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 #startups #history #life #science #literature #architecture #creative #design #finance #travel #comics #AI #indiehacker #cartography Muted Categories [alt+←][alt+→]
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
86
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...
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...
a month ago
17
a month 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....
James Cheshire
The long history of using maps to hold water companies to account James Cheshire, UCL Southern Water was handed a record fine of £90 million in July 2021 after...
over a year ago
82
over a year ago
James Cheshire, UCL Southern Water was handed a record fine of £90 million in July 2021 after pleading guilty to illegally discharging sewage along the rivers and coastline of Kent, Hampshire and Sussex. More than a year later, the headlines have not improved for Britain’s...
Maps Mania
Discover the Toxin Polluters Near You
3 weeks ago
Maps Mania
800K Galaxies - 1 Map
3 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 1 (Road Trip) It feels like I just got back from Costa Rica and then I’m right back on the road again. True...
a year ago
62
a year ago
It feels like I just got back from Costa Rica and then I’m right back on the road again. True enough, we made it home for only a couple of weeks before we began an extended drive through the southeastern United States. However, those were the only dates that worked with...
Maps Mania
Underwater Weather Forecasts
a month ago
Musings on Maps
Along Narnia’s Enchanted Shores As we face an age when the norms of legal conduct in the United States stand to be shredded, we have...
7 months ago
87
7 months ago
As we face an age when the norms of legal conduct in the United States stand to be shredded, we have been suggested to benefit from looking, both for perspective and solace, if only for relief, to fantasy literature as … Continue reading →
Maps Mania
A City's Grief in One Street
a week ago
Maps Mania
GeoGuessing Reimagined
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Italian Map Rot
a week ago
somethingaboutmaps
Take the 2024 Freelance Mapper Survey Friends and colleagues, it’s time once again for the survey that Aly Ollivierre and I conduct every...
a year ago
148
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...
Maps Mania
The USA is Closing for Business
5 months ago
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...
a month ago
23
a month 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...
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
110
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
Medieval Murder Maps Medieval Murder Maps is a project of the Violence Research Center at the University of Cambridge....
3 weeks ago
18
3 weeks 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)...
Maps Mania
Snakes on a Plane(t)
2 months ago
Adventures In...
How to Reattach Land that Spills Over the International Dateline If you’ve ever made a world map before, you may have noticed that bit of Siberia that spills over...
a year ago
76
a year ago
If you’ve ever made a world map before, you may have noticed that bit of Siberia that spills over the International Dateline only to magically appear on the left edge of the world. When it comes to projecting our not-2D world onto a 2D surface, we have to draw the line somewhere....
Adventures In...
Illumination Cartography Here are a few flavors of a technique, illumination cartography, that uses data to shed light on its...
a year ago
130
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
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...
7 months ago
100
7 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...
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
72
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
Belt & Road vs TACO
a month ago
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Argentine Railways, 1907 Now this is a map! This is just superb cartography: detailed, clear and lovely to look at. I love...
over a year ago
107
over a year ago
Now this is a map! This is just superb cartography: detailed, clear and lovely to look at. I love the way that brown is used for mountainous features, and a light blue is used for water features – it allows this information to be visible, but it doesn’t compete with the overlaid...
Adventures In...
How to Make a Historical Animation with Landsat Here’s how to whip up a three decade animation of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest,...
a year ago
103
a year ago
Here’s how to whip up a three decade animation of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, using Landsat Explorer. And it only takes a few minutes. … 0:00 Intro0:20 Assembling the animation1:47 Checking the result2:14 Saving an animation as an MP42:44 More animation examples3:33...
Maps Mania
Switzerland’s Landscape - Reimagined
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping A Billion Birds
4 weeks ago
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...
6 months ago
93
6 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 –...
Taming the Frontier, Part 2 The drive up to Michigan was something I did for myself, and I visited a number of historical and...
a month ago
16
a month ago
The drive up to Michigan was something I did for myself, and I visited a number of historical and cultural sites along the way. But I took the trip to drive a kid home for the summer and now I had a passenger for the rest of the ride. So I front-loaded most of the […] The post...
Maps Mania
Celebrating 20 Years of Maps Mania
2 months ago
Map of the Week
A Blue Map of China This past weekend I finally got to the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library to see...
10 months ago
22
10 months ago
This past weekend I finally got to the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library to see their exhibit, Heaven and Earth: The Blue Maps of China on one of its final days. Yes, I should have visited months ago when I could have encouraged readers to see it but though they...
GeoCurrents
How Does an Updated Map of Zoogeographic Regions Mesh with the Architecture of Continents? An important 2013 article in published in Science, “An Update of Wallace’s Zoogeographic Regions of...
2 months ago
19
2 months ago
An important 2013 article in published in Science, “An Update of Wallace’s Zoogeographic Regions of the World,” redivides the world’s faunal regions. The study is based on a sophisticated statistical and phylogenetic analysis of 21,037 species of amphibians, non-pelagic birds and...
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
148
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...
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...
4 weeks ago
12
4 weeks 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 →
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
66
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...
Musings on Maps
Swing States, Battleground States and Hot Spots Are the maps of President Trump's 2024 electoral evidence of a sudden shift or deep undercurrents of...
7 months ago
92
7 months ago
Are the maps of President Trump's 2024 electoral evidence of a sudden shift or deep undercurrents of disaffection? The sudden partisan shift of voting maps suggest a dark undercurrents in American politics. Continue reading →
Adventures In...
