the climate crisis and I’ve been asked a...
over a year ago
78
over a year ago
Many of the maps I have created in recent years address the climate crisis and I’ve been asked a number of times about if I feel powerless in the face of the data I’m showing. I reflect on this here with Kit Rackley. Our chat also in part inspired this article in The...
Map of the Week
The Invasion of Ukraine Ukraine was invaded by Russia three years ago. Since the new president of the United States is in...
5 months ago
41
5 months ago
Ukraine was invaded by Russia three years ago. Since the new president of the United States is in full surrender to Putin mode and wants to blame Ukraine for starting the war, I am posting this map, from February 27, 2022. It is to remind anyone that needs reminding of who...
Adventures In...
Dashing Maps There are lots of reasons why cartographers use dashed lines in their maps. Sometimes there are a...
9 months ago
95
9 months ago
There are lots of reasons why cartographers use dashed lines in their maps. Sometimes there are a lot of different sorts of lines going around and it’s the best way to differentiate between different categories of things. Or we can embed meaning into them, like a dashed line...
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
97
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...
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
65
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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 7 (Abrupt End) What should have been a ten day trip ended unexpectedly on the seventh day. The previous evening our...
9 months ago
88
9 months ago
What should have been a ten day trip ended unexpectedly on the seventh day. The previous evening our kid who was watching the house called to tell us about our soaking wet basement carpet. Our ancient boiler was leaking. So we immediately contacted our insurance provider, a water...
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
120
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...
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
114
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...
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
39
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...
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
128
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 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
77
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...
Maps Mania
The Start of Hurricane Season
a month ago
Maps Mania
Drinking & Eating in the Sun
2 months ago
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
79
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...
Adventures In...
In a Slump, But Not Forever
over a year ago
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...
6 months ago
32
6 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...
somethingaboutmaps
Projection Cards I had a whimsical idea a few months ago: map projection trading cards. Something nerdy and...
over a year ago
89
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...
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...
5 months ago
79
5 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,...
Maps Mania
The Meaning Behind Our Place Names
2 months ago
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
152
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...
Maps Mania
How Hazardous is Your Town?
5 days ago
Maps Mania
Google's AI Hurricane Predictor
a month ago
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....
10 months ago
106
10 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...
James Cheshire
The Library of Lost Maps Really thrilled to announce that The Library of Lost Maps will hit bookshops this autumn! I will...
a week ago
15
a week ago
Really thrilled to announce that The Library of Lost Maps will hit bookshops this autumn! I will share more details over the summer, but you can pre-order and subscribe for updates here: https://libraryoflostmaps.com/
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...
2 months ago
30
2 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...
Maps Mania
Canadian Wildfire Smoke Forecasts
a month ago
Adventures In...
Layout sandwich Here’s how to make an ArcGIS Pro layout where certain elements of the map step over the neatline and...
a year ago
59
a year ago
Here’s how to make an ArcGIS Pro layout where certain elements of the map step over the neatline and the graticule is relegated only to the oceans. Because that looks cool! Mapping has a long and handsome history of neatlines that are interrupted by bits of land spilling over it,...
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....
12 months ago
112
12 months ago
There’s a lot to like about this simple little track diagram of Sydney’s rail system from 1928. There’s a lot of different angles – both with route lines and station labels – but it still manages to hang together as a coherent whole. A big part of that is the dead straight...
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...
2 months ago
29
2 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...
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
52
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...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Long Island Rail Road Screen Maps at Grand Central Madison Submitted by Griffin, who says: I work upstairs in the old Grand Central and was every excited to...
over a year ago
90
over a year ago
Submitted by Griffin, who says: I work upstairs in the old Grand Central and was every excited to check out the new station this morning. Spotted this new map on the wall down there, thought you might find it interesting. Transit Maps says: Oh, I do like this. Graphically strong...
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...
3 weeks ago
13
3 weeks 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
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...
a month ago
18
a month 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 →
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...
8 months ago
88
8 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,...
Adventures In...
