What's All This Then?
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What's All This Then?
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Maps and Travel
From Mapping Switzerland.
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See Beautiful Illinois via Twiiter
For decades, cartographers have been hiding covert illustrations inside Switzerland's official maps. Via Meanwhile.
This should keep Jim busy all morning: The Roman Empire's Roads In Transit Map Form.
A 13,235-Mile Road Trip for 70-Degree Weather. On my way to Nebraska now......
Well, that settles that.
Trails of Wind, the architecture of airport runways.
"Sectional map of the state of Illinois: especially exhibiting the exact boundaries of counties as established by law and the general topography of the state as towns, streams, lakes, ponds, bluffs, rail-roads, state-& common-roads..."
Chicago Wage Maps by Florence Kelley "The Hull House maps were groundbreaking in both sociology and cartography, pioneering the method of mapping 'social and demographic characteristics of a population within a geographical area.'" They are also beautiful and the color palette is fantastic.
"Only a few people have seen the entire National Park Service system, and only one of them has seen each and every one of the 419 NPS sites consecutively: Mikah Meyer. The 33-year-old is wrapping up his three-year trek across all 50 states and five U.S. territories on April 29, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C."
Metabiota tracks ongoing epidemics and structures epidemic data for analysis across events.
A map of modernist architecture in Detroit.
Public transit seat fabrics of the world.
"The Odyssey, if you strip away enough allegory and myth, might serve as a travel guide for the Aegean Sea: which islands to avoid if you hate escape rooms, which cruises to skip if you always forget to pack earplugs, where to get that beef that angers the gods. But how does Odysseus' trek across the wine-dark sea map onto an actual map of the Mediterranean?" —Elizabeth Della Zazzera.
For the crew here at HQ, 24 homemade D&D maps.
A map of every building in America.
Across the United States, run-down motels and motor lodges from the 1950s and 1960s are being given a new lease of life as contemporary hotels and guesthouses.
Local note. Chicago's Gangland 1923-26, beautifully mapped.
"Each of the cities is represented by a polar histogram depicting how its streets orient. Each bar's direction represents the compass bearings of the streets and its length represents the relative frequency of streets with those bearings." Geoff Boeing compares city street orientations.
The Mellow Chicago Bike Map, Chicago Reader's guide to the lowest-stress routes in the city.
Island-in-a-lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island.
Fave thing this month, from Andrew Pekler, Phantom Islands — A Sonic Atlas. "Phantom Islands are artifacts of the age of maritime discovery and colonial expansion. During centuries of ocean exploration these islands were sighted, charted, described and even explored - but their existence has never been ultimately verified."
See what our planet looked like, and how your location has migrated over the last 750 million years, at Ancient Earth.
Ventusky Wind, Rain and Temperature Maps. Beautiful, just beautiful.
Filmap: film locations in Google Maps.
Selections from 6000 maps digitized by NatGeo.
Dispatches from the Circa de Nebraska, "a self-supported bicycle tour endeavoring to ride the entire boundary of the State of Nebraska (as reasonably close to the border as pavement/safety will allow)."
The 2018 World Cup of Transit Maps.
BarelyMaps' "Intersections of Boston" and other handsomely designed map prints.
"The more one zooms in on the coastline, the more these inconsistencies multiply. This means that the length of a coastline is completely dependent on what size of measurement unit you use to study it." The Coastline Paradox Explained .
"As it turns out there is an interesting story in the box—it just wasn't anything like the one I had imagined." The Box of Vacations, an epic, beautiful post from Jim Hughes at Codex99.
"The left side of this page is narration: the right lets you poke around this dataset as you please." The Alperin-Sheriff/Wikipedia Population Dataset. Amazing work-in-progress by Benjamin Schmidt for the Creating Data project. Thanks Marshall.
Interactive map showing the difference between the City of London Morgan Map of 1682 and today.
The total seasonal snowfall in the continental US for 2017-2018 so far, shown as a relief map.
"We eat cheese every day, and twice on Sundays." Postcards from the Past.
Illustrated marathon course maps by a runner for runners.
A 10-by-10-foot digital image of a 60-sheet world map drawn by hand in 1587 by Italian cartographer Urbano Monte.
Google vs. Apple Maps Apps. Excellent analysis.
"Schematic railway maps, as designed during the course of the twentieth century, sometimes resembled metro maps, but could take other shapes as well. They always had the same goal though: making complicated journeys look easy."
LIDAR exposes the hidden landscapes of forested areas.
