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Maps Mania
The Anti-MAGA Protest Mapper
3 months ago
GeoCurrents
Zoogeographical Regions & the Architecture of Continents: The Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace If the division of the terrestrial world into continents is partially but misleadingly rooted in...
5 months ago
44
5 months ago
If the division of the terrestrial world into continents is partially but misleadingly rooted in geology, as recent GeoCurrents posts have argued, we must also ask whether it reflects the distribution of animal and plant life. Are continents, in other words, entities of...
Maps Mania
The First Cuckoo of Spring
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Zoom, Pan, and Explore: Sutro Tower in 3D
6 months ago
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...
5 months ago
58
5 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...
Smokey data visualization The vector data format is unbelievably useful, but one artifact of the format is discrete...
3 days ago
8
3 days ago
The vector data format is unbelievably useful, but one artifact of the format is discrete boundaries. Vector has to draw a line somewhere, but the visual result can imply more certainty or discrete solidity than is really going on, in this case smoke concentration in the air. How...
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...
11 months ago
42
11 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....
Maps Mania
How Big is it Really?
2 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
On the Practice of Wobbling We live in an era in which maps (and plenty of other graphics) are made with digital tools....
a year ago
151
a year ago
We live in an era in which maps (and plenty of other graphics) are made with digital tools. Workflows vary, but the end result is that a lot of us base our cartography entirely on clean vector shapes and neat raster grids. For example, I talked earlier this year about a map I...
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
90
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...
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
51
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
Where Mamdani Beat Cuomo
2 months ago
Adventures In...
In a Slump, But Not Forever
over a year ago
Maps Mania
Colonial Frontier Massacres
6 months ago
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...
5 months ago
62
5 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
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
103
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
Dive into Your Maritime History
7 months ago
Maps Mania
Where Americans Live
3 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
57
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...
Maps Mania
The Marine Migration Map
4 months ago
Maps Mania
The Map of Nazi Camps & Ghettos
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....
a year ago
126
a year 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 Nationwide Sakura Map
5 months ago
Maps Mania
Roll Your Own Geocoder
3 weeks 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
60
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...
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...
over a year ago
64
over 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
Before New York
6 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...
10 months ago
96
10 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
800K Galaxies - 1 Map
3 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 2 (Atlanta Revisited) I ventured into familiar territory as we started the trip, back to the same eastside of Atlanta that...
over a year ago
54
over a year ago
I ventured into familiar territory as we started the trip, back to the same eastside of Atlanta that I’d explored just four months prior. That wasn’t a coincidence. I enjoyed the area so much that I wanted the whole family to experience it too. So it made perfect sense to fly...
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...
4 months ago
64
4 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...
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
123
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...
Maps Mania
Mapping the Revolutionary War
2 months ago
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Asia-Pacific, Part 9 (Postscript: Brew It) This is it, the final stop on the Asia-Pacific series, and this one is especially for me. I always...
over a year ago
111
over a year ago
This is it, the final stop on the Asia-Pacific series, and this one is especially for me. I always have mixed feelings about the brewery articles because they’re rather self-indulgent. So viewers should feel free to skip past this one and wait until the next series begins because...
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...
9 months ago
94
9 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 Pothole Season?
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
86
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 Real-Time 15 City Map
3 months ago
somethingaboutmaps
Going Live I know it’s short notice, but I wanted to let you all know that I’m doing a livestream tomorrow....
7 months ago
93
7 months ago
I know it’s short notice, but I wanted to let you all know that I’m doing a livestream tomorrow. It’s been well over 2½ years since my last one. I’ll be covering a few monochrome maps I made for an upcoming book. Please come on by to ask questions, offer feedback, and share your...
GeoCurrents
The Problem of Mapping Transcontinental Countries As noted in the previous post, most maps of continents found in online images searches divide...
4 months ago
69
4 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...
Map of the Week
Your Climate in 60 Years This fall's supercharged hurricanes are a reminder that despite the dishonest rhetoric coming from...
11 months ago
41
11 months ago
This fall's supercharged hurricanes are a reminder that despite the dishonest rhetoric coming from top Republican politicians, global warming is definitely not a hoax. The University of Maryland has a new mapping tool to show you where on earth your climate will most resemble in...
Maps Mania
A Speculative Atlas of Climate Disaster
a month 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
100
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 –...
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
132
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...
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...
Maps Mania
The Doomsday Glacier
2 months ago
Maps Mania
The Most Beautiful Places in the World
5 months ago
Maps Mania
The Start of Hurricane Season
3 months ago
Maps Mania
Institute for Men Says Women Are Underpaid
2 months ago
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
76
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...