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somethingaboutmaps
Another Atlas of Minor Projects A few years ago, I compiled a PDF of various small odds-and-ends mapping projects that I’d done....
a year ago
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a year ago
A few years ago, I compiled a PDF of various small odds-and-ends mapping projects that I’d done. Now, I’ve done it again. Please enjoy Another Atlas of Minor Projects, which houses a few dozen cartographic items that needed a home. These are all small, mostly-quick projects that...
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...
a year ago
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a year 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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Cumberland Parkway Time Zone Crossing Time Zone crossings in the United States generally happen at state borders which of course are...
a year ago
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a year ago
Time Zone crossings in the United States generally happen at state borders which of course are easily recognizable landmarks. So you simply cross the state line and you change your watch. No big deal. Unfortunately Time Zones cut right through the middle of some states, like...
Adventures In...
Make this AI-inspired topo landscape please Many weeks ago I saw an achingly beautiful bit of AI-generated terrain art shared by Esri’s glorious...
a year ago
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a year ago
Many weeks ago I saw an achingly beautiful bit of AI-generated terrain art shared by Esri’s glorious instagram account. Initially I was a bit intimidated by the robots; it was so charming and tactile and wondrous and dreamlike and sinuous. But also…inspiring. I wondered if I...
James Cheshire
COVID inquiry heard Boris Johnson ‘struggled’ with graphs – if you do too, here are some tips James Cheshire, UCL and Rob Davidson, UCL In March 2020, the UK government’s chief scientific...
a year ago
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a year ago
James Cheshire, UCL and Rob Davidson, UCL In March 2020, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, presented to the nation a graph showing “the shape of an epidemic”. The red line depicting the number of predicted COVID cases rose to a steep peak before...
Adventures In...
Imagery basemap ready for data Imagery is the most detailed, most literal of basemaps. You are actually seeing a picture of what...
a year ago
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a year ago
Imagery is the most detailed, most literal of basemaps. You are actually seeing a picture of what the ground looks like at any location. And while this sort of context can be incredibly useful, it can also wreck the way we see and understand thematic data that is draped over it....
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
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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...
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
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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...
Musings on Maps
Gaza, Again–and Again The Gaza Strip’s spatiality continues to puzzle and fascinate–as much as the pressing question of...
a year ago
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a year ago
The Gaza Strip’s spatiality continues to puzzle and fascinate–as much as the pressing question of its sovereignty. The two are of course intertwined, and the boundaries of Gaza are historically defined. The perimeter around the Gaza Strip was in a … Continue reading →
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
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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...
Transit Maps
Official Map: C-TRAN Bus Network, Vancouver, Washington, October 2023 Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Transit Maps has never taken a look at the map for Portland’s...
a year ago
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a year ago
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Transit Maps has never taken a look at the map for Portland’s northern neighbour, the (original) Vancouver. With the recent addition of their second “The Vine” BRT route along Mill Plain Boulevard, now seems like a good time. At first glance, it...
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
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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...
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
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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...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 7 (Hill Country) The extended road trip finally arrived at its western terminus in the Texas Hill Country. This also...
a year ago
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a year ago
The extended road trip finally arrived at its western terminus in the Texas Hill Country. This also marked my first visit to Burnet County, a rural locale situated northwest of Austin. Locals pronounce it something like BURN-it, and that’s how it felt as the mercury hit 103°...
Adventures In...
How to Make this Animated Map of Blue Whale Migration I have a deep admiration for the stirrings inside animals that drive them to undertake...
a year ago
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a year ago
I have a deep admiration for the stirrings inside animals that drive them to undertake thousands-of-miles journeys to far flung locations, and back, in concert with the passage of the our earth around its sun. I’ve reflected on it in writing what became a surprisingly...
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
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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...
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
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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,...
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Southern Heat, Part 3 (Apalachicola) Next we began the actual “road” portion of the road trip as Atlanta receded into the distance behind...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Next we began the actual “road” portion of the road trip as Atlanta receded into the distance behind us. We spaced our drives into four segments of 5-6 hours each to make them manageable. I figured that would cover a decent distance without consuming the entire day. The first leg...
Adventures In...
Stories Here are some StoryMap stories that I’ve written over the years… Piracy & Time Travel How Deep is...
over a year ago
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over 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,...
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
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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...
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
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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...
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
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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...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
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
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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...
Musings on Maps
Perilous Waters The voyage to the Titanic promoted cartographic fantasies of discovery and exploration, but only in...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
The voyage to the Titanic promoted cartographic fantasies of discovery and exploration, but only in international waters. The maps of legal oversight Stockton Rush avoided demand to be recognized as a creation of globalism, as much as a luxury diversion of the super-rich. ...
