Map of the Week
Suginami Walking Tours
Suginami is a ward on the west side of Tokyo. The Experience Suginami web page features a series of...
a year ago
Suginami is a ward on the west side of Tokyo. The Experience Suginami web page features a series of walks and tours with some nice maps.
The Historical Walk shows not only the shrines and gardens of the neighborhood, but also shows where you can get ramen and "healthy" soy...
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...
2 weeks 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...
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
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...
Map of the Week
New Sweden
New Sweden was the first European colony in the Delaware Valley, established in 1638. It was a short...
a year ago
New Sweden was the first European colony in the Delaware Valley, established in 1638. It was a short lived colony meant to be Sweden's answer to the New Netherland colony (now New York).
via Wikipedia
"Nya Sverige" or "Niew Sweden" was originally proposed by Peter Minuit,...
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...
10 months 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
The Atlas of Design, Volume 7
Note to readers on this platform: I also publish this blog on Substack. You may find that the...
2 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...
Map of the Week
America's Garden Capital
I have more way more items to post for Philadelphia month than there are weeks left so in the next...
a year ago
I have more way more items to post for Philadelphia month than there are weeks left so in the next few weeks I will be doing some extra postings, and a few minor notes thrown in like this one.
Did you know that Philadelphia is America’s Garden Capital? A bit of local boosterism...
Map of the Week
Map for Bloomsday
I have not read Ulysses by James Joyce, few people have. Even fewer have understood it. To honor the...
6 months ago
I have not read Ulysses by James Joyce, few people have. Even fewer have understood it. To honor the annual Bloomsday festival going on right now, here is a map showing the wanderings and locations within the book. The map about as easy to understand as the plot itself.
I have...
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...
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
German Food with Protected Geographical Origin
This map shows some of the 96 foods in Germany that have a protected geographic origin from the...
7 months ago
This map shows some of the 96 foods in Germany that have a protected geographic origin from the European Union.
For example curry sausages must be produced within the city limits of Berlin or they can't be marketed as Berlin currywurst. Other geographically protected foods...
Maps Mania
Geotripper - the Traveling Salesman Game
2 weeks ago
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...
a month 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...
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
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...
Map of the Week
Bad News For Local News
Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It...
a month ago
Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It highlights the dire state of print journalism with maps to illustrate the problems. This one highlights counties that are on the watch list to become news deserts.
News deserts...
Maps Mania
Who are Your Neighbors Donating to?
a month 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...
9 months ago
Friends and colleagues, it’s time once again for the survey that Aly Ollivierre and I conduct every two years. We ask people who do freelance mapping work about their fees and other business practices, in order to help bring more transparency to our little niche of the world, and...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
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...
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...
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...
5 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....
Map of the Week
Water Taxis of Paris
Here is a nice map of the water taxi system in Paris, circa 1900.
Boats pulled by horses or with...
a year ago
Here is a nice map of the water taxi system in Paris, circa 1900.
Boats pulled by horses or with oars or sails were eventually replaced by steam powered boats in the 1800's. They were a large part of the Paris transportation network before the railroads took over in the early...
Map of the Week
The 2022 Hurricane Season
While I was busy obsessing over my 30 Day Map Challenge in November, CNN put out this map in a...
over a year ago
While I was busy obsessing over my 30 Day Map Challenge in November, CNN put out this map in a summary of the 2022 hurricane season.
It's interesting to see all the hurricane tracks on one map. While the season started out slowly, it finished with several memorable storms...
GeoCurrents
The Historical Geography of Psychoactive Substances: GeoCurrents Lecture Series on YouTube
GeoCurrents has been on a long summer hiatus as I have reconsidered my plans for the site. As I have...
3 months ago
GeoCurrents has been on a long summer hiatus as I have reconsidered my plans for the site. As I have retired from academia, one of my main goals is to convert my old lecture courses into publicly accessible YouTube lecture series. To do so, I have revived an all-but-forgotten...
Map of the Week
Maps GPT
I've been seeing a few interesting uses for ChatGPT-type artificial intelligence lately. Of course...
a year ago
I've been seeing a few interesting uses for ChatGPT-type artificial intelligence lately. Of course there has to be a map generator. MapsGPT is powered by Proxi, an alternative to Google's MyMaps. I started out looking at their map suggestions, such as worst places to take a nap...