Cartography Workshop in Utrecht, April 2024 I’m going to be in the Netherlands April 23, 2024, to spend a day nerding out on map making. I’ll be...
a year ago
104
a year ago
I’m going to be in the Netherlands April 23, 2024, to spend a day nerding out on map making. I’ll be a guest of Esri Netherlands, and will lead this workshop day, called “Mapping Magic with John Nelson” (no pressure). It’s a kickoff to their Esri Connect 2024 event. Here’s a...
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
153
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 –...
Mitten Accomplished I got a unique opportunity to visit counties in a corner of the Midwest I hadn’t touched much when...
over a year ago
70
over a year ago
I got a unique opportunity to visit counties in a corner of the Midwest I hadn’t touched much when my older kid decided to go to college in Michigan. But it didn’t offer a lot of time for my quest, just a four year window before graduation. Even so, I set what I thought was...
Maps Mania
Routing for Vampires
2 weeks ago
GeoCurrents
Floristic Kingdoms and the Architecture of Continents The two previous GeoCurrents posts examined the biological significance of continents by looking at...
3 months ago
29
3 months ago
The two previous GeoCurrents posts examined the biological significance of continents by looking at the distribution of animals. It is time now to turn out attention to plants. One of the most influential divisions of the world into “floristic kingdoms” is that of botanist Ronald...
James Cheshire
PhD Opportunity: An Atlas of Health and Social Inequalities Excited to announce that we have funding for a +3 studentship in the UCL Department of Geography for...
over a year ago
84
over a year ago
Excited to announce that we have funding for a +3 studentship in the UCL Department of Geography for the project “An Atlas of Health and Social Inequalities”. The research will be carried out in association with the Health Foundation and will comprise the creation of a range of...
Musings on Maps
Perilous Waters The voyage to the Titanic promoted cartographic fantasies of discovery and exploration, but only in...
over a year ago
83
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. ...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Kaiserslautern I hope to stay longer than 72 hours the next time I visit Germany. I don’t recommend such a short...
a year ago
131
a year ago
I hope to stay longer than 72 hours the next time I visit Germany. I don’t recommend such a short visit. However I went there for work as I do occasionally, and I had no choice. So that’s what I did. I landed in Frankfurt on Monday, drove down to Kaiserslautern, stayed through...
Maps Mania
Hyperlocal Social Media
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Federal Funding & Jobs Slashed
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
21
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....
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
73
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...
Maps Mania
Find Your Birthday Tree
3 months ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Map: Tramways in Gdańsk, Poland by Arsen Mosiichuk, 2024 Submitted by Arsen, who says: Hello, this summer I with Sergey Steblina as art-director designed a...
7 months ago
104
7 months ago
Submitted by Arsen, who says: Hello, this summer I with Sergey Steblina as art-director designed a transit map of Gdańsk trams. I am very interested what Transit Maps think about this. Transit Maps says: Overall, this is very solid and clean work – very much in the style of...
Adventures In...
Blend Mode Helper Blend modes can be a complex thing to wrap one’s head around. Experimentation is the best teacher,...
over a year ago
90
over a year ago
Blend modes can be a complex thing to wrap one’s head around. Experimentation is the best teacher, but even then there are lots of variabilities involved, depending on the layer you use to experiment. The Blend Mode Helper Map (and its constituent Blend Mode Helper layer) reduces...
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...
8 months ago
86
8 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...
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...
11 months ago
106
11 months ago
Before we left on our trip to England I promised everyone in the family that we would visit at least one thing they absolutely wanted to see. We completed that for the younger kid at Tankfest. Two more bucket list destinations happened during our first full day in London. We’re...
GeoCurrents
From Continents to the World Regional Model Despite my harsh criticisms of the continental model expressed in the preceding posts, I do think...
3 months ago
17
3 months ago
Despite my harsh criticisms of the continental model expressed in the preceding posts, I do think that it should be taught to young students. In my ideal scenario, first-graders would be shown, ideally by examining a globe, that there are six very large masses of land that are...
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
132
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...
GeoCurrents
Economic Factors Behind the Alberta Secession Movement in Canada Several recent GeoCurrents posts have emphasized similarities in the electoral geographies of the...
a month ago
23
a month 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...