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
121
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 Democracy Sausage Map
2 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
91
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...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Map at Bergenline Avenue Station Submitted by Kara, who says: At the (extremely cool) Bergenline Avenue station, [my partner and I]...
a year ago
117
a year ago
Submitted by Kara, who says: At the (extremely cool) Bergenline Avenue station, [my partner and I] stumbled across this official map that I’d never seen before, depicting both the HBLR and the PATH! It was actually all over that station, and it’s definitely a relatively old map,...
Maps Mania
Has a Nuke Gone Off?
15 hours ago
Maps Mania
State of the Global Climate 2024
3 months ago
Adventures In...
North Arrow Necessity Can a map still be considered a map if it doesn’t have a north arrow? Yes. A north arrow is an...
10 months ago
93
10 months ago
Can a map still be considered a map if it doesn’t have a north arrow? Yes. A north arrow is an optional map accompaniment and you should think critically about your map to determine for yourself if it needs a north arrow or not. For what it’s worth, often a map should not have a...
Adventures In...
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
62
a year ago
Here is a two-pack with some small adventures with data in ArcGIS Online. The first is a smashing of two fields into a new frankenfield ready for mapping, and the second shows how to create entirely new map layers and cram them with meaningful attributes. … Sometimes you have all...
GeoCurrents
Are Continents Rooted in Plate Tectonics? Tectonic plates are the basic building blocks of the Earth’s lithosphere, its outermost rocky layer....
3 months ago
17
3 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...
James Cheshire
The Scarred Landscape of the Climate Crisis I’ve been obsessively checking satellite imagery to witness the UK turn from green to yellow, thanks...
over a year ago
107
over a year ago
I’ve been obsessively checking satellite imagery to witness the UK turn from green to yellow, thanks to the period of extreme heat and lack of rain Europe has been enduring. The parched landscape is unlike anything I’ve seen before and a cloud free day today (10th August) has...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Tram and Busways of Casablanca, Morocco, 2024 Submitted by Leo, who says: On September 24, the Casablanca tramway network nearly doubled in length...
9 months ago
196
9 months ago
Submitted by Leo, who says: On September 24, the Casablanca tramway network nearly doubled in length with the opening of T3 and T4. The Casatramway network, operated by RATP, is depicted in the new map alongside the Casabusway BRT lines currently under construction. The map...
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...
6 months ago
98
6 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...
Maps Mania
Live London Underground Trains
2 months ago
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...
2 months ago
20
2 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...
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
29
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....
Transit Maps
New Official Map: San Francisco Muni Metro Map with Central Subway This map has actually been out for a while, but today – celebrating the full opening of the Central...
over a year ago
110
over a year ago
This map has actually been out for a while, but today – celebrating the full opening of the Central Subway – seemed like the appropriate day to post about it. Design-wise, this is very much an evolution of previous efforts (see my review of the post-COVID resumption of service...
somethingaboutmaps
Another Atlas of Minor Projects A few years ago, I compiled a PDF of various small odds-and-ends mapping projects that I’d done....
a year ago
122
a year ago
A few years ago, I compiled a PDF of various small odds-and-ends mapping projects that I’d done. Now, I’ve done it again. Please enjoy Another Atlas of Minor Projects, which houses a few dozen cartographic items that needed a home. These are all small, mostly-quick projects that...
Map of the Week
Three Part World Via Newsweek - The current tyrants governments of the United States, Russia and China may be wishing...
2 weeks ago
13
2 weeks 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
Mapping the Cultural Impact of Gentrification
a week ago
Maps Mania
The Battering School Kids Map
4 months ago
Maps Mania
The 2024 Sea-Level Rise Map
a month ago
somethingaboutmaps
Automated Hachuring in QGIS I seem to have accidentally come up with a method for duplicating a centuries-old terrain...
12 months ago
141
12 months ago
I seem to have accidentally come up with a method for duplicating a centuries-old terrain representation technique. If you’ve looked at old maps, you’ve probably seen hachures: lines that run up and down along the slope of terrain features. There were a wide variety of approaches...
Adventures In...
Find and download vintage USGS topo maps The new Historical Topo Map Explorer is out of beta and ready for you to dive into a collection of...
a year ago
134
a year ago
The new Historical Topo Map Explorer is out of beta and ready for you to dive into a collection of over 180,000 beautiful vintage USGS topo maps! Use this updated Living Atlas app to geographically browse, download, export, and even animate, these cartographic objects of joy....
Maps Mania
How Deep was That Earthquake?
3 months ago
Map of the Week
Iditarod Course Change Alaska’s famous Iditarod dog sled race concluded last week. Global warming meant the route needed to...
3 months ago
33
3 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...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Trams of Brisbane, Queensland, 1957 A simple but nicely drawn map of tram services in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1957. The lack...
over a year ago
133
over a year ago
A simple but nicely drawn map of tram services in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1957. The lack of any sort of key for the routes means that users need to have some familiarity with the city to decipher where trams might go. The pamphlet that the map is part of includes...
Maps Mania
Hunger Maps
a month ago
Maps Mania
The Black History Month Map
4 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...
6 months ago
92
6 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...
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
77
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...
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....
10 months ago
130
10 months ago
One of the great joys of working here at Esri is the opportunity to collaborate with amazing people. Recently I had the opportunity to present at the User Conference about thematic mapping, with Sarah Bell and Kenneth Field. It was a lot of fun and we all surprised each other...
somethingaboutmaps
A New Take on an Old Style Gentle readers, I have some exciting things to share with you. After several months of tinkering and...
8 months ago
90
8 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...
somethingaboutmaps
Thoughts on Practical Cartographic Education While I have not conducted a formal survey, I think I have the right impression when I say that most...
over a year ago
87
over a year ago
While I have not conducted a formal survey, I think I have the right impression when I say that most university cartography courses, at least in the United States, are taught by people whose primary job (when they are not teaching) is not the regular production of maps. These...