"This map was made to sing the praises of the extraordinary women who have, since the beginning, been shapers and heroes of this city that has always been, secretly, a City of Women."
Where the record shops at?
A map of 850 songs about London.
Atlas of the Underworld is the first complete mapping of subducted plates in the Earth's mantle and their geological interpretation.
If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it?
Explore other planets and moons in Google Maps.
Explore over 100,000 street segments and 800,000 building photos over at Street View of 1980s New York
Wheelchair metro maps versus everyone else's.
The ten winners in Hyperloop One's search for the world's most promising routes.
The world's most advanced traffic map with literally millions of individually tracked public transport units across the entire world.
Great post at Atlas Obscura by Anika Burgess, Documenting America's Long, Venerable Tradition of Roadside Dinosaurs.
Related to the last. Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River, a 1944 Report by Harold N. Fisk. This is a perfect example of how the display of technical information and an obsessive attention to detail can result in something wonderful, something that can be appreciated completely outside of the original intentions of the project. Make sure to check the downloadable oversized plates and backup details too.
J. T. Lloyd's beautiful map of the Lower Mississippi River from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico, 1862.
Transit map of the Roman roads of Britain by Sasha Trubetskoy. Sweet.
"if you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don't bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking." Bucky's map of the world.
Highlights from the Tobin International Geological Map Collection. Step through the slideshows, amazing stuff there.
"The oldest set of federally placed monuments in the United States are strewn along busy streets, hidden in dense forests, lying unassumingly in residential front yards and church parking lots. Many are fortified by small iron fences, and one resides in the sea wall of a Potomac River lighthouse. Lining the current and former boundaries of Washington, D.C., these are the boundary stones of our nation's capital."
"Michigan's Upper Peninsula is like no other place on earth. Sandwiched between three of the greatest lakes in the world, it's filled with peaceful forests, magnificent waterfalls, ancient rock formations, quiet and cozy towns, and miles and miles of shoreline — making it the perfect setting for a one-of-a-kind road trip."
Quattuorviri Viarum Curandarum. The Roman Empire, at the height of its glory, as a subway map, by Sasha Trubetskoy.
So you know, how Silicon Valley got that way. Thanks Marshall.
Roman roads as a subway map.
Historical Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, now digitized at the Library of Congress. Fantastic.
"The grid provides enhanced resolution compared to existing public bathymetry maps over the region, delivering 10 to 50 times increased horizontal resolution of the salt mini-basin province, abyssal plain, Mississippi Fan, and the Florida Shelf/Escarpment." BOEM Northern Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Bathymetry Grid.
A complete and geographically accurate New York City subway track map.
So you know, how to figure out the age of an undated world map.
Park Ranger Matt Holly's favorite National Park Service maps from a great hi-res collection he made available for everyone. Via Kottke.
A history of Michigan's license plates.
So you know, the most underrated place in every state.
The top designs in Dezeen's unofficial Brexit passport competition.
Local note. Map for a proposed Franklin Street subway, from 1977. Interesting and lovely too.
"At its start, Chicago was a marshy outpost of hearty settlers who used the convergence of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River to their benefit." How It Grew, from Curious City.
Nina Keinrath explores the mountains of Morocco.
Delta + Alessi.
Enter any geographic location anywhere on Earth and watch the terrain form into a physical model you can hold in your hand. TopoTopo.
A 50-trillion-pixel image of Earth, refreshed daily, is coming later this year.
220 Metro and light rail systems from around the world, shrunken and simplified.
Local note. Chicago's Gangland Map 1923-26.
24 New national historic landmarks that "depict different threads of the American story that have been told through activism, architecture, music, and religious observance."
Love the animation for NATS future air traffic patterns for London which is designed to "simulate traffic over south-east UK after forthcoming changes to airspace management ." Thanks Marshall.
The world turned upside down.
"...the top 100,000 words used in these tweets and how often they are used in every county in the continental United States, based on location data from Twitter." PS, curse words are fun.
Things' guide to "places that might not otherwise be easily found, either in real life or in the imagination."
Hubert Roguski reimagines modern cities with retro maps.
So you know, tourism slogans from around the world.
Fantastic illustrated piece by Betsy Mason on the The Best New Maps, according to cartographers.
NYC Street Tree Map. Fantastic.
"For travel hacking (and interest) value, colleagues and I have been trying to work out which routes worldwide might have the highest number of required legs."
A hand-drawn map of Detroit from 1790.