Maps Mania
How to Learn the Countries of the World
4 months ago
Map of the Week
A Really Greater New York New York City just introduced congestion pricing in an attempt to eliminate gridlock. There have...
6 months ago
26
6 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,...
Maps Mania
GeoGuessr for Photos
3 days ago
Maps Mania
The Flight of the Barn Swallow
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Spinning at a Thousand Miles an Hour
3 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...
3 months ago
18
3 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...
GeoCurrents
The Conceptual Incoherence of the Standard Continental Model The division of the terrestrial world into seven continents is seemingly the simplest topic in...
3 months ago
41
3 months ago
The division of the terrestrial world into seven continents is seemingly the simplest topic in geography, yet it is actually one of the most complex – which is precisely why I find it so fascinating. Unfortunately, the educational establishment grasps only its superficial...
Maps Mania
How Climate Change is Destroying Crops
5 months ago
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
20
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...
GeoCurrents
Mapping Continents Based on Continental Crust As the previous GeoCurrents post argued, the division of the terrestrial world into a handful of...
3 months ago
19
3 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 – 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
145
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...
Maps Mania
Before New York
5 months ago
GeoCurrents
Comparing Recent Patterns of Electoral Geography in the United States and Canada (Part 1:... Comparing electoral maps of Canada and the United States is a challenging exercise. The two...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
Comparing electoral maps of Canada and the United States is a challenging exercise. The two countries have markedly different political systems: the United States is a presidential democratic republic and Canada is a nominally monarchical state governed through a...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 3 (Apalachicola) Next we began the actual “road” portion of the road trip as Atlanta receded into the distance behind...
a year ago
52
a year ago
Next we began the actual “road” portion of the road trip as Atlanta receded into the distance behind us. We spaced our drives into four segments of 5-6 hours each to make them manageable. I figured that would cover a decent distance without consuming the entire day. The first leg...
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...
3 months ago
37
3 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...
Maps Mania
The Global News Map
a week ago
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
122
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...
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...
2 months ago
25
2 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...
somethingaboutmaps
Projection Cards: Now a Reality A couple months back, I floated an idea for making some fun trading cards based on map projections....
over a year ago
74
over a year ago
A couple months back, I floated an idea for making some fun trading cards based on map projections. I’m very happy to report that several dozen of you responded and contributed designs to help make the set happen. I’ve been spending several weeks on managing everyone and working...
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
159
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
Latitude Twins This map, on Reddit shows major North American cities replaced by European or Middle Eastern ones...
6 months ago
37
6 months ago
This map, on Reddit shows major North American cities replaced by European or Middle Eastern ones with the same approximate latitude. It illustrates the interesting climate fact that because of the Gulf Stream, Europe is much warmer further north. Thus Chicago is equivalent to...
Maps Mania
How Big is it Really?
2 weeks ago
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
103
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...
James Cheshire
Atlas des Unsichtbaren Thrilled to announce the publication of German edition of Atlas of the Invisible: Atlas des...
over a year ago
73
over a year ago
Thrilled to announce the publication of German edition of Atlas of the Invisible: Atlas des Unsichtbaren. It is published by Hanser, who also did an amazing job with our previous book Die Wege der Tiere, and available in all good bookshops across the German speaking world. Click...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 7 (Hill Country) The extended road trip finally arrived at its western terminus in the Texas Hill Country. This also...
a year ago
99
a year ago
The extended road trip finally arrived at its western terminus in the Texas Hill Country. This also marked my first visit to Burnet County, a rural locale situated northwest of Austin. Locals pronounce it something like BURN-it, and that’s how it felt as the mercury hit 103°...
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...
7 months ago
113
7 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...
Adventures In...
5 Minutes to Make a Map! We’ve all been there. A request comes in and you don’t have a lot of time. Like 5 or 10 minutes....
a year ago
120
a year ago
We’ve all been there. A request comes in and you don’t have a lot of time. Like 5 or 10 minutes. What! Ok, ok, be cool, this is going to be ok. Just breathe…and think. Think. Yes, we’ve got this. We’ve got the tools and the resources to crank out a serviceable map in the amount …
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 5 (Mississippi Gulf) Next we returned to familiar territory. I’ve mentioned the Mississippi Gulf Coast many times on...
a year ago
55
a year ago
Next we returned to familiar territory. I’ve mentioned the Mississippi Gulf Coast many times on Twelve Mile Circle because I go there fairly regularly and I have a lot of family there. However, my last trip was way back in 2019 and only for a long weekend. Somehow I never figured...