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
99
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...
Musings on Maps
“They’re Eating Dogs” “If exotic non-human animals inhabited the edges of the inhabited world in medieval cosmologies,...
9 months ago
115
9 months ago
“If exotic non-human animals inhabited the edges of the inhabited world in medieval cosmologies, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the MAGA candidate who has done much to resurrect the contours of theocratic Neo-medieval maps of the world is perpetuating stories of … Continue...
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
75
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...
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...
2 months ago
36
2 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...
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
87
over a year ago
James Cheshire, UCL and Michael Batty, UCL On November 15 2022, a baby girl named Vinice Mabansag, born at Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, Philippines, became – symbolically – the eight billionth person in the world. Of those 8 billion people, 60% live in a town or...
Map of the Week
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...
7 months ago
30
7 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...
Maps Mania
Prosecuting Crimes Against Humanity
3 weeks ago
somethingaboutmaps
Projection Cards I had a whimsical idea a few months ago: map projection trading cards. Something nerdy and...
over a year ago
87
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...
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
89
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...
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
76
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...
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
154
a year ago
The Gaza Strip’s spatiality continues to puzzle and fascinate–as much as the pressing question of its sovereignty. The two are of course intertwined, and the boundaries of Gaza are historically defined. The perimeter around the Gaza Strip was in a … Continue reading →
Twelve Mile Circle –...
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
67
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...
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...
a month ago
22
a month 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 1 (Intentions and Observations) This was supposed to be the younger kid’s trip. It was his turn to select a destination — anywhere...
a year ago
54
a year ago
This was supposed to be the younger kid’s trip. It was his turn to select a destination — anywhere in the world — as a present for his upcoming high school graduation next year. The older one chose Australia back in 2018 and we expanded it to include New Zealand too. England...
Adventures In...
Easy map data downloads for graphic designers Graphic designers! Here’s an easy way to grab beautiful accurate open map data for your design work....
5 months ago
51
5 months ago
Graphic designers! Here’s an easy way to grab beautiful accurate open map data for your design work. Real data. No tracing. Download vector map data as points, lines, and polygons, all styled and ready for your work in Illustrator or whatever program you use. Maps rule, and it’s...
Adventures In...
Stories Here are some StoryMap stories that I’ve written over the years… Piracy & Time Travel How Deep is...
a year ago
84
a year ago
Here are some StoryMap stories that I’ve written over the years… Piracy & Time Travel How Deep is Challenger Deep? Julie’s Improbable Flight How to Write a Story, starring sharks and hurricanes Gap, Pass, Notch, & Saddle College Football Air Mile Index Rivers of Plastic Smoking,...
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...
8 months ago
82
8 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...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: San Joaquin County, California, c. 1910 Here’s a beautiful old illustrative map – this is from a prospectus advertising the benefits of...
a year ago
49
a year ago
Here’s a beautiful old illustrative map – this is from a prospectus advertising the benefits of settling in San Joaquin County, California in 1910. Part of depicting this as a desirable place to live and do business is showing the multitude of modern railway lines – including...
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
81
over a year ago
Excited to announce that we have funding for a +3 studentship in the UCL Department of Geography for the project “An Atlas of Health and Social Inequalities”. The research will be carried out in association with the Health Foundation and will comprise the creation of a range of...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
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
48
a year ago
Next we began the actual “road” portion of the road trip as Atlanta receded into the distance behind us. We spaced our drives into four segments of 5-6 hours each to make them manageable. I figured that would cover a decent distance without consuming the entire day. The first leg...
Adventures In...
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
116
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 …
Maps Mania
Dive into Your Maritime History
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Hyperlocal Social Media
2 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 6 (Beyond the Beach) My flirtation with idleness ended. I simply couldn’t sit around Tamarindo another day doing nothing...
a year ago
35
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
Countries with Women Leaders Here is a map from the Washington Post, via Reddit showing countries past & present with women as...
7 months ago
28
7 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...
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
26
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...
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
106
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.)...
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
116
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
Google's AI Hurricane Predictor
2 weeks ago
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...
11 months ago
119
11 months ago
Here’s an absolutely cracking diagrammatic map that appeared as a fold-out sheet in Union Pacific annual reports from about 1978 through 1981, maybe slightly longer. I first saw this as a photograph of a partial part of the map, but it didn’t take me too long to find the whole...
Maps Mania
Red Dots for Dialysis Decline
a week ago
GeoCurrents
Floristic Kingdoms and the Architecture of Continents The two previous GeoCurrents posts examined the biological significance of continents by looking at...
2 months ago
22
2 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...
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
99
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...
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
53
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
Mapping The Surf Malin and Mizen is a company that makes specialty maps like the California Surf Map   I love the...
2 months ago
18
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...
Maps Mania
Map Any Event in History (or Fiction)
a month ago
somethingaboutmaps
Projection Connections: A Very Nerdy Poster Friends, I’m excited to offer to you a new poster. Not a map this time around, but something...
over a year ago
99
over a year ago
Friends, I’m excited to offer to you a new poster. Not a map this time around, but something map-related. A 16 × 24-inch tangled web showing how 100+ different map projections are all related to each other: Projections are a niche topic even among cartographers, so I don’t...
Maps Mania
The Treasure Hunting Game
3 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
97
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...
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
103
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
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 week ago
13
a week 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...
Musings on Maps
Putting out Fires and Ensuring Water Flow Before the mass firings of civil servants, members of government, and oversight by the Trump...