GeoCurrents
Wikipedia’s Visually Striking but Inaccurate Cartograms of U.S. Presidential Elections
When preparing the illustrations for my current lecture course on the historical geography of U.S....
a month ago
When preparing the illustrations for my current lecture course on the historical geography of U.S. presidential elections, I was thrilled to discover that Wikipedia’s articles on most of these elections are illustrated with visually striking cartograms of the results, mapped at...
Maps Mania
Mapping Gaza's Destroyed Buildings
10 months ago
Maps Mania
The Best Graphics Team in the World
4 months ago
Map of the Week
Parking Lot Map
The Parking Lot Map is a project of the Parking Reform Project, an organization dedicated to climate...
a year ago
The Parking Lot Map is a project of the Parking Reform Project, an organization dedicated to climate action, safer streets and housing affordability. The map explores how much land in the central area of the major cities of the United States is dedicated to parking. On average...
Maps Mania
Today's Global Heating Forecast
6 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 4 (Brew Day)
We hadn’t visited any breweries in the first several days but that was about to change. It turns out...
a year ago
We hadn’t visited any breweries in the first several days but that was about to change. It turns out Costa Rica has a fairly lively craft brewery scene and we were moving into an area rich with them. Several fell within our direct path between La Fortuna and Tamarindo and that...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
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
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...
Maps Mania
⅓ of Rafah’s Buildings Destroyed
8 months ago
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...
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...
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...
2 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...
Adventures In...
Vignettes for the Win!
A vignette is a darkening (or lightening) of the edges of a composition, to subtly frame it and draw...
a month ago
A vignette is a darkening (or lightening) of the edges of a composition, to subtly frame it and draw the eye in to the middle. It’s an old photographer’s darkroom trick. Lucky for us, I’ve spent many hours in the darkroom and have grown to appreciate the charm and effectiveness...
Adventures In...
John Snow’s Cholera Map Reimagined
John Snow’s map of the 1854 London cholera outbreak was revolutionary in that it clearly drew a...
a year ago
John Snow’s map of the 1854 London cholera outbreak was revolutionary in that it clearly drew a visual connection between deaths and the locations of well pumps. It helped contribute to the idea that cholera was a water-borne disease and effectively marks the creation of the...
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
Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year’s survey of freelance cartographer rates and business practices! Herein, you will find the results of the survey, sliced into a few different charts and visuals, all crafted by my survey partner Aly Ollivierre. For...
Maps Mania
The Distressed Communities of America
9 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 6 (Breweries)
It’s the eternal question. Should I lump all of the brewery visits into a single article or should I...
7 months 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 8 (Postscript: Interesting Signs)
I know that some of the articles in this series veered into heavy topics. So let’s take things in a...
a year ago
I know that some of the articles in this series veered into heavy topics. So let’s take things in a less serious direction for a moment now that I’ve completed the travelogue portion. It’s no secret that I enjoy signage, the more unusual the better. Sometimes I even collect them...
Adventures In...
How to make a “peeled edge” area of interest effect
Sure, everyone loves a good raised area-of-interest effect. But what about a peeled edge area of...
4 months ago
Sure, everyone loves a good raised area-of-interest effect. But what about a peeled edge area of interest? It’s a snazzy trick and maybe just the sort of flair that your map needs! And it’s simpler than maybe you’d guess. To give your area of interest a peeled edge effect, you...
Map of the Week
Map Failbruary Challenge Days 15-28
Here is the second half of the #MapFailbruaryChallenge. For the first half and explanations...
a year ago
Here is the second half of the #MapFailbruaryChallenge. For the first half and explanations see here. Here are the categories, again with minimal commentary.
Day 15 - You do not need to know geography to be a cartographer
Day 16 - Not safe for work
Day 17 - Not enough or...
Transit Maps
Submission – Fantasy Map: Tram Network for Bristol, England by Elliott Sargent
Submitted by Elliott, who says: I’ve been a fan of your work for a while now, and thought I’d submit...
a year ago
Submitted by Elliott, who says: I’ve been a fan of your work for a while now, and thought I’d submit my own work for judgement. I’ve had a crack at designing a map for an as-yet non-existent tram and bus network for Bristol, UK, a city in dire need of reliable, integrated public...
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...