Map of the Week
Your Climate in 60 Years This fall's supercharged hurricanes are a reminder that despite the dishonest rhetoric coming from...
9 months ago
30
9 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
Where Americans Live
2 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 2 (Atlanta Revisited) I ventured into familiar territory as we started the trip, back to the same eastside of Atlanta that...
a year ago
47
a year ago
I ventured into familiar territory as we started the trip, back to the same eastside of Atlanta that I’d explored just four months prior. That wasn’t a coincidence. I enjoyed the area so much that I wanted the whole family to experience it too. So it made perfect sense to fly...
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
93
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...
somethingaboutmaps
A Usefully Useless Projection Friends, I’m excited to share that I have just completed a world physical map, in my new asymmetric...
3 months ago
46
3 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...
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...
12 months ago
150
12 months ago
Submitted by Jakob, who says: The M4 branch extension to Copenhagen South has just opened, and with it, a much improved map compared to 2019 [My review of the 2019 map can be found here – Cam]. The Circle Line is now more spacious, junctions are labeled more clearly, and metro...
Musings on Maps
Security Walls: “This is Just the Beginning” Attending New Year’s service in an Oxford Orthodox synagogue, I paused when the ritual prayer book I...
a year ago
124
a year ago
Attending New Year’s service in an Oxford Orthodox synagogue, I paused when the ritual prayer book I held–a Machzor-moved smoothly from prayers to George VI (it was an old one) to prayers for the Israel Defense Forces. The rabbi, who … Continue reading →
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...
2 months ago
22
2 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...
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
44
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
Dive into Your Maritime History
6 months ago
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...
2 weeks ago
13
2 weeks 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...
Musings on Maps
Victory! Sensing a need for administering a national shot of dopamine without much to accomplish for n end to...
4 months ago
48
4 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
It's a Scrambled World
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Your Personal AI Travel Guide
6 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 2 (Jurassic Coast) We were firmly based in Swanage after the long day of travel and ready to explore our new...
a year ago
108
a year ago
We were firmly based in Swanage after the long day of travel and ready to explore our new surroundings. However, we were still pretty tired so we stuck close to home and made it an easy day. Swanage sits near the eastern end of the 96 mile (154 km) Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World...
Maps Mania
I Traveled the World Through Trending Videos
a week ago
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
23
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...
Maps Mania
The Map of Nazi Camps & Ghettos
a week ago
Maps Mania
How the US Arms the Mexican Drug Cartels
a month ago
Maps Mania
Underwater Weather Forecasts
2 months ago
Adventures In...
Vignettes for the Win! A vignette is a darkening (or lightening) of the edges of a composition, to subtly frame it and draw...
8 months ago
101
8 months ago
A vignette is a darkening (or lightening) of the edges of a composition, to subtly frame it and draw the eye in to the middle. It’s an old photographer’s darkroom trick. Lucky for us, I’ve spent many hours in the darkroom and have grown to appreciate the charm and effectiveness...
Maps Mania
When is the sun directly overhead?
a month ago
Maps Mania
Where's the Gulf of Mexico?
5 months ago
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
49
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
The Walk Management System
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Introducing Terra Draw
6 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
116
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
A Bird's Eye View into the Past
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Red Sea Attacks
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Colonial Frontier Massacres
5 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 1 (Oahu: Honolulu Waterfront) Most of my work trips are pretty mundane. The last three were rather typical — Philadelphia, Tampa...
over a year ago
78
over a year ago
Most of my work trips are pretty mundane. The last three were rather typical — Philadelphia, Tampa and Atlanta — for example. Sometimes I go to more interesting places like my quick jaunt to Germany a few years ago. However, this time I hit the jackpot: Hawaii, Japan, and South...
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...
