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+→]
Maps Mania
The Dot Map of America
6 months ago
Transit Maps
Submission – Historical Map: Duluth Transit Authority, 1982 Submitted by Darryl, who says: Going through old boxes in my basement, I came across this 1982 opus...
9 months ago
99
9 months ago
Submitted by Darryl, who says: Going through old boxes in my basement, I came across this 1982 opus from the Duluth Transit Authority. I may be biased because it’s the first transit map I ever saw, but I think it’s amazing, capturing the way the city nestles into the topography,...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Inland Northwest, Day 1 (Staging) Was there a name for that largely empty space beyond Washington’s Cascades Range and into the Idaho...
11 months ago
102
11 months ago
Was there a name for that largely empty space beyond Washington’s Cascades Range and into the Idaho Panhandle? A little research suggested the Inland Northwest, or perhaps a now lesser-used designation, the Inland Empire (not to be confused with a similarly named area of...
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
80
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...
Adventures In...
Close Encounters of the Cartographic Kind I was watching the Steven Spielberg 1977 classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the...
a year ago
175
a year ago
I was watching the Steven Spielberg 1977 classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the family last night and nerded out when I saw a character that claimed to be a cartographer. I always do. It was the cartographer who recognized that the signals the aliens sent were...
Maps Mania
When is Pothole Season?
a month ago
somethingaboutmaps
Map of the Month: An Experiment Friends, you might remember that, last year, I wrote to you about how I was finally able to see a...
3 months ago
37
3 months ago
Friends, you might remember that, last year, I wrote to you about how I was finally able to see a dream I’d had for many years come true: bringing together a bunch of map creators onto a single website. I had hoped that this would only be the beginning of our cooperation with...
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...
6 months ago
65
6 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 –...
St. Mary’s (and Calvert), Maryland County counting becomes increasingly difficult as I continue my glacially slow progress. Now it...
a year ago
112
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...
Maps Mania
GeoGuessing Reimagined
7 months ago
Maps Mania
The 2025 Fall Foliage Map
16 hours ago
James Cheshire
Being creative is reason enough to try different data visualization A simple line chart might be all you need to communicate the patterns in a dataset, but it might not...
over a year ago
103
over a year ago
A simple line chart might be all you need to communicate the patterns in a dataset, but it might not be given a second glance. Getting the viewer to work a little harder to interpret and think about a graphic can be a very effective way of generating engagement. This is where the...
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
25
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...
somethingaboutmaps
The Unnecessary Peril of the Fuller Projection Throughout my career, I’ve heard a variety of rumors and conflicting opinions about whether or not...
over a year ago
110
over a year ago
Throughout my career, I’ve heard a variety of rumors and conflicting opinions about whether or not you can get in trouble for using the Fuller projection. Let's find out if it's true.
Transit Maps
Quick Project: Queensland Rail Network Diagram Okay, as promised in the previous post, here’s my version of the Queensland passenger rail network...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
Okay, as promised in the previous post, here’s my version of the Queensland passenger rail network as a diagram. As is usual for these redesigns, I’ve only spent a few hours on this – just to show that better design doesn’t necessarily need to take a lot of time. Everything is...
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...
10 months ago
74
10 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...
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
95
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...
Maps Mania
The First Cuckoo of Spring
5 months ago
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...
3 months ago
41
3 months ago
Although the Canadian electorate is more leftwing than that of the United States, the two counties have similar electoral geographies (see the previous GeoCurrents post). In both the U.S. and Canada, population density figures prominently in the political divide: the more urban...
somethingaboutmaps
A Sketch of Isle Royale It’s been a summer full of side projects here. Which is a very good sign — I used to do many, many...
a month ago
24
a month ago
It’s been a summer full of side projects here. Which is a very good sign — I used to do many, many side projects, but for the last couple of years, poor health has left me with reduced energy, and my output dropped off significantly. It’s nice to feel inspired again, in so many...