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...
somethingaboutmaps
Independent Study: A Reflection
Earlier this summer, I decided to embark on an educational experiment: I wanted to create a version...
a year ago
Earlier this summer, I decided to embark on an educational experiment: I wanted to create a version of the independent study groups that I used to co-teach when I was at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in which students would work on a mapping project, and meet weekly for...
Adventures In...
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...
11 months 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
The Street Names of Budapest
10 months ago
Maps Mania
Unlocking America’s Visual Time Machine
a year ago
Map of the Week
Tyne River Shipbuilders
While researching something unrelated, I came across this series of maps showing ship builders and...
a year ago
While researching something unrelated, I came across this series of maps showing ship builders and related industries on the River Tyne in and near Newcastle, UK.
The maps, from 1972, stretch from the mouth of the river (above) to the City of Newcastle upon Tyne,
and westward...
Transit Maps
15% Off All Prints in the “Transit Maps” Store
Just a reminder that the best way to support the site is by buying a print from our online store,...
3 weeks ago
Just a reminder that the best way to support the site is by buying a print from our online store, because you get something awesome in return! We’re having a Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday sale with 15% off all prints. Choose from my original...
Map of the Week
MapFailbruary Challenge Days 1-14
Those of you who follow me on my Twitter and Mastodon feeds know that I spent February doing yet...
a year ago
Those of you who follow me on my Twitter and Mastodon feeds know that I spent February doing yet another map challenge. Like November’s 30 Day Map Challenge, only this one encourages you to fail. The #mapfail hashtag is popular and somewhat contentious among cartographers....
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
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...
Maps Mania
Have You Earned Your Air Pollution Stripes?
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...
4 days 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...
Maps Mania
The Riskiest Places to Live in America
5 months ago
Maps Mania
When is the Coldest Day of the Year?
11 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 4 (Lewis & Clark Country)
We were now officially between races. A day earlier I ran a half-marathon in Pendleton, Oregon and I...
2 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...
somethingaboutmaps
The Projection Collection Returns
About a year ago, I released The Projection Collection, a set of 77 trading cards based on map...
a year ago
About a year ago, I released The Projection Collection, a set of 77 trading cards based on map projections. Each card features a unique map produced by one of 65 different cartographers. While my colleagues and I did our best to let everyone know about these cards, some people...
Map of the Week
Endangered Languages of New York City
In January I did a series of posts on endangered languages. A few weeks ago the New York Times had...
9 months ago
In January I did a series of posts on endangered languages. A few weeks ago the New York Times had an excellent "scrollytelling" graphic story on these languages and where they are spoken within New York City.
as you scroll down the page languages appear down Manhattan...
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,...
9 months 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...
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...
11 months 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
Pictorial Bird's Eye Map of Banff
Here is a really nice pictorial map of Banff, showing the mountains, rivers, railroads and...
a year ago
Here is a really nice pictorial map of Banff, showing the mountains, rivers, railroads and hotels.
Mountains are listed with their elevations.
A quiet corner at the end of Lake Minnewanka,
and some sky above the ice field.
Browse the whole map here.
somethingaboutmaps
Automated Hachuring in QGIS
I seem to have accidentally come up with a method for duplicating a centuries-old terrain...
5 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...
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...
4 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...
Map of the Week
Artwork of Mary Edna Fraser
Those who have read this blog over the years know that I love the intersection of art and...
a year ago
Those who have read this blog over the years know that I love the intersection of art and cartography. One of my recent discoveries is artist Mary Edna Fraser. Her textile work (from silks to rugs) and paintings range from the continental scale,
East Coast, US-batik on...
Maps Mania
The Five Minute Fantasy Map Maker
10 months ago
Maps Mania
Travel Times in the Roman & British Empires
3 weeks ago
Adventures In...
How to emboss an imagery basemap
Ah the simple pleasures of the World Imagery basemap. So much earth. So much imagery. So many...
a year ago
Ah the simple pleasures of the World Imagery basemap. So much earth. So much imagery. So many corners of this world to explore. How can we take something so verdant and charming and just ratchet it up to eleven? We’ll use a water mask and some layer effects, that’s how! 0:00...
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...
4 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 …
Map of the Week
Maps of Julian Hoffman Anton
I'm always excited to find new cartographic artists. Here are some maps from Julian Hoffman Anton....
a year ago
I'm always excited to find new cartographic artists. Here are some maps from Julian Hoffman Anton. The first one is his Tokyo Eat Map. I've cropped the map a bit to fit the format of this page. To see it all click here.