4 months ago
49
4 months ago
Before the mass firings of civil servants, members of government, and oversight by the Trump administration, we were already shocked by two major disruptions that suggest the danger of the new President’s reflexive knee-jerk responses from his over-sensitive gut. Both–the …...
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...
8 months ago
28
8 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...
Adventures In...
How to Make this Animated Map of Blue Whale Migration I have a deep admiration for the stirrings inside animals that drive them to undertake...
a year ago
64
a year ago
I have a deep admiration for the stirrings inside animals that drive them to undertake thousands-of-miles journeys to far flung locations, and back, in concert with the passage of the our earth around its sun. I’ve reflected on it in writing what became a surprisingly...
Maps Mania
Jumbled Maps
4 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
St. Mary’s (and Calvert), Maryland County counting becomes increasingly difficult as I continue my glacially slow progress. Now it...
a year ago
103
a year ago
County counting becomes increasingly difficult as I continue my glacially slow progress. Now it takes more than five hours to reach the closest unvisited county from my home. Fortunately I found a workaround by shifting my focus to overnight county visits. There are plenty of...
James Cheshire
If Data Could Talk Podcast We sat down with Andy Cotgreave for the If Data Could Talk podcast to give some behind the scenes...
over a year ago
90
over a year ago
We sat down with Andy Cotgreave for the If Data Could Talk podcast to give some behind the scenes insights about our collaborative process and some of the work that went into Atlas of the Invisible.
Map of the Week
Mapping Prejudice Mapping Prejudice is a project by a team of scholars and activists at the University of Minnesota....
4 months ago
48
4 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...
Maps Mania
2025 German Election Maps
4 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
113
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....
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Metro Rapid Map, Madison, Wisconsin Submitted by Matthew, who says: Madison, WI just opened the first phase of our new BRT system, with...
4 months ago
38
4 months ago
Submitted by Matthew, who says: Madison, WI just opened the first phase of our new BRT system, with new stations, new electric buses, and a new diagrams. I’d love to know what you think about the design, especially how the city handled differentiating the two types of station...
Maps Mania
Find Your Birthday Tree
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The MAGA Plugin for Interactive Maps
5 months ago
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
96
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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 7 (Tankfest) Finally the single event that justified our entire trip to England arrived, the renowned Tankfest....
11 months ago
108
11 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...
Maps Mania
The Anti-MAGA Protest Mapper
a month ago
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
102
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...
Maps Mania
Drinking & Eating in the Sun
2 months ago
Adventures In...
How to make this map of a melting glacier I’ve been to Columbia Glacier, just west of Valdez, Alaska, three times. The first was as a...
over a year ago
106
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....
Maps Mania
Introducing ESA's Satellite Stories
a week ago
Maps Mania
The Best (and Worst) Cities for Rail Transport
4 months ago
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
96
a year ago
The extended road trip finally arrived at its western terminus in the Texas Hill Country. This also marked my first visit to Burnet County, a rural locale situated northwest of Austin. Locals pronounce it something like BURN-it, and that’s how it felt as the mercury hit 103°...
Maps Mania
3D Print Your World
4 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 week ago
11
a week 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...
Maps Mania
The Most Beautiful Places in the World
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The First Cuckoo of Spring
2 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Broomfield and Denver Weekend I’ve been traveling a lot lately. It feels like I just got back from the Pacific Northwest, and...
8 months ago
81
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...
Maps Mania
The Dot Map of America
4 months ago
Maps Mania
How the US Arms the Mexican Drug Cartels
a month ago
Maps Mania
A Time Traveller's Guide to the Zoo
5 days ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Great American Beer Festival (and More) I hinted at ulterior motives in the last article about my long weekend in Denver. I didn’t travel...
8 months ago
83
8 months ago
I hinted at ulterior motives in the last article about my long weekend in Denver. I didn’t travel all the way out there just to casually tour around. Indeed, I had a very specific purpose in mind — checking off a bucket list item in fact — attending the Great American Beer...
Maps Mania
Paving Paradise for the Ultra Rich
2 weeks ago
GeoCurrents
Who Are “The Laurentian Elite?” Where Is “Laurentian Canada?” & Why Do Americans Ignore the Saint... Canada’s western separatists often refer disparagingly to “the Laurentian elite” and “Laurentian...
a month ago
26
a month ago
Canada’s western separatists often refer disparagingly to “the Laurentian elite” and “Laurentian Canada,” terms that are not familiar to most readers in the United States. These terms derive from the region around the Saint Lawrence River, Canada’s political, economic, and...
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
80
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...
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
39
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...
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
85
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 –...
Inland Northwest, Day 7 (Abrupt End) What should have been a ten day trip ended unexpectedly on the seventh day. The previous evening our...
8 months ago
84
8 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...
GeoCurrents
The Conceptual Incoherence of the Standard Continental Model The division of the terrestrial world into seven continents is seemingly the simplest topic in...
2 months ago
32
2 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
Spinning at a Thousand Miles an Hour
2 months ago
Musings on Maps
Perilous Waters The voyage to the Titanic promoted cartographic fantasies of discovery and exploration, but only in...
over a year ago
79
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 –...
Taming the Frontier, Part 1 I didn’t have a proper vacation in awhile. Then, unexpectedly, I had abundant time on my hands. I...
a month ago
16
a month 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Culpeper Co., Virginia I enjoy county counting but it becomes increasingly difficult to reach new counties as my count...
4 months ago
37
4 months ago
I enjoy county counting but it becomes increasingly difficult to reach new counties as my count increases. That’s why I began a sub-variant involving overnight counties. You see it counts “more” by my arbitrary rules if I spend an entire night there instead of simply passing...
James Cheshire
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
89
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...
Musings on Maps
Fifteen Two-Hundred Pound Bombs Dropping at least fifteen two hundred pound bombs equipped with precision guidance systems–bunker...
9 months ago
108
9 months ago
Dropping at least fifteen two hundred pound bombs equipped with precision guidance systems–bunker busters that could penetrate deep underground and flatten built structures–that killed Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and much of his high command follows a terrifying explosion of...
Maps Mania
The Russian Sabotage Map
3 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 2 (Take a Walk) Dayton is decently sized place with about 130,000 residents in the city proper and about 800,000 in...
a year ago
118
a year ago
Dayton is decently sized place with about 130,000 residents in the city proper and about 800,000 in the larger metropolitan area. So that makes it large enough for some attractions and urban amenities, but nobody would mistake it for a city that never sleeps. I figured I might...
somethingaboutmaps
Challenging the Idea of a Bad Map We’re just a couple of weeks away from the 30 Day Map Challenge, an annual celebration of...
a year ago
93
a year ago
We’re just a couple of weeks away from the 30 Day Map Challenge, an annual celebration of cartographic creativity. I know some of you are already brainstorming about what you might do this year. Each day has a prompt, and you’re encouraged to make a map that day that is based on...
Maps Mania
The Largest Gathering in Human History
a month ago
Map of the Week
Merry Gridmas! Gridviz is a Javascript library for visualizing gridded (raster) data. They created a Christmas...
6 months ago
26
6 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...
somethingaboutmaps
2025 AFC Freelancer Survey Though it’s been about a week since we sent it out there, I just recalled that I haven’t alerted all...
2 months ago
44
2 months ago
Though it’s been about a week since we sent it out there, I just recalled that I haven’t alerted all of you to the 2025 edition of the freelance cartographer survey that Aly Ollivierre and I conduct. Due to popular demand, we are going to try conducting it annually, rather than...
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
71
over a year ago
A couple months back, I floated an idea for making some fun trading cards based on map projections. I’m very happy to report that several dozen of you responded and contributed designs to help make the set happen. I’ve been spending several weeks on managing everyone and working...
Adventures In...
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
81
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...
Map of the Week
Your Climate in 60 Years This fall's supercharged hurricanes are a reminder that despite the dishonest rhetoric coming from...
8 months ago
26
8 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...
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
22
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...
Maps Mania
Synchronized Street View Tours
5 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
76
over a year ago
Many of the maps I have created in recent years address the climate crisis and I’ve been asked a number of times about if I feel powerless in the face of the data I’m showing. I reflect on this here with Kit Rackley. Our chat also in part inspired this article in The...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Detour to Ashtabula About two and a half years ago I planned to capture three unvisited counties at the far northeastern...
a year ago
123
a year ago
About two and a half years ago I planned to capture three unvisited counties at the far northeastern corner of Ohio. Unfortunately it didn’t happen due to a snowstorm that dumped about a foot of snow on the target area. So instead I changed my plans and focused on Michigan’s...
Maps Mania
Zoom, Pan, and Explore: Sutro Tower in 3D
4 months ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: GoBus Ohio, 2024 Submitted by Leo, who says: The state-supported GoBus system in Ohio has a somewhat strange route...
11 months ago
110
11 months ago
Submitted by Leo, who says: The state-supported GoBus system in Ohio has a somewhat strange route scheme (e.g. no direct route from Columbus to Cleveland, or Columbus to Cincinnati via Dayton) but their map, despite being overall fairly poor, makes some interesting stylistic...
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
86
over a year ago
Submitted by Griffin, who says: I work upstairs in the old Grand Central and was every excited to check out the new station this morning. Spotted this new map on the wall down there, thought you might find it interesting. Transit Maps says: Oh, I do like this. Graphically strong...
Maps Mania
The Fentanyl Supply Chain
3 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 6 (County-Centric) We were now between race days again, with two races down and one more to go. So we could do pretty...
8 months ago
78
8 months ago
We were now between race days again, with two races down and one more to go. So we could do pretty much whatever we wanted now and I decided to focus on some county counting. It was all virgin territory to me and I intended to cover as much of it as I could during […] The post...
Maps Mania
A Guided Street View Tour of the World
2 months ago
GeoCurrents
The Myth of Continents Revisited: GeoCurrents YouTube Video As it has been more than a quarter century since the publication of my book The Myth of Continents...
a week ago
11
a week ago
As it has been more than a quarter century since the publication of my book The Myth of Continents (co-written with my wife, Kären Wigen), I have long thought that the topic deserved reconsideration. An opportunity came in May 2025, when I was invited to give a talk in Stanford’s...
Maps Mania
Where Mamdani Beat Cuomo
a week ago
Maps Mania
Scrambled Maps in the Wild
2 months ago
Maps Mania
There's Something About Islands
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Poland's Political Partition Persists
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
126
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 →
Maps Mania
EthnoGuessr
3 weeks 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
117
a year ago
James Cheshire, UCL and Rob Davidson, UCL In March 2020, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, presented to the nation a graph showing “the shape of an epidemic”. The red line depicting the number of predicted COVID cases rose to a steep peak before...
Maps Mania
The Doomsday Glacier
3 days ago
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
17
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...
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...
6 months ago
25
6 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...
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...
a month ago
18
a month 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...
Maps Mania
The Future Risk Index Rides Again
3 months ago
Transit Maps
What I’m Up To and the Future of the Blog Hi, everyone – it’s been a while! Quite a few people have written in lately wondering why I haven’t...
12 months ago
125
12 months ago
Hi, everyone – it’s been a while! Quite a few people have written in lately wondering why I haven’t updated the blog in a while, so I thought I should address that. Firstly, for those that were concerned something was wrong, I’d like to reassure you that I’m a-okay and everything...
Maps Mania
Is it Hot Right Now?
a month ago
Maps Mania
How Climate Change is Destroying Crops
4 months ago
Maps Mania
What If Asteroid 2024 YR4 Hit Your Town?
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Is Flying Becoming More Dangerous?
a month ago
Maps Mania
The 2025 Australian Election Map
3 months ago
Adventures In...
The Bounding Box Podcast The one where I chat with Rene Rubalcava about the importance of unstructured data-play, the risk of...
over a year ago
101
over a year ago
The one where I chat with Rene Rubalcava about the importance of unstructured data-play, the risk of metrics becoming the goal, where to find inspiration, brewing chaos into professional development, and loving our neighbors!
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 6 (Bournemouth) We didn’t go far but it seemed like a world apart, traveling from an isolated corner of Dorset into...
11 months ago
102
11 months ago
We didn’t go far but it seemed like a world apart, traveling from an isolated corner of Dorset into its most populous area. That led us to Bournemouth (map), a coastal town along the English Channel. There are so many ancient places in the United Kingdom but this is not one of...
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...
10 months ago
105
10 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...
Maps Mania
The History Quiz Map!
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Federal Funding & Jobs Slashed
3 months ago
Maps Mania
A Bird's Eye View into the Past
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The Start of Hurricane Season
a month ago
Musings on Maps
A Global Landscape of Growing Glacial Loss With frozen glaciers disappearing into the oceans at an unprecedented rate, the rise of an...
over a year ago
73
over a year ago
With frozen glaciers disappearing into the oceans at an unprecedented rate, the rise of an ecotourism of glacier viewing is hardly unexpected. But the rise of new heights of glacial melt that are feared for much of the arctic this … Continue reading →
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 3 (Lake and Mountain) Now it was time to get serious about seeing some local sights. We got to Ontario without any issues,...
4 days ago
8
4 days ago
Now it was time to get serious about seeing some local sights. We got to Ontario without any issues, we had an entire down day, and next we needed something fun. Everyone in the family has a different version of fun but I had an idea. But before we started all that I still wanted...
somethingaboutmaps
The Dream Lives I know lately I’ve been in commercial mode, pointing you toward various projects of mine that you...
7 months ago
90
7 months ago
I know lately I’ve been in commercial mode, pointing you toward various projects of mine that you can support by giving me money. And I promise I’ll get back to less commercial musings as time goes on. But for now, I also want to alert you to a way you can give other people...
Maps Mania
An Extremely Distorted Map of the US Election
5 months ago
Adventures In...
How to make this drought map in ArcGIS Online Here’s how to make the drought map used in the Drought Aware app. This video covers creating a...
6 months ago
102
6 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...
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
71
over a year ago
Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s survey of freelance cartographer rates and business practices! Herein, you will find the results of the survey, sliced into a few different charts and visuals, all crafted by my survey partner Aly Ollivierre. For...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 3 (Japan: Tokyo Temples and Tourists) I arrived in Japan on a Friday evening, having lost an entire day crossing the International Date...
over a year ago
80
over a year ago
I arrived in Japan on a Friday evening, having lost an entire day crossing the International Date Line from Honolulu. But it also meant I got a free weekend in Tokyo before resuming work on Monday. It’s easier and cheaper to stay in a hotel all weekend than go half way around the...
Maps Mania
Automatically Mapping YouTube Videos
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping Your Future Climate Risks
a month ago
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
51
a year ago
Sure, we can make features look like they are glowing. But how can we make them look like they are casting light on the basemap below? Here’s a silly little trick using crafty symbology and blend modes in ArcGIS Pro. In this case we’ll use glorious stork migration paths,...
Maps Mania
Wiki Explore
4 months ago
Map of the Week
30 Day Map Challenge-One Final Note In writing yesterday’s post I forgot about this awesome music video about the 30 Day Map Challenge....
7 months ago
27
7 months ago
In writing yesterday’s post I forgot about this awesome music video about the 30 Day Map Challenge. The lyrics are French with English subtitles and it’s fun to hear how musical words like choropleth and story map can sound in French. “Some people sell houses, chickens, bidets, I...
Adventures In...
Vintage Retro Old-School 1890s Basemap for ArcGIS Pro Here’s how to stack up some tile layers and blend them up to concoct a basemap that wouldn’t look...
10 months ago
113
10 months ago
Here’s how to stack up some tile layers and blend them up to concoct a basemap that wouldn’t look out of place in 1890. Except that you wouldn’t have anywhere to plug in your monitor so it would be hard to show it to people back then. Ok bring a small generator. Wait, all these …
Maps Mania
The Google Maps Platform Awards
a month 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
76
over a year ago
Monday arrived and I had to get back to work. A weekend in Tokyo was nice although I had other plans and that involved getting out of the city. After all, the whole premise for this trip was visiting U.S. military facilities USS Blue Ridge The 7th Fleet of the United States Navy...
Maps Mania
The Flight of the Barn Swallow
4 months ago
Adventures In...
Puget Sound 3D block diagram Here’s a map of the Puget Sound area that I made a couple years ago for presentations to folks in...
a year ago
137
a year ago
Here’s a map of the Puget Sound area that I made a couple years ago for presentations to folks in the US northwest. Recently I wanted to work some more at labeling in a 3D environment and found this to be a handy target. Additionally, I thought it would be fun to make more use …
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
38
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...
Maps Mania
Donald Trump Surrenders the World to China
3 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...
a year ago
55
a year ago
The second full day in La Fortuna promised abundant showers although not continuously. It was the rainy season after all and it rains, and people deal with it. Frankly, the bright sunshine of the previous day was a fluke. So we understood all of this ahead of time and we devised...
