Full Width [alt+shift+f] FOCUS MODE Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]
Top Categories > cartography
#all #programming #history #technology #startups #life #science #literature #creative #architecture #design #travel #finance #comics #AI #indiehacker #cartography Muted Categories [alt+←][alt+→]
Adventures In...
Three Maps & the Truth You may have heard that “all maps lie” and that’s right (also, here’s some required reading). Each...
9 months ago
127
9 months ago
You may have heard that “all maps lie” and that’s right (also, here’s some required reading). Each map is a collection of compromises, whether they’re geomatic (your projection and scale choices), editorial (your choice of subject and what you’ve chosen to show and not show), and...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 5 (Lake and Caves) As I planned the trip, I tried to intersperse mellow days with active days and most of the time I...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
As I planned the trip, I tried to intersperse mellow days with active days and most of the time I followed those guidelines. Originally Day 5 was designed as something low-key in Collingwood without any driving. However, plans shifted a tiny bit and we did more than we...
Map of the Week
Medieval Murder Maps Medieval Murder Maps is a project of the Violence Research Center at the University of Cambridge....
2 months ago
39
2 months 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
Open Access, Open Source: OpenTimes
5 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
Planetfall Gentle readers, I have just wrapped up a fun side project that will be of great interest to a very...
3 months ago
40
3 months ago
Gentle readers, I have just wrapped up a fun side project that will be of great interest to a very small number of you. The result of one of the most technically demanding efforts of my career, I am very pleased to share it with you. Most of you will wonder what this place is, …...
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...
10 months ago
97
10 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...
Maps Mania
The Ancient Ley Lines of Britain Map
12 hours ago
Map of the Week
Fastest Growing and Shrinking Cities This map shows the fastest growing and shrinking cities in the United States and Canada using 2023...
8 months ago
41
8 months ago
This map shows the fastest growing and shrinking cities in the United States and Canada using 2023 data. The map appears on Visual Capitalist and the data is only for the city populations, it does not reflect the overall metropolitan areas. The top seven population gainers are...
Maps Mania
Spinning at a Thousand Miles an Hour
5 months ago
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
123
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...
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
75
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...
Maps Mania
Jumbled Maps
7 months ago
Maps Mania
GeoGuessr for History Buffs
7 months ago
GeoCurrents
Canada’s Population Is Clustered Near the Southern Border, Yet Is Nonetheless Distanced from the... Although it is often claimed that 90 percent of the people of Canada live within 100 miles of the...
3 months ago
58
3 months ago
Although it is often claimed that 90 percent of the people of Canada live within 100 miles of the U.S. border, this assertion is of dubious validity. Reputable sources put the figure closer to 80 percent. Statistics Canada more convincingly claims that 66 percent of Canadians...
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...
2 months ago
41
2 months 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
Creating Quick Maps for Free
a month ago
Maps Mania
The Map of Nazi Camps & Ghettos
a month ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Cultural Impact of Gentrification
2 months ago
Musings on Maps
“You Know,–It’s Over” “I am looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now,” President Trump told Jordan’s Abdullah II, “and...
7 months ago
73
7 months ago
“I am looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now,” President Trump told Jordan’s Abdullah II, “and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.” Trump seemed not to consider the scale of American arms’ involvement in its destruction, but to … Continue reading →
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Kaiserslautern I hope to stay longer than 72 hours the next time I visit Germany. I don’t recommend such a short...
a year ago
142
a year ago
I hope to stay longer than 72 hours the next time I visit Germany. I don’t recommend such a short visit. However I went there for work as I do occasionally, and I had no choice. So that’s what I did. I landed in Frankfurt on Monday, drove down to Kaiserslautern, stayed through...
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
114
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
Dive into Your Maritime History
7 months ago
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
103
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...
GeoCurrents
Mapping Continents Based on Continental Crust As the previous GeoCurrents post argued, the division of the terrestrial world into a handful of...
5 months ago
29
5 months ago
As the previous GeoCurrents post argued, the division of the terrestrial world into a handful of continents derives in part from the division of the Earth’s crust into tectonic plates. But there is another geological factor equally pertinent to the concept of “continent.” It...
Maps Mania
Discover the Toxin Polluters Near You
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Black History Month Map
6 months ago
Adventures In...