This City is for Riding. Comparing biking in Tokyo, San Francisco, London, New Delhi, Shanghai and Kabul. Great piece by the always-observant Jan Chipchase.
Every river that flows into the Mississippi.
Pilot & Captain is about the good old days of planes, trains, and discovery.
The illustrated map of America's worst utopias.
Plotted is a collection of maps inspired by literary classics.
Photographers Dan Rubin and Craig Mod spent eight days walking Japan's 1,000+ year old Kumano Kodo pilgrimage path.
This map shows the average direction mammals, birds, and amphibians need to move to track hospitable climates as they shift across the landscape.
Restaurants shaped like chili bowls and other food-themed roadside attractions.
"Right here, an entire lifestyle was forged. One where adventure, exploration, and a thirst for the unknown moved us forward. Where the cadence of the ocean, not the tick of the clock, set our lives in motion. This is the Waikiki of old, reborn."
Related to an earlier post, myself.putty.battle.
"National Geographic has built a web interface that allows anyone to find any quad in the United States, and then download and print it."
Design your own NYC transit with Brand New Subway.
From beginning to end, The Vanual will walk you through the DIY process of building a sweet converted campervan.
Now that's a road trip.
The 2,900-mile East Coast Greenway will pass through 450 communities in 15 states.
Switzerland is the imaginary building of this new hotel.
Zulkey's interview with Graham Garfield, the General Manager of Customer Information at the Chicago Transit Authority and the ever amazing Chicago-L archive.
The true size of countries on a globe.
Related to the last, you need this too. Flyover Country. "A geological tour from 30,000 feet."
"This young man is a bit unlucky. But, he waits decently." Traffic lights in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. Implement everywhere immediately.
"...fresh imagery from Landsat 8 satellite and new processing techniques" The Google Earth team talks about a big upgrade.
So you know, what makes a map beautiful according to a smart Park Ranger.
One more, a related hint. When in Chicago it's easy to figure out which side of any street has even-numbered addresses and which has odd. Just remember the phrase "Indiana is odd." From pretty much where ever you are in the city, Indiana is to the East and South of you, and those are the sides with odd-numbered addresses. You're welcome.
Related to the last, Chicago Street Renumbering Document from 1909.
"Subtle quirks in the Grid show another essential aspect of Chicago: our tendency to half-ass things." Edward Brennan's System of Street Naming and Numbering, by Bill Savage.
Justin O'Beirne's heroic cartographic analysis of Google Maps vs. Apple Maps. Fantastic.
How to Fly the North American B-25 "Mitchell" Medium Bomber. Just in case you're reading Catch-22.
Click on a place in the map to find similar places. Yowza. Terrapattern Alpha.
Teleporter Console "provides an unusual virtual travel experience. When you click the Teleport button, the program picks a random point on the Earth and displays a nearby interactive photo sphere 360° panorama from the experimental version of Google's Street View database."
Type in any city and create a map.
∞
The Aspen District Sheet from the US geological Survey of 1898. Tons more, beautiful, geological cross-sections can be found in this part of the always amazing David Rumsey Map Collection.
Shipmap.org, a visualization of the global merchant fleet over the course of 2012, overlaid on a bathymetric map. By Kiln and UCL. Thanks Marshall.
Nice work if you can get it. Our pal Rosecrans Baldwin attends a dinner party near Chablis, France for Afar Mag.
Bonsoir Paris.
If you've ever wanted to know how and from where each town in Nebraska got his name, here's a web version of the 1925 book Nebraska Place Names, which has every town's story, county by county.
Peter Dovak's collages of some of the most diverse transit systems of North America.
A Sunday stroll with Mr. Kottke.
Fab piece by Bourree Lam, "Tom Harrison, a Californian cartographer, explains what goes into a good map and why making one can take nearly two years." Via Khoi.
"...a team of physicists and mathematicians analyzed transportation networks in 15 major metropolitan cities, including New York, Tokyo, Paris, and London, and found navigating these transit maps often exceeds human cognitive ability."
Paula Scher's U.S.A..
Watch pedestrians and bikes cross NYC's Union Square in real time.
If you're planning a road trip in ancient Rome, you'll need two things: a time machine, and the Tabula Peutingeriana.
Oh, Moscow.
The transit map hall of shame.
Fantastic selections from Mind the Map a book about "Charting the Uncharted and Mapping the Familiar," available from Gestalten.
A map showing how many calories you'd burn walking between subway stops in New York.
Crossing America by bike share from Manhattan to Santa Monica.
Scans from a (often a bit unintentionally funny) