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
Before New York
6 months ago
Map of the Week
Let America be America Again When white people like me write about Black History Month, it can seem quite performative. However,...
6 months ago
52
6 months ago
When white people like me write about Black History Month, it can seem quite performative. However, in an era when our “leaders” are trying to erase black history, it is important for all of us to keep it visible. This poem map was inspired by a Langston Hughes poem called “Let...
Maps Mania
The Flight of the Barn Swallow
6 months ago
Map of the Week
Luko's World Last week we lost our dog, Luko (a shortened version of an overly long-winded name he came with.)...
6 months ago
43
6 months ago
Last week we lost our dog, Luko (a shortened version of an overly long-winded name he came with.) Lots of people will tell you they have the best dog but he was truly one of a kind. Completely sweet and a delight to all who have known him. A few years ago I made a colored...
Maps Mania
The Digital Twin's Digital Twin
6 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...
6 months ago
69
6 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 →
Adventures In...
Easy map data downloads for graphic designers Graphic designers! Here’s an easy way to grab beautiful accurate open map data for your design work....
6 months ago
68
6 months ago
Graphic designers! Here’s an easy way to grab beautiful accurate open map data for your design work. Real data. No tracing. Download vector map data as points, lines, and polygons, all styled and ready for your work in Illustrator or whatever program you use. Maps rule, and it’s...
Maps Mania
It's Groundhog Day (Again & Again & Again)
6 months ago
Adventures In...
Draw complex polygons in ArcGIS Pro, super fast Sometimes I realize that in the amount of time I’ve spent looking for detailed data, I could have...
6 months ago
92
6 months ago
Sometimes I realize that in the amount of time I’ve spent looking for detailed data, I could have just created it. Often, water polygons at the scale you need for your mega-detailed map just aren’t available. Here’s how to draw a complex polygon in ArcGIS Pro super easily. And,...
Maps Mania
Synchronized Street View Tours
6 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....
6 months ago
85
6 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...
Maps Mania
The USA is Closing for Business
6 months ago
Map of the Week
Old World Language Families This isn’t a map, though there are small maps embedded, but an awesome graphic using the tree...
6 months ago
46
6 months ago
This isn’t a map, though there are small maps embedded, but an awesome graphic using the tree metaphor to detail the spread of languages. The size of the foliage represents the approximate population of speakers of each language. The graphic contains Indo-European and...
Maps Mania
Automatically Mapping YouTube Videos
6 months ago
Map of the Week
Latitude Twins This map, on Reddit shows major North American cities replaced by European or Middle Eastern ones...
7 months ago
44
7 months ago
This map, on Reddit shows major North American cities replaced by European or Middle Eastern ones with the same approximate latitude. It illustrates the interesting climate fact that because of the Gulf Stream, Europe is much warmer further north. Thus Chicago is equivalent to...
Maps Mania
Your Personal AI Travel Guide
7 months ago
Map of the Week
Los Angeles Wildfire Extent The extent of the forest fires in and around Los Angeles is horrific and may become even worse in...
7 months ago
42
7 months ago
The extent of the forest fires in and around Los Angeles is horrific and may become even worse in the next few days. The New York Times has some very detailed maps showing the extent of destruction. Here is a close up of Altadena from the Hurst Fire. via New York Times -...
Transit Maps
Submission – Official Map: Madrid Cercanías Rail Network, December 2024 Submitted by Juan, who says: I send the new version of the Renfe-Madrid Cercanías network. It seems...
7 months ago
90
7 months ago
Submitted by Juan, who says: I send the new version of the Renfe-Madrid Cercanías network. It seems to me that it has improved quite a lot the previous version. This previous version had crossroads, angles, etc. I would like to know your opinion about this new map. Transit Maps...
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...
7 months ago
38
7 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...
somethingaboutmaps
Journey’s End Nearly five years ago, I completed a project that, to my mind, remains the most significant of my...
7 months ago
117
7 months ago
Nearly five years ago, I completed a project that, to my mind, remains the most significant of my cartographic career: An Atlas of Great Lakes Islands, manually printed in cyanotype, with a hand-stitched binding. I wanted to share this project with all of you, but there were only...
Map of the Week
Merry Gridmas! Gridviz is a Javascript library for visualizing gridded (raster) data. They created a Christmas...
8 months ago
37
8 months ago
Gridviz is a Javascript library for visualizing gridded (raster) data. They created a Christmas themed map showing land use with holiday emojis.  Also if you visit the Gridmas page you can watch the snow fall over Europe. You can pan and zoom around, however if you try to go...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Indiana I-69 Time Zone Crossing If you’re driving along Indiana’s portion of Interstate 69, say from Evansville to Bloomington, you...
8 months ago
122
8 months ago
If you’re driving along Indiana’s portion of Interstate 69, say from Evansville to Bloomington, you are going to cross a Time Zone boundary. It happens between Mile Markers 37.5 and 39.0, about forty minutes north of Evansville at normal highway speeds. But please note that the...
Adventures In...
Women in GIS Workshop If you aren’t doing anything else on the allotted 2.5 hours of January 24, 2025, then consider...
8 months ago
107
8 months ago
If you aren’t doing anything else on the allotted 2.5 hours of January 24, 2025, then consider tuning in to this Women in GIS workshop where I’ll share the process (and all the data and documents) for making this migration map. The cost is free, unless you count the 2.5 hours of...
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...
8 months ago
124
8 months ago
Submitted by Arsen, who says: Hello, this summer I with Sergey Steblina as art-director designed a transit map of Gdańsk trams. I am very interested what Transit Maps think about this. Transit Maps says: Overall, this is very solid and clean work – very much in the style of...
Map of the Week
My Favorite New Jersey Drone Map Here is my favorite “map” showing the drone hysteria over New Jersey. It’s from Instagram...
8 months ago
37
8 months ago
Here is my favorite “map” showing the drone hysteria over New Jersey. It’s from Instagram user wmh_x_0, aka Oona Harrigan.   It is based on these maps of drone sightings that have been going around the internet. The “globe” text is there because she is known for designing sad...
Adventures In...
How to make this drought map in ArcGIS Online Here’s how to make the drought map used in the Drought Aware app. This video covers creating a...
8 months ago
122
8 months ago
Here’s how to make the drought map used in the Drought Aware app. This video covers creating a custom imagery basemap, modified to best support thematic data, and a styling method for the overlain drought polygons so they tint the imagery a color based on severity and have a...
Transit Maps
Book Review: “Iconic Transit Maps” by Mark Ovenden, 2024 After 2003’s Metro Maps of the World and 2015’s Transit Maps of the World (our review here), this is...
8 months ago
110
8 months ago
After 2003’s Metro Maps of the World and 2015’s Transit Maps of the World (our review here), this is Mark Ovenden’s third offering on the subject of global transit maps and diagrams. The question to be asked, then, is simply – is a new book on the same subject worth it? In a...
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...
8 months ago
34
8 months ago
The Atlas of the Invisible was published a few years ago. The maps show trends in the earth’s climate and demographics that are largely hidden to the naked eye. I never got a chance to review it but was recently struck by this visualization. A detailed description of the...
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...
8 months ago
123
8 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...
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....
8 months ago
36
8 months ago
In writing yesterday’s post I forgot about this awesome music video about the 30 Day Map Challenge. The lyrics are French with English subtitles and it’s fun to hear how musical words like choropleth and story map can sound in French. “Some people sell houses, chickens, bidets, I...
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,...
8 months ago
88
8 months 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
The Salt Front The salt front is the point where a river becomes too salty to be safe for drinking water. The front...
8 months ago
39
8 months 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Osage Orange It seemed strange to fixate on a single tree for more than a decade but that’s exactly what...
9 months ago
99
9 months ago
It seemed strange to fixate on a single tree for more than a decade but that’s exactly what happened. I notice it a few weeks every autumn and then quickly forget about it for another year. That all started sometime around 2013 when I began to ride a stretch of the Capital...
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
100
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 →
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...
9 months ago
98
9 months 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...
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...
9 months ago
44
9 months ago
For the past several years November for me has meant working on the 30 Day Map Challenge. This year I’ve been too busy to participate - also I really needed a break from it. Not participating means I’ve been able to admire the work of other cartographers. Here are some highlights...
somethingaboutmaps
The Dream Lives I know lately I’ve been in commercial mode, pointing you toward various projects of mine that you...
