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Hachures and sketchy relief maps

from Cartogrammar [alt+shift+b] in architecture

I’ve never been a terrain representation expert, but occasionally I get briefly super interested in some DIY technique for relief mapping, not using typical GIS tools or rendering software. Tom Patterson’s old (but still applicable) Photoshop tutorials were my introduction to the magic simplicity of turning a grayscale image into fancy shaded relief. Some years […]
9th May 2016

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More from Cartogrammar

Seasonal relief

Just a map for fun, made without writing any code, which is a nice change of pace. I finally spent a bit of time catching up with the great Daniel Huffman’s excellent tutorial on creating shaded relief maps with Blender. Do try it out if you haven’t; he’s written it up thoroughly and helpfully, showing […]

16th Feb 2018 • 43 votes
Camino de Santiago sketch maps

Back in October in Montréal I finished my term on the NACIS board of directors at the annual conference. (Side note: see video of the conference talks!) Tanya Buckingham (recent NACIS executive director, current candidate for local office) has always kindly handed out thank-you gifts to people who help with the meeting; this time it […]

8th Jan 2018 • 44 votes
Beyond the Sea, flowing and exploding edition

Last year I took a whack at mapping what you’d “see” if you looked straight across the ocean from coastlines around the world. Since then, an interactive version of that has been a back-burner idea. Well, finally, here we go. To recap, these arcs represent straight-line paths out to sea, perpendicular to the coastline at […]

1st Jun 2017 • 40 votes
The rain on terrain

If you poured water over the terrain somewhere in the world, where would it go? That’s perhaps one way to think of the thing that distracted me in the evenings this week. [Edit: an interactive map should appear here, but there are some unresolved issues. Check out the GitHub-hosted version for something at least partly […]

14th Oct 2016 • 45 votes
Land by latitude and longitude, or, a pile of continents

Bill Rankin’s graphs of world population by latitude and longitude popped into mind for no particular reason the other day, followed by a silly-sounding question: “but, like, what about land area by latitude and longitude?” Silly because, duh, a chart of land area by latitude and longitude is a map. Then again, a map is […]

17th Aug 2016 • 52 votes

More in architecture

Cancelled JAE Palestine issue to be revived by former edtiors in new independent journal

An independent, peer-reviewed architecture journal is planning to publish a Palestine-themed issue controversially canceled by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture in 2025.  The publication, titled Wedge, is being developed by the former editorial board of the Journal of Architectural Education, whose 20 members resigned following the cancellation of the planned issue and the dismissal of JAE Executive Editor McLain Clutter.  The new journal, which is expected to launch in spring 2027, will continue work initiated by the former JAE editors following their departure from the publication. Contributions to the volume are expected to examine subjects including the destruction and reconstruction of built environments, displacement, borders, infrastructure, cultural heritage, environmental conditions, and spatial practices associated with resistance and conflict.  Destroyed buildings after an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal area in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Image cou...

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The AIA has released its latest 2030 Commitment By the Numbers report. The initiative tracks the architecture and design industry’s progress toward carbon-neutral buildings by 2030.  Based on performance data from 2025, the report found that 67% of whole-building projects submitted through the program were energy modeled, indicating continued adoption of building performance analysis among participating firms. However, reported reductions in energy use declined compared with previous results. Related on Archinect: 10 standout sustainable projects honored at AIA COTE Top Ten Award 2026. Marlboro Music Reich Hall by HGA. Image credit: Albert Vecerka/Esto According to the AIA, the decline partly reflects changes in how energy performance is measured. Energy-modeled projects use baselines determined by individual firms rather than values from the 2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey,  which the organization says may provide more realistic comparisons of building performanc...

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Now That Information Is Free, What’s a College Campus For?

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