Maps Mania
Using AI to Search Maps
2 weeks ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
England, Day 7 (Tankfest) Finally the single event that justified our entire trip to England arrived, the renowned Tankfest....
a year ago
121
a year 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
3D Print Your World
6 months ago
Maps Mania
Exploring the Amazon
5 months ago
Map of the Week
Mapping Prejudice Mapping Prejudice is a project by a team of scholars and activists at the University of Minnesota....
6 months ago
65
6 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
No News is Bad News
4 months ago
Musings on Maps
“They’re Eating Dogs” “If exotic non-human animals inhabited the edges of the inhabited world in medieval cosmologies,...
11 months ago
128
11 months ago
“If exotic non-human animals inhabited the edges of the inhabited world in medieval cosmologies, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the MAGA candidate who has done much to resurrect the contours of theocratic Neo-medieval maps of the world is perpetuating stories of … Continue...
Maps Mania
Wiki Explore
6 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Dayton, Ohio Part 6 (Breweries) It’s the eternal question. Should I lump all of the brewery visits into a single article or should I...
a year ago
121
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
Bad News For Local News Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It...
10 months ago
44
10 months ago
Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It highlights the dire state of print journalism with maps to illustrate the problems. This one highlights counties that are on the watch list to become news deserts. News deserts...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Bonus Days On what was supposed to be the final morning, we entered Toronto Pearson Airport to catch an 11:00...
a month ago
27
a month ago
On what was supposed to be the final morning, we entered Toronto Pearson Airport to catch an 11:00 am Sunday flight back to Washington, DC. We finally threw in the towel around 6:00 pm after American Airlines repeatedly postponed the departure due to mechanical issues with the...
Maps Mania
A Speculative Atlas of Climate Disaster
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...
9 months ago
103
9 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
Donald Trump Surrenders the World to China
5 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Ontario, Day 4 (Penetanguishene and Beyond) I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce Penetanguishene, and I still don’t. Typing it isn’t any...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce Penetanguishene, and I still don’t. Typing it isn’t any easier. I had to cut-and-paste the name to make sure I got it right. Nonetheless, that’s where we pointed the car on our fourth day in Ontario, about an hour northeast of...
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
78
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...
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
57
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...
Musings on Maps
Sea Surface Temperatures With global ocean surface temperatures shot way off the charts by mid-March, beyond forty years...
over a year ago
72
over a year ago
With global ocean surface temperatures shot way off the charts by mid-March, beyond forty years satellites have monitored sea surface temperatures, we’ve been struggling to map the changes in sea-surface temperatures, both globally and locally, in satisfactory and meaningful...
Maps Mania
Google's AI Hurricane Predictor
2 months ago
GeoCurrents
Problematic Countries in the World Regional Model While the continental model is ostensibly based on physical features, the world regional model is...
4 months ago
37
4 months ago
While the continental model is ostensibly based on physical features, the world regional model is keyed more to geopolitical factors. As a result, it does not generally divide countries among regions. The one exception is France, whose exclaves (overseas departments) are usually...
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
Paving Paradise for the Ultra Rich
2 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 –...
Mackinac’s Orbit, Part 11 (What’s Brewing?) Twelve Mile Circle readers don’t really care about my brewery visits. I get it. You won’t offend me...
over a year ago
87
over a year ago
Twelve Mile Circle readers don’t really care about my brewery visits. I get it. You won’t offend me if you skip this article or scroll through the pictures without reading anything. I really do this more for myself to create a record of my visits that extend beyond the simplicity...
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...
over a year ago
71
over 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...
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...
11 months ago
49
11 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...
Maps Mania
Mapping the MutiVerse
a month ago
Maps Mania
Celebrating 20 Years of Maps Mania
4 months ago
Maps Mania
When is the sun directly overhead?
2 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
Getting Local: A Map Disassembly Though it’s only been a couple of months since the last time I did a map breakdown, I feel like it’s...
over a year ago
56
over a year ago
Though it’s only been a couple of months since the last time I did a map breakdown, I feel like it’s time for another. While my own instincts are to avoid repetition, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my YouTube-watching habits, it’s that a creator can put out a regular...