8 months ago
105
8 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Graduated It seemed like just yesterday that Twelve Mile Circle chronicled the kid who designed an imaginary...
a year ago
140
a year ago
It seemed like just yesterday that Twelve Mile Circle chronicled the kid who designed an imaginary town and counted various forms of transportation. Now my elementary aged student is all grown up, a newly-minted university graduate. Those interceding years passed much more...
Maps Mania
The Ultimate Tube Challenge
yesterday
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
90
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...
Musings on Maps
Sea Surface Temperatures With global ocean surface temperatures shot way off the charts by mid-March, beyond forty years...
a year ago
63
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
Europe in Drought
2 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
123
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?...
somethingaboutmaps
Kickstarter 3: The Return For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the process of cyanotype printing, and have released a...
8 months ago
121
8 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...
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
110
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...
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
90
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...
Map of the Week
Old World Language Families This isn’t a map, though there are small maps embedded, but an awesome graphic using the tree...
5 months ago
39
5 months ago
This isn’t a map, though there are small maps embedded, but an awesome graphic using the tree metaphor to detail the spread of languages. The size of the foliage represents the approximate population of speakers of each language. The graphic contains Indo-European and...
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
92
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...
Maps Mania
2024 - Another Year of Record Heat
5 months ago
Map of the Week
This One This one map (via New York Times) tells you quite a bit about what happened in the U.S. Election on...
8 months ago
30
8 months ago
This one map (via New York Times) tells you quite a bit about what happened in the U.S. Election on Tuesday. Aside from a few strange outliers (western Oklahoma, suburban Atlanta, northwest Michigan) The "red shift" happened across all regions and demographics. Hard to look at...
Transit Maps
Submission – Fantasy Map: New York Regional Rail Concept by James G Submitted by James, who says: I created this map based on various concepts (mainly the work of Alon...
11 months ago
119
11 months ago
Submitted by James, who says: I created this map based on various concepts (mainly the work of Alon Levy) for through-running regional rail in the New York region. This network would integrate all of the current commuter rail networks, increasing frequencies to metro-like levels,...
Maps Mania
Make Your Own Scrambled Maps
4 months ago
Maps Mania
EthnoGuessr
a month ago
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.)...
5 months ago
36
5 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...
somethingaboutmaps
Journey’s End Nearly five years ago, I completed a project that, to my mind, remains the most significant of my...
7 months ago
108
7 months ago
Nearly five years ago, I completed a project that, to my mind, remains the most significant of my cartographic career: An Atlas of Great Lakes Islands, manually printed in cyanotype, with a hand-stitched binding. I wanted to share this project with all of you, but there were only...
Maps Mania
The W3W Cryptic GeoGuessing Game
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Is it Hot Right Now?
a month ago
Musings on Maps
Maps and Metaphors The war around Gaza is not for territory, but rather for the destruction of the presence of a terror...
a year ago
130
a year ago
The war around Gaza is not for territory, but rather for the destruction of the presence of a terror network that has entrenched its power base deep underground. In many case, deeper than thought.  While Israel has been pretty clear about … Continue reading →
Map of the Week
The Salt Front The salt front is the point where a river becomes too salty to be safe for drinking water. The front...
8 months ago
32
8 months ago
The salt front is the point where a river becomes too salty to be safe for drinking water. The front moves upstream from the river’s mouth as less freshwater flows downstream to dilute it. I’d never heard of a salt front until I read about it in a recent article in...
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
27
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...
Maps Mania
Serendipitous Street View Fun
2 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 7 (Tankfest) Finally the single event that justified our entire trip to England arrived, the renowned Tankfest....
12 months ago
111
12 months ago
Finally the single event that justified our entire trip to England arrived, the renowned Tankfest. It’s everything the name implies, a festival of military tanks, and it happens only once a year on the grounds of the Tank Museum in Bovington (map). This is what the younger kid...
Adventures In...
Gradients along lines, rather than across While there isn’t a direct way to symbolize a line feature in ArcGIS Pro to have a gradient that...
4 months ago
58
4 months ago
While there isn’t a direct way to symbolize a line feature in ArcGIS Pro to have a gradient that travels along its length (rather than across its width), there are a handful of workarounds to get you there. If your line is wiggly, you might have to try a more robust method, like...