9 months ago
104
9 months ago
I know lately I’ve been in commercial mode, pointing you toward various projects of mine that you can support by giving me money. And I promise I’ll get back to less commercial musings as time goes on. But for now, I also want to alert you to a way you can give other people...
Adventures In...
GIS Day 2024 They say it’s the mappiest day of the year, but here’s a short video we made for GIS Day way back at...
9 months ago
114
9 months ago
They say it’s the mappiest day of the year, but here’s a short video we made for GIS Day way back at the mappiest place on earth (aka the Esri User Conference) back in July! November felt like forever away, but you know how all that goes. Thanks to Jo Ann Prichniewski for...
Transit Maps
Submission – 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
95
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,...
somethingaboutmaps
Kickstarter 3: The Return For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the process of cyanotype printing, and have released a...
9 months ago
129
9 months ago
For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the process of cyanotype printing, and have released a number of projects based on this technique (including my favorite item I’ve ever made). Now, I’ve decided to take my recent work in developing terrain sketches, and turn it into a new...
Map of the Week
Countries with Women Leaders Here is a map from the Washington Post, via Reddit showing countries past & present with women as...
9 months ago
43
9 months ago
Here is a map from the Washington Post, via Reddit showing countries past & present with women as heads of state. Click it (and then again) for higher resolution. We in the United States like to think we are the most advanced country in the world but by this metric we are well...
Musings on Maps
Swing States, Battleground States and Hot Spots Are the maps of President Trump's 2024 electoral evidence of a sudden shift or deep undercurrents of...
9 months ago
108
9 months ago
Are the maps of President Trump's 2024 electoral evidence of a sudden shift or deep undercurrents of disaffection? The sudden partisan shift of voting maps suggest a dark undercurrents in American politics. Continue reading →
Map of the Week
This One This one map (via New York Times) tells you quite a bit about what happened in the U.S. Election on...
9 months ago
35
9 months ago
This one map (via New York Times) tells you quite a bit about what happened in the U.S. Election on Tuesday. Aside from a few strange outliers (western Oklahoma, suburban Atlanta, northwest Michigan) The "red shift" happened across all regions and demographics. Hard to look at...
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...
9 months ago
109
9 months 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...
Musings on Maps
The Office of the Geographer and Art of the Deal There is plenty of blame going round this election cycle on the Democratic Party for having given...
9 months ago
123
9 months ago
There is plenty of blame going round this election cycle on the Democratic Party for having given material assistance–if not tacitly supported–the bombing Palestinian inhabitants and settlements in Gaza by Israeli Defense Forces. The drumbeat of disquiet about the Democratic …...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Great American Beer Festival (and More) I hinted at ulterior motives in the last article about my long weekend in Denver. I didn’t travel...
9 months ago
94
9 months ago
I hinted at ulterior motives in the last article about my long weekend in Denver. I didn’t travel all the way out there just to casually tour around. Indeed, I had a very specific purpose in mind — checking off a bucket list item in fact — attending the Great American Beer...
somethingaboutmaps
A Free eBook of Terrain Lines Friends, earlier this week I mentioned that I’d completed a whole bunch of terrain sketches using...
9 months ago
101
9 months ago
Friends, earlier this week I mentioned that I’d completed a whole bunch of terrain sketches using some novel techniques that allowed me to create a hachure drawing style from digital elevation data. If you’d like to see the whole set, I’ve now assembled them into a quick eBook...
Map of the Week
Bad News For Local News Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative released the latest State of Local News. It...
9 months ago
41
9 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...
somethingaboutmaps
A New Take on an Old Style Gentle readers, I have some exciting things to share with you. After several months of tinkering and...
9 months ago
101
9 months ago
Gentle readers, I have some exciting things to share with you. After several months of tinkering and toolmaking, I have created a series of posters of iconic peaks (and other terrain), illustrated in a sketch style inspired by old hachure drawings. There are 37 designs to choose...
Adventures In...
Dashing Maps There are lots of reasons why cartographers use dashed lines in their maps. Sometimes there are a...
10 months ago
102
10 months ago
There are lots of reasons why cartographers use dashed lines in their maps. Sometimes there are a lot of different sorts of lines going around and it’s the best way to differentiate between different categories of things. Or we can embed meaning into them, like a dashed line...