Blend Mode Helper Blend modes can be a complex thing to wrap one’s head around. Experimentation is the best teacher,...
over a year ago
99
over a year ago
Blend modes can be a complex thing to wrap one’s head around. Experimentation is the best teacher, but even then there are lots of variabilities involved, depending on the layer you use to experiment. The Blend Mode Helper Map (and its constituent Blend Mode Helper layer) reduces...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Costa Rica, Part 8 (Completing the Circuit) Too soon the Costa Rica adventure approached its end and it was time to wrap things up with a final...
over a year ago
44
over a year ago
Too soon the Costa Rica adventure approached its end and it was time to wrap things up with a final few activities. The route involved the usual complexities, driving down the mountain from Monteverde and heading towards the airport outside of San José. We also took a little...
GeoCurrents
Are Continents Rooted in Plate Tectonics? Tectonic plates are the basic building blocks of the Earth’s lithosphere, its outermost rocky layer....
5 months ago
41
5 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...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Sydney Railway Layout, c. 1940 Unearthed on Twitter (It’ll always be Twitter to me, no matter what Elon says) by @crossing_lights,...
a year ago
75
a year ago
Unearthed on Twitter (It’ll always be Twitter to me, no matter what Elon says) by @crossing_lights, this is quite an extraordinary find. Long-time readers may have seen the 1939 version of this diagram (and the digital recreation that I made). Here’s the thing: the general...
Maps Mania
Mapping Your Future Climate Risks
3 months ago
Maps Mania
The Future of Urban Mobility
5 months ago
Adventures In...
Time-warp walkability mapping in ArcGIS Pro In my mental model of a walkability map it’s not enough to know how far away something is, but also...
a month ago
28
a month ago
In my mental model of a walkability map it’s not enough to know how far away something is, but also how long it takes me to get there. My perceptions of the same distances, but with different walk times, are much different. There are realities that slow me down like...
GeoCurrents
Mapping the Return of Wolves in Europe As I was preparing to resume posting on GeoCurrents after a short hiatus, I decided to examine...
a month ago
34
a month ago
As I was preparing to resume posting on GeoCurrents after a short hiatus, I decided to examine recent posts on the fascinating but unfortunately named Reddit site called “MapPorn.” As always, I was struck by many contributions, but what really caught my eye was a five-map...
Transit Maps
Submission – Chicago Metra Line Rebranding Submitted by Nick, who says: Hi Cameron. I live in Chicago and our commuter rail Metra is...
6 months ago
70
6 months ago
Submitted by Nick, who says: Hi Cameron. I live in Chicago and our commuter rail Metra is considering rebranding its lines and recently released two proposals. I thought you and your readers might enjoy reviewing them. The announcement, proposed designs, and link to a survey are...
Maps Mania
Taxing for War
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Snakes on a Plane(t)
4 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
102
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...
Maps Mania
Donald Trump Surrenders the World to China
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Mapping the Red Sea Attacks
5 months ago
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
131
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 …
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...
a year ago
111
a year 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...
Boost the Human Footprint in Imagery The World Imagery Basemap is a lovely resource spanning the Earth in all directions at all scales....
11 months ago
130
11 months ago
The World Imagery Basemap is a lovely resource spanning the Earth in all directions at all scales. If you want to add a level of context you can always add a reference overlay. But what about baking a reference overlay into the imagery in a way that makes it look, like, sort of...
Maps Mania
Growing a World Wide Web
a week ago
Map of the Week
Soprano Land The Sopranos is having a bit of a moment with the recent HBO documentary about David Chase....
11 months ago
43
11 months ago
The Sopranos is having a bit of a moment with the recent HBO documentary about David Chase. Illustrator Robert Sikoryak made a nice map to orient fans to the New Jersey landscape of the show. You can click above to see a larger version. I've only watched bits of the show so I...
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...
over a year ago
64
over 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...
Maps Mania
The Flight of the Barn Swallow
6 months ago
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...
a year ago
123
a year 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...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: GoBus Ohio, 2024 Submitted by Leo, who says: The state-supported GoBus system in Ohio has a somewhat strange route...
a year ago
123
a year ago
Submitted by Leo, who says: The state-supported GoBus system in Ohio has a somewhat strange route scheme (e.g. no direct route from Columbus to Cleveland, or Columbus to Cincinnati via Dayton) but their map, despite being overall fairly poor, makes some interesting stylistic...
Musings on Maps
Fifteen Two-Hundred Pound Bombs Dropping at least fifteen two hundred pound bombs equipped with precision guidance systems–bunker...
11 months ago
128
11 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...