This is really a heat map showing restaurant density. Egg...
Map of the Week
The Salt Front
The salt front is the point where a river becomes too salty to be safe for drinking water. The front...
3 weeks ago
The salt front is the point where a river becomes too salty to be safe for drinking water. The front moves upstream from the river’s mouth as less freshwater flows downstream to dilute it. I’d never heard of a salt front until I read about it in a recent article in...
Adventures In...
Tolkien Style Maps in a GIS: part 3, Water
“The world has changed. I see it in the water.” In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the...
10 months ago
“The world has changed. I see it in the water.” In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the reckoning of a Lord of the Rings style fantasy map, right in ArcGIS Pro. We map-makers get to breathe honest to goodness geographic life into the seminal aesthetic found in the LOTR...
Maps Mania
The Newest Maps of Mars - in 3D
6 months ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Diagram of Victorian Ferry Routes, 2024 by Bushland Maps
Submitted by Bushland Maps, who say: Ferries are a bit of a forgotten mode of transport in...
a month ago
Submitted by Bushland Maps, who say: Ferries are a bit of a forgotten mode of transport in Melbourne. With no integration into the fare system or journey planners, and with overarching public transport body PTV only “overseeing” three of the routes (which doesn’t have any...
Maps Mania
The Rise & Fall of National Rail Networks
a year ago
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...
a week ago
The Atlas of the Invisible was published a few years ago. The maps show trends in the earth’s climate and demographics that are largely hidden to the naked eye. I never got a chance to review it but was recently struck by this visualization.
A detailed description of the...
Map of the Week
Algal Blooming Across the World
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center produced a video showing the increase in harmful algal blooms...
4 months ago
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center produced a video showing the increase in harmful algal blooms over the last 50 years.
If the above video does not load try clicking here. This version ends by opening the globe into a world map to show everywhere at once. There is another...
Maps Mania
Where Mountains Rise From Oceans
6 months ago
Maps Mania
The 2024 World Press Freedom Rankings
7 months ago
Maps Mania
Using AI to Detect Oil Spills
10 months ago
Map of the Week
The Inequalities of Climate Change
There was much talk, if not much action, at the recent COP27 conference about wealthier countries...
a year ago
There was much talk, if not much action, at the recent COP27 conference about wealthier countries compensating poorer ones for the impacts of climate change. The poorer countries see the largest impacts, while contributing the least to the problem. This map illustrates the...
somethingaboutmaps
The Dream Lives
I know lately I’ve been in commercial mode, pointing you toward various projects of mine that you...
a month 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
540 Million Years of Planet Earth
7 months ago
Maps Mania
Virtual Indian Independence Day
4 months ago
Map of the Week
An Appreciation of Ordnance Survey Maps
I spent some time in May at the British Library randomly looking at atlases and maps, some of which...
5 months ago
I spent some time in May at the British Library randomly looking at atlases and maps, some of which will be featured here in upcoming weeks. They have a huge collection of Ordnance Survey atlas books of 1:1056 scale (1 inch = 88 feet) map sheets. While these maps are primarily...
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
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 →
Maps Mania
The Global Problem of Forever Chemicals
a year ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 2 (Jurassic Coast)
We were firmly based in Swanage after the long day of travel and ready to explore our new...
5 months ago
We were firmly based in Swanage after the long day of travel and ready to explore our new surroundings. However, we were still pretty tired so we stuck close to home and made it an easy day. Swanage sits near the eastern end of the 96 mile (154 km) Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World...
Map of the Week
Seoul Maps
I found this nice collection of maps of Seoul, South Korea's largest city and capital from...
a year ago
I found this nice collection of maps of Seoul, South Korea's largest city and capital from theSEOULlive. This is a website/magazine of Korean culture that "focuses on unraveling the hidden jewels of Seoul that can only be found with rumination."
Unfortunately these maps are...
Map of the Week
The Whataburger Power Outage Map
When Hurricane Beryl struck Texas last week it left nearly 2 million Houston area residents and...
5 months ago
When Hurricane Beryl struck Texas last week it left nearly 2 million Houston area residents and businesses without power. Local power company Center Point Energy's online power outage map has been unavailable since May. Social media user BBQBryan noted that Texas based...