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....
11 months ago
134
11 months ago
One of the great joys of working here at Esri is the opportunity to collaborate with amazing people. Recently I had the opportunity to present at the User Conference about thematic mapping, with Sarah Bell and Kenneth Field. It was a lot of fun and we all surprised each other...
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
110
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...
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
25
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...
Maps Mania
Is Flying Becoming More Dangerous?
2 months ago
Adventures In...
How to emboss an imagery basemap Ah the simple pleasures of the World Imagery basemap. So much earth. So much imagery. So many...
over a year ago
102
over a year ago
Ah the simple pleasures of the World Imagery basemap. So much earth. So much imagery. So many corners of this world to explore. How can we take something so verdant and charming and just ratchet it up to eleven? We’ll use a water mask and some layer effects, that’s how! 0:00...
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
53
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 →
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...
2 months ago
35
2 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...
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
132
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
The History Quiz Map!
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Map Any Event in History (or Fiction)
2 months ago
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
18
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...
Map of the Week
The Maps of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, a Native American artist died a few weeks ago. Her artwork highlighted a...
4 months ago
40
4 months ago
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, a Native American artist died a few weeks ago. Her artwork highlighted a Native worldview juxtaposed with American pop culture and included many maps. -via Center for Public Art History In State Names (2000) paint drips obscure the European...
Adventures In...
Add Multiple Maps to One Layout Of course Alaska and Hawaii are glorious places, beloved by all for their lovely inhabitants and...
10 months ago
124
10 months ago
Of course Alaska and Hawaii are glorious places, beloved by all for their lovely inhabitants and majestic natural environs. It would be an error of omission should they not appear in a map of the United States, but it would also be a shame to shoe-horn them in looking sad with an...
Adventures In...
How to Make Features Illuminate an Underlying Basemap Sure, we can make features look like they are glowing. But how can we make them look like they are...
a year ago
54
a year ago
Sure, we can make features look like they are glowing. But how can we make them look like they are casting light on the basemap below? Here’s a silly little trick using crafty symbology and blend modes in ArcGIS Pro. In this case we’ll use glorious stork migration paths,...
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
102
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...
Map of the Week
Medieval Murder Maps Medieval Murder Maps is a project of the Violence Research Center at the University of Cambridge....
a month ago
25
a month ago
Medieval Murder Maps is a project of the Violence Research Center at the University of Cambridge. Using data from the coroners of the cities of London, Oxford and York they have created maps showing the locations of murders in the 14th Century. Sadly the image above (from York)...
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
106
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...
somethingaboutmaps
A Free eBook of Terrain Lines Friends, earlier this week I mentioned that I’d completed a whole bunch of terrain sketches using...
8 months ago
94
8 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...
Maps Mania
Billboard Ads on Maps
4 months ago
Map of the Week
Bad News For Local News Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It...
8 months ago
34
8 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 4 (Brew Day) We hadn’t visited any breweries in the first several days but that was about to change. It turns out...
over a year ago
55
over a year ago
We hadn’t visited any breweries in the first several days but that was about to change. It turns out Costa Rica has a fairly lively craft brewery scene and we were moving into an area rich with them. Several fell within our direct path between La Fortuna and Tamarindo and that...
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
105
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....
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
37
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...
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...
7 months ago
29
7 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...
Map of the Week
30 Day Map Challenge-Admiring the Work of Others For the past several years November for me has meant working on the 30 Day Map Challenge. This year...
8 months ago
35
8 months ago
For the past several years November for me has meant working on the 30 Day Map Challenge. This year I’ve been too busy to participate - also I really needed a break from it. Not participating means I’ve been able to admire the work of other cartographers. Here are some highlights...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Lines of the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway, 1927 Here’s a fascinating map of streetcar lines in Omaha, Nebraska in 1927, beautifully hand drawn on...
a year ago
119
a year ago
Here’s a fascinating map of streetcar lines in Omaha, Nebraska in 1927, beautifully hand drawn on top of a pre-printed single colour map of the area produced by the City’s engineering department. Not only does the map show the extent of all the streetcar lines (with 64.6 miles of...