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
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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...
Transit Maps
New Official Map: Los Angeles Metro with Regional Connector, 2023 Just dropped on the LA Metro Twitter account, here’s a first look at their new system map once the...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Just dropped on the LA Metro Twitter account, here’s a first look at their new system map once the Regional Connector opens at noon, this Friday June 16. First off, one prediction I made in my previous review [October 2022] has been proven true: this map marks the end of the old...
somethingaboutmaps
Leopard Map Disassembly Friends, it’s been a long while since I last wrote up a walkthrough of one of my mapping projects....
over a year ago
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over 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...
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
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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...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
Transit Maps
Official Map: Newark International Airport Regional Rail Connections, 2023 Every so often, I come across a transit map that is just so unfit for purpose that all I can do is...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Every so often, I come across a transit map that is just so unfit for purpose that all I can do is scratch my head and ponder, “Just why?” This is one of those maps. Produced by (or on behalf of) Newark International Airport, it purports to show regional rail services that you...
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
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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...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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
An Educational Experiment (Edit: sign-ups are now closed. I received over 150 responses for 4 available slots, which has been...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
(Edit: sign-ups are now closed. I received over 150 responses for 4 available slots, which has been great but overwhelming. I may offer this again in the future if it goes well, so make sure to follow me on Twitter and subscribe to the blog, to be notified of when this happens.)...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
Adventures In...
How to find (and style!) detailed water polygons for your map I often struggle to find high resolution polygons for things that tend to change, like water, urban,...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
I often struggle to find high resolution polygons for things that tend to change, like water, urban, ice, whatever. Here’s how you can wrangle some up-to-date, detailed, water polygons for your small or medium scale maps (plus five different ways you can style them up)… Here’s...
Musings on Maps
Floating Sargasso Sea Mapped from the Canaries to the West Indies, against a blank background, the Sargassum Belt seems...
over a year ago
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over 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...
Adventures In...
In a Slump, But Not Forever
over a year ago
Musings on Maps
“We Like Fighting Games” As he waited rather glumly for “the Feds” to arrive at his home, as his stepfather predicted, Airman...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
As he waited rather glumly for “the Feds” to arrive at his home, as his stepfather predicted, Airman First Class Jack Douglas Teixiera may have pondered why he had posted classified maps of heated battle fronts in the Ukraine War … Continue reading →
Twelve Mile Circle –...
Atlanta BeltLine – Eastside Trail I arrived in Atlanta, Georgia for business. On the final day I wrapped-up and had a little time to...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
I arrived in Atlanta, Georgia for business. On the final day I wrapped-up and had a little time to visit a family member who lives in the city. That became a good excuse to head over to the Grant Park neighborhood on Atlanta’s eastside. We spent most of our late afternoon walking...
somethingaboutmaps
Conventional Cartographic Wisdom that I have Failed to Grasp When I teach cartography, I am deliberate about not presenting my students with any rules. I do not...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
When I teach cartography, I am deliberate about not presenting my students with any rules. I do not want obedience to memorized maxims — instead, I simply tell them about practices that I think are good ideas, and then I offer an explanation of my reasoning. The students can...
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
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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...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
Adventures In...
Storybook Cartography ArcGIS Pro is a serious tool for serious GIS analysis. Are you ready for some seriously charming...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
ArcGIS Pro is a serious tool for serious GIS analysis. Are you ready for some seriously charming illustration style cartography? Ok! . . Children’s maps are a valuable thing. They are often the first impressions the world of geography has on every single one of us. What an...
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...
over a year ago
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over 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...
Adventures In...
The Geoholics Podcast I got to join The Geoholics podcast this week and had a fun conversation with Kent Groh, Ryan Kelly,...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
I got to join The Geoholics podcast this week and had a fun conversation with Kent Groh, Ryan Kelly, and Nik Smilovsky Here is a link to the episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sHBwsGyfAoZE3ra5RaeVB?si=f1f3bdf9ab3b4695 Here’s the episode’s description: Raised by two...
Transit Maps
Historical Map: Argentine Railways, 1907 Now this is a map! This is just superb cartography: detailed, clear and lovely to look at. I love...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Now this is a map! This is just superb cartography: detailed, clear and lovely to look at. I love the way that brown is used for mountainous features, and a light blue is used for water features – it allows this information to be visible, but it doesn’t compete with the overlaid...