Transit Maps
Unofficial Map: High-Speed Rail of France, 2023 by Lars’ Transport Maps
Well, this is just beautiful. Having made my own diagram on the same subject matter way, way back in...
a year ago
Well, this is just beautiful. Having made my own diagram on the same subject matter way, way back in 2011, I think I’m qualified to say that this is a rousing success. The maps have some similarities – routes are colour-coded either by their Paris origin station or operator...
Map of the Week
Tacografical Maps
International Taco Day is coming up on Sunday, March 31st - not to be confused with National Taco...
8 months ago
International Taco Day is coming up on Sunday, March 31st - not to be confused with National Taco Day in October. Here are a few maps to enjoy your tacos by. This one I've seen in several taquerias. It took a long time to find a version that is readable online (you may need to...
Maps Mania
The Right-Wing Terrorism Map
10 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 2 (In the Shadow of the Volcano)
We landed at Juan Santamaría airport in San José on a Friday afternoon, clearing Immigration and...
a year ago
We landed at Juan Santamaría airport in San José on a Friday afternoon, clearing Immigration and Customs nearly effortlessly. Then we got a taste of rush hour traffic riding on the shuttle to retrieve our rental car. Driving conditions became a lot more difficult later in the...
Maps Mania
Who Deserves a Monument Anyway?
9 months ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Unofficial Map: Metrovalencia by Tom Göpel
Submitted by Tom, who says: Hi Cameron, first I would like to mention that I greatly appreciate your...
a year ago
Submitted by Tom, who says: Hi Cameron, first I would like to mention that I greatly appreciate your work and have learned lots about transit maps from your blog alone. It was also this blog that inspired me to try to design my own maps. It’s a great joy to me now. Here, I would...
Transit Maps
Submission – New Official Map: “Harmonized” Montréal Metropolitan Transit Services Map, 2023
A flurry of people have submitted this brand new map out of Montréal for review, so let’s get...
a year ago
A flurry of people have submitted this brand new map out of Montréal for review, so let’s get straight to it! First of all, it’s important to note that is part of a new suite of maps and wayfinding signage that’s been in development since 2018, Using Montréal’s iconic “black...
Map of the Week
The Incredible Shrinking Great Salt Lake(s)
NOTE: due to accidental deletions on this platform I have lost some of the original attributions for...
a year ago
NOTE: due to accidental deletions on this platform I have lost some of the original attributions for this post.
Here is a map of the paleo-lakes of the Great Basin from the Pleistocene Era.
The present day lakes are shown in lighter blue though even those have shrunk from the...
GeoCurrents
The Electoral Transformation of Wisconsin and Minnesota
The neighboring states of Wisconsin and Minnesota are an instructive place to examine the recent...
a month ago
The neighboring states of Wisconsin and Minnesota are an instructive place to examine the recent transformation of electoral geography in the United States. Both states saw a comparatively modest “red shift” from the presidential election of 2020 to that of 2024. In Wisconsin,...
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
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...
Map of the Week
If Mars Were on Earth
This image of the surface of Mars was released last Spring as part of the Atlas of Mars. Images were...
8 months ago
This image of the surface of Mars was released last Spring as part of the Atlas of Mars. Images were compiled from the Emirates Mars Mission "Hope", an approximately two year mission in that began orbiting the planet in 2021.
via New York Times
Some remarkably detailed...
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...
a year ago
Tucker Carlson's move to Twitter led him to celebrate it as the last preserve of free speech. But his relation to speech was long slippery, best reflected on the heuristic display of the 2016 electoral map that was the logo of the pundit's nightly show's and its guiding...
Adventures In...
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...
a year ago
I’ve been to Columbia Glacier, just west of Valdez, Alaska, three times. The first was as a youngster in 1984, the second in 1987, and the final time in 2000. Each time, the ride by boat to the terminal edge of the ice where it calves into Prince William Sound, took a bit longer....
somethingaboutmaps
Leopard Map Disassembly
Friends, it’s been a long while since I last wrote up a walkthrough of one of my mapping projects....
a year ago
Friends, it’s been a long while since I last wrote up a walkthrough of one of my mapping projects. So, today, let’s break down a piece that I made earlier this year for Scientific American magazine. This is actually the first of three pieces that I’ve made for Scientific American...
Maps Mania
A Map of the World's Deadliest Epidemics
a year ago
Maps Mania
Welcome To Your New Gardening Zone
7 months ago
Maps Mania
The World Air Quality Report 2023
9 months ago
Adventures In...