Maps Mania
Time Travel Maps
4 days 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
128
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
A Guided Street View Tour of the World
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Scrambled Maps in the Wild
3 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
83
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...
Maps Mania
Air Tours of the World
4 months ago
GeoCurrents
Canadian Provinces and U.S. States Economically Compared As noted in the previous GeoCurrents post, Alberta is Canada’s most prosperous and economically...
a month ago
24
a month 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...
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
25
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, …...
Maps Mania
Godview AI
5 months 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...
9 months ago
94
9 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...
Make these ornaments please It’s that time of year when geographers the world over gather together in, let’s be honest, just...
7 months ago
83
7 months ago
It’s that time of year when geographers the world over gather together in, let’s be honest, just slightly awkward office holiday parties. We dedicate 82-86% of our mental capacities to socializing with our colleagues over deserts and drinks, while the remaining 14-16% remain...
Adventures In...
How to make this 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
109
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....
somethingaboutmaps
An Educational Experiment (Edit: sign-ups are now closed. I received over 150 responses for 4 available slots, which has been...
over a year ago
110
over a year ago
(Edit: sign-ups are now closed. I received over 150 responses for 4 available slots, which has been great but overwhelming. I may offer this again in the future if it goes well, so make sure to follow me on Twitter and subscribe to the blog, to be notified of when this happens.)...
somethingaboutmaps
Automated Hachuring in QGIS I seem to have accidentally come up with a method for duplicating a centuries-old terrain...
a year ago
145
a year ago
I seem to have accidentally come up with a method for duplicating a centuries-old terrain representation technique. If you’ve looked at old maps, you’ve probably seen hachures: lines that run up and down along the slope of terrain features. There were a wide variety of approaches...
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
96
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 →
Maps Mania
Discover the Toxin Polluters Near You
a month ago
Map of the Week
The Brattleboro Words Project Last year I was in Brattleboro, Vermont and saw an interesting map on display. It is part of...
4 months ago
45
4 months ago
Last year I was in Brattleboro, Vermont and saw an interesting map on display. It is part of the Brattleboro Words Project. The project “connects community members to the Brattleboro area’s unique history, the art of audio storytelling - and each other” through audio pieces, maps...
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
103
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!
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:...
2 weeks ago
17
2 weeks 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,...
Map of the Week
Merry Gridmas! Gridviz is a Javascript library for visualizing gridded (raster) data. They created a Christmas...
7 months ago
30
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...
Maps Mania
There's Something About Islands
5 months ago
Musings on Maps
“We Like Fighting Games” As he waited rather glumly for “the Feds” to arrive at his home, as his stepfather predicted, Airman...
over a year ago
95
over a year ago
As he waited rather glumly for “the Feds” to arrive at his home, as his stepfather predicted, Airman First Class Jack Douglas Teixiera may have pondered why he had posted classified maps of heated battle fronts in the Ukraine War … Continue reading →
Adventures In...
Detect and measure wildfires with Sentinel-1 Explorer Our human visual systems collect light from a pretty narrow slice of the electromagnetic spectrum....
11 months ago
119
11 months ago
Our human visual systems collect light from a pretty narrow slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. But there is so much more light to see. Radar systems use photons with much longer wavelengths that can break through clouds and smoke, and because the energy is sent from the...
Maps Mania
A City's Grief in One Street
4 weeks ago
Map of the Week
The Auschwitz Exhibition This past weekend I saw a traveling exhibition in Boston about the Auschwitz concentration camp. It...
10 months ago
35
10 months ago
This past weekend I saw a traveling exhibition in Boston about the Auschwitz concentration camp. It contains over 700 objects from shoes to gas masks to implements of torture and experimentation. The exhibit was co-produced by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and has been in...
Maps Mania
Celebrating 20 Years of Maps Mania
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Kangaroos Don't Vote - People Do
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Best (and Worst) Cities for Rail Transport
5 months 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...
5 months ago
59
5 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 →
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
127
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...
Illumination Cartography Here are a few flavors of a technique, illumination cartography, that uses data to shed light on its...
a year ago
133
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
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...
3 months ago
24
3 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...