Maps Mania
Open Access, Open Source: OpenTimes
3 months 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
32
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...
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
63
a year ago
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Transit Maps has never taken a look at the map for Portland’s northern neighbour, the (original) Vancouver. With the recent addition of their second “The Vine” BRT route along Mill Plain Boulevard, now seems like a good time. At first glance, it...
Maps Mania
Your Personal AI Travel Guide
5 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 8 (Onward to London) Finally we reached the end of our time in Dorset. I enjoyed that quiet corner of England and I felt...
11 months ago
110
11 months ago
Finally we reached the end of our time in Dorset. I enjoyed that quiet corner of England and I felt we covered it pretty thoroughly. Now we needed to drive back to London where a whole new set of adventures awaited. Stonehenge However, we couldn’t go straight back because of...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: TRAM d’Alacant Fare Zones, 2023 Submitted by Roberto, who says: I would like to share the TRAM d’Alacant fare zone map. It describes...
over a year ago
119
over a year ago
Submitted by Roberto, who says: I would like to share the TRAM d’Alacant fare zone map. It describes the different zones and stops of this tramway/narrow gauge train in the Spanish province of Alacant (Alicante). It’s been reopened recently after six years of renovation works....
Maps Mania
The Best & Worst Rated Countries in the World
4 months ago
Maps Mania
It's Groundhog Day (Again & Again & Again)
5 months ago
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
118
a year ago
“I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains. And then find somewhere where I can rest.” In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the reckoning of a Lord of the Rings style fantasy map, right in ArcGIS Pro. We map-makers get to breathe honest to goodness geographic life...
Map of the Week
Revolutionary War Semiquincentennial Semiquincentennial is a word we will be hearing quite a bit over the next few years as the United...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
Semiquincentennial is a word we will be hearing quite a bit over the next few years as the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary. The Revolutionary War’s 250th anniversary will be marked on April 19th of this year. On that day in 1775 British forces exchanged gunfire...
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
18
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...
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
69
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
GeoGuessr for History Buffs
5 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 5 (Venturing West) My second day of county counting focused west of Dayton, once again targeting five new counties....
a year ago
126
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...
Maps Mania
Unlocking Google’s Hidden Maps
a month ago
Maps Mania
Canadian Wildfire Smoke Forecasts
a month ago
Maps Mania
Millions Flee War, Floods, and Persecution
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Free TV & Radio Maps
3 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 4 (Bristol) In retrospect we probably should have done this as an overnight trip. As we soon learned, there’s no...
11 months ago
111
11 months ago
In retrospect we probably should have done this as an overnight trip. As we soon learned, there’s no fast, direct way to drive from Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck to Bristol (map). Google says it should take a couple of hours in optimal conditions which sounds doable, if a bit slow....
somethingaboutmaps
A Usefully Useless Projection Friends, I’m excited to share that I have just completed a world physical map, in my new asymmetric...
2 months ago
40
2 months ago
Friends, I’m excited to share that I have just completed a world physical map, in my new asymmetric monstrosity projection. It’s free to download, or if you want to buy a 30″ × 20″ print, you can also do that (and I will be pleasantly surprised). If you download it and print it...
Maps Mania
How to Learn the Countries of the World
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The World's Terrorist Hotpots
2 months ago
Map of the Week
The Ferraris Atlas of Belgium While I was at the British Library in May, I spent much time admiring and puzzling over this...
9 months ago
33
9 months ago
While I was at the British Library in May, I spent much time admiring and puzzling over this atlas. The Ferraris maps of the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) were created by Count (and cartographer) Joseph de Ferraris in the 1770's. He was commissioned by Austrian empress...
Adventures In...
How to add mist to terrain in ArcGIS Online There are lots of reasons to cloak your terrain in a fluffy ephemeral layer of mist. It gives an...
over a year ago
85
over a year ago
There are lots of reasons to cloak your terrain in a fluffy ephemeral layer of mist. It gives an overall sense of the slope and elevation trends in your view, it showcases meandering river valleys in a charming realism, hilltops peak through with clarity and drama…and it just...
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,...
4 months ago
38
4 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...
Map of the Week
The Auschwitz Exhibition This past weekend I saw a traveling exhibition in Boston about the Auschwitz concentration camp. It...
9 months ago
30
9 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...
GeoCurrents
Map Art or Scientific Cartography? Many maps, in my view, are also work of art, regardless of their creators’ intentions. Some maps,...
3 months ago
14
3 months ago
Many maps, in my view, are also work of art, regardless of their creators’ intentions. Some maps, however, are explicitly made as art, and as such are not designed to convey spatial information beyond that found in the mere geographical shapes that they contain. Increasingly, it...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 4 (Japan: Exploring Tokyo) Sure, the tourists sites were great, but Twelve Mile Circle readers know I like to follow tangents...
over a year ago
80
over a year ago
Sure, the tourists sites were great, but Twelve Mile Circle readers know I like to follow tangents even when I do that. I’m always on the hunt for the unusual, or at least the unusual to me. I’m sure everything seemed perfectly normal to anyone from Japan. So I made sure I...
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
57
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,...
Maps Mania
Roads, Railways, Runways & Rivers
5 months ago
Map of the Week
Where Does Your Water Go? I found this tool six years ago and meant to post it but forgot until now. Fortunately it still...
a month ago
29
a month 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...
Maps Mania
The Tariff Busting Map Game
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Hotness Map No One Needed
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Make Your Own Scrambled Maps
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The Whole of Human History Mapped
4 days ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Revolutionary War
2 days ago
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
129
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
The New World Order
5 months ago
Map of the Week
Latitude Twins This map, on Reddit shows major North American cities replaced by European or Middle Eastern ones...
5 months ago
32
5 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
Colonial Frontier Massacres
4 months ago
Adventures In...
Dashing Maps There are lots of reasons why cartographers use dashed lines in their maps. Sometimes there are a...
8 months ago
90
8 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...
Map of the Week
Los Angeles Wildfire Extent The extent of the forest fires in and around Los Angeles is horrific and may become even worse in...
5 months ago
30
5 months ago
The extent of the forest fires in and around Los Angeles is horrific and may become even worse in the next few days. The New York Times has some very detailed maps showing the extent of destruction. Here is a close up of Altadena from the Hurst Fire. via New York Times -...
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
136
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...
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
91
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...
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...
a month ago
20
a month 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...
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
34
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...
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
79
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...
Maps Mania
When is the sun directly overhead?
2 weeks ago
Maps Mania
Rebuilding the Berlin Wall
4 months ago
Maps Mania
Serendipitous Street View Fun
a month ago
Maps Mania
The Future of Urban Mobility
3 months ago
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
43
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
The Map of the Internet
yesterday
Maps Mania
No News is Bad News
a month ago
Maps Mania
Mapping Myths Across the World
4 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 7 (On To Monteverde) Next we began our trek to Monteverde, into Costa Rica’s famed Cloud Forest. This is one of the...
a year ago
40
a year ago
Next we began our trek to Monteverde, into Costa Rica’s famed Cloud Forest. This is one of the nation’s smallest microclimates and one of its most intriguing. High in the mountains, a thick blanket of fog frequently envelopes the landscape and creates a gentile moisture. A steady...
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
121
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 →
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Cicada Chase, Day 2 The first day of cicada chasing exceeded expectations and we hoped for similar results on the...
a year ago
137
a year ago
The first day of cicada chasing exceeded expectations and we hoped for similar results on the second. However the weather began to change overnight with downpours possible during daylight hours. Local meteorologists predicted a line of thunderstorms rolling through the Midwest,...
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
69
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
Europe in Drought
a month ago
Adventures In...
Historical Topo Map Explorer (beta) The USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer is getting an update, and you can try out this new beta...
a year ago
102
a year ago
The USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer is getting an update, and you can try out this new beta version, here: LivingAtlas.ArcGIS.com/TopoMapExplorer The United States Geological Survey has a rich history of creating exquisite topographic quadrangle maps. These topo maps are...
Maps Mania
Some Musical Maps in Motion
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Sudanese Civil War
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Future of Street View Has Arrived
4 weeks ago
Adventures In...
Women in GIS Workshop If you aren’t doing anything else on the allotted 2.5 hours of January 24, 2025, then consider...
6 months ago
90
6 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...
How to make tapered rivers in ArcGIS Pro Cartographers will often exaggerate the natural scale of a mapped feature to help it communicate...
over a year ago
86
over a year ago
Cartographers will often exaggerate the natural scale of a mapped feature to help it communicate something of its nature. Some examples are vertical exaggeration of terrain or the very existence of point symbols (cities aren’t actually that big). We embellish for effect. Making a...
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...
10 months ago
104
10 months ago
Hi! I made this transit diagram myself. I saw there was no “real” map with all the stations for the region of Arendal in Norway, so I decided to do this project. I would love to read your comments and criticisms! Transit Maps says: There’s a lot to like about this diagram – a...
Maps Mania
Your Local Business Chatbots
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Where Americans Live
a month ago
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....
11 months ago
108
11 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...
Maps Mania
Where's the Gulf of Mexico?
5 months ago
Maps Mania
The Marine Migration Map
a month ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 3 (Museums) Sure, I visited the various Wright Brothers museums, historical sites, and memorials but they...
a year ago
115
a year ago
Sure, I visited the various Wright Brothers museums, historical sites, and memorials but they weren’t the totality of Dayton’s remarkable legacy. It wasn’t even the reason why we visited. I mentioned the younger kid’s interest in all things aeronautical earlier and it traced back...
GeoCurrents
The Problem of Mapping Transcontinental Countries As noted in the previous post, most maps of continents found in online images searches divide...
2 months ago
35
2 months ago
As noted in the previous post, most maps of continents found in online images searches divide several countries, particularly Russia and Turkey, along conventional continental lines yet avoid dividing Indonesia in the same manner. Evidently, in the popular cartographic...
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
127
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...
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...
4 months ago
46
4 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 5 (University Loop) This was another early morning start although not as early as some of the others. We wouldn’t need...
8 months ago
64
8 months ago
This was another early morning start although not as early as some of the others. We wouldn’t need to drive very far anymore now that we’d settled into our temporary home in Lewiston, Idaho for four nights in a row. The Washington Race Sunrise came quickly and we soon found...
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
129
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...
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
89
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...
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...
4 months ago
44
4 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 →
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...
11 months ago
114
11 months ago
Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck isn’t an island it’s a peninsula. It was probably more isolated and difficult to reach in previous centuries. So maybe it felt like an island to people back when the English Channel was the primary “road” to the outside world. Even now it’s a...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 1 (The Wright Stuff) When people have asked, I’ve told them with a straight face that we didn’t go to Daytona for Spring...
a year ago
119
a year ago
When people have asked, I’ve told them with a straight face that we didn’t go to Daytona for Spring Break, no, we went to Dayton. As in Ohio. As in probably the least likely Spring Break destination in the United States. We managed to avoid warm weather, sandy beaches, and...
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...
8 months ago
29
8 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...