How to make this thematic map, and stuff
One of the great joys of working here at Esri is the opportunity to collaborate with amazing people....
4 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...
Maps Mania
The Supply Chain of Deforestation
9 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...
8 months 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...
Map of the Week
New Orleans Slave Revolt
Despite what some officials in Florida want to teach, not all enslaved people appreciated the job...
10 months ago
Despite what some officials in Florida want to teach, not all enslaved people appreciated the job training they were getting from their benevolent overseers. In fact there were numerous rebellions. The largest one was in 1811 outside of New Orleans.
The map above is from 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...
3 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...
Adventures In...
Blend Mode Helper
Blend modes can be a complex thing to wrap one’s head around. Experimentation is the best teacher,...
a year ago
Blend modes can be a complex thing to wrap one’s head around. Experimentation is the best teacher, but even then there are lots of variabilities involved, depending on the layer you use to experiment. The Blend Mode Helper Map (and its constituent Blend Mode Helper layer) reduces...
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...
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
Everglades Restoration
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has invested over a billion dollars to restore Florida's Everglades...
3 months ago
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has invested over a billion dollars to restore Florida's Everglades as part of the Infrastructure Bill of 2021. The goal is to restore the natural flow that has been cut off by agriculture and urban development.
The original flow was from the...
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
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
Maps Mania
The American Election & the Rest of the World
2 months ago
Maps Mania
Global Sentiment Towards Israel & Palestine
a year 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
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...
Transit Maps
Submission – BART “Heat Map” by Harsha Devulapalli
Submitted by Harsha, who says: I’ve been a big fan of your blog for over a decade. Recently, I had...
4 months ago
Submitted by Harsha, who says: I’ve been a big fan of your blog for over a decade. Recently, I had the opportunity to replicate the BART transit map for a data visualization in a story I wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle. I would love to hear your thoughts on it! Transit Maps...
Maps Mania
FlightRadar's New GPS Jamming Map
9 months ago
Maps Mania
Live from the Sundhnúkur Eruption
8 months ago
Map of the Week
Huge Lego Model of the Lake District
Artist Jon Tordoff has made a 100 square foot, 200,000 piece (so far) Lego model of England's Lake...
a year ago
Artist Jon Tordoff has made a 100 square foot, 200,000 piece (so far) Lego model of England's Lake District.
via Getty Images
The model began as a pandemic recreation map of Buttermere, his favorite spot.
"Now I've come over the Honister Pass, up Borrowdale and I've got...
Maps Mania
Alternatives to Google Maps Street View
a year ago
Map of the Week
The Southern Underground Railroad
This map, via Smithsonian, shows the main passageways that the enslaved took southwards to...
a year ago
This map, via Smithsonian, shows the main passageways that the enslaved took southwards to freedom.
The southern Underground Railroad was less traveled and much less well documented, but Mexico after gaining independence passed strong anti-slavery laws. Even before that the...
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...
3 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...
somethingaboutmaps
A Free eBook of Terrain Lines
Friends, earlier this week I mentioned that I’d completed a whole bunch of terrain sketches using...
a month ago
Friends, earlier this week I mentioned that I’d completed a whole bunch of terrain sketches using some novel techniques that allowed me to create a hachure drawing style from digital elevation data. If you’d like to see the whole set, I’ve now assembled them into a quick eBook...
Maps Mania
The River Basins & Watersheds of the World
a year ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Kaiserslautern
I hope to stay longer than 72 hours the next time I visit Germany. I don’t recommend such a short...
7 months ago
I hope to stay longer than 72 hours the next time I visit Germany. I don’t recommend such a short visit. However I went there for work as I do occasionally, and I had no choice. So that’s what I did. I landed in Frankfurt on Monday, drove down to Kaiserslautern, stayed through...
Transit Maps
Project: My UTA Rail and BRT Design Exploration
I teased this in yesterday’s review of the new official UTA diagram, so here’s my exploration of a...
a year ago
I teased this in yesterday’s review of the new official UTA diagram, so here’s my exploration of a few design ideas for an alternative version. As always with this type of project, I look for ways to approach the design problems for the diagram that are intentionally different to...
Adventures In...
Close Encounters of the Cartographic Kind
I was watching the Steven Spielberg 1977 classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the...
7 months ago
I was watching the Steven Spielberg 1977 classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the family last night and nerded out when I saw a character that claimed to be a cartographer. I always do. It was the cartographer who recognized that the signals the aliens sent were...
Maps Mania
Battles of World War II & American Wars
5 months ago
Map of the Week
Philadelphia Bookstore Map
Note: As September comes to a close so does Philadelphia month. There will be a couple more posts...
a year ago
Note: As September comes to a close so does Philadelphia month. There will be a couple more posts today and tomorrow before I return to my normal weekly schedule.
This one is personal. Several years ago I was working with a Philly-based computer programmer and an artist to create...
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
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...
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...
a year ago
Submitted by Griffin, who says: I work upstairs in the old Grand Central and was every excited to check out the new station this morning. Spotted this new map on the wall down there, thought you might find it interesting. Transit Maps says: Oh, I do like this. Graphically strong...
Transit Maps
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...
3 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...
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...
a month 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...
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
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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Mitten Accomplished
I got a unique opportunity to visit counties in a corner of the Midwest I hadn’t touched much when...
over a year ago
I got a unique opportunity to visit counties in a corner of the Midwest I hadn’t touched much when my older kid decided to go to college in Michigan. But it didn’t offer a lot of time for my quest, just a four year window before graduation. Even so, I set what I thought was...
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
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...
somethingaboutmaps
Getting Local: A Map Disassembly
Though it’s only been a couple of months since the last time I did a map breakdown, I feel like it’s...
a year ago
Though it’s only been a couple of months since the last time I did a map breakdown, I feel like it’s time for another. While my own instincts are to avoid repetition, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my YouTube-watching habits, it’s that a creator can put out a regular...
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....
4 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
The Money Mountains of Los Angeles
3 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 8 (Completing the Circuit)
Too soon the Costa Rica adventure approached its end and it was time to wrap things up with a final...
a year ago
Too soon the Costa Rica adventure approached its end and it was time to wrap things up with a final few activities. The route involved the usual complexities, driving down the mountain from Monteverde and heading towards the airport outside of San José. We also took a little...
Maps Mania
How Near do You Live to a Mass Shooting?
a year ago
Musings on Maps
Floating Sargasso Sea
Mapped from the Canaries to the West Indies, against a blank background, the Sargassum Belt seems...
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...
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....
2 weeks 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...
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...
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...
Stories
Here are some StoryMap stories that I’ve written over the years… Piracy & Time Travel How Deep is...
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,...
Map of the Week
Planning for the Next Eclipse
Maybe you saw Monday's eclipse and were impressed enough to want to travel to see another one or...
8 months ago
Maybe you saw Monday's eclipse and were impressed enough to want to travel to see another one or maybe you missed it because life got in the way or you couldn't justify the time and expense of travel. Or, maybe you're like me and foolishly traveled to Rochester, New York where...
Map of the Week
Paris Olympics 1924
Paris will host the Olympics in a few days. They previously hosted them 100 years ago. Here is a...
5 months ago
Paris will host the Olympics in a few days. They previously hosted them 100 years ago. Here is a small map of the 1924 Olympic venues.
via metropolitiques
Artist Pauline de Langre has some nice, artistic maps showing the venues in 1924 and 2024.
A bit hard to read at this...
Maps Mania
Europeans Profiting from American Deaths
5 months ago
Adventures In...
Make this 3D printed globe please
Ah, it’s that time of year when we geographers pour ourselves a steaming mug of hot coffee and place...
a year ago
Ah, it’s that time of year when we geographers pour ourselves a steaming mug of hot coffee and place a stroopwafel over it until the caramel is nice and gooey and take the hand of other nearby geographers and sing O Denneboom together. Say, what’s with all the Dutch references?...
Maps Mania
The Unknown Pleasures of Population Density
a year ago
Transit Maps
Unofficial Maps: Two new takes on the London Underground by Kenneth Field
Back in 2019, Ken showcased an experimental alternative Tube Map based on a diamond motif (read the...
a year ago
Back in 2019, Ken showcased an experimental alternative Tube Map based on a diamond motif (read the Transit Maps review here) that had mixed reactions from the community. He went away and absorbed that feedback, and – like a glutton for punishment – he’s back with not one, but...
Maps Mania
Mapping Mythical Islands & Imaginary Lands
a month 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...
4 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...
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
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...
Full Width 
Shortcuts 
Sign Up 
Log In 
Articles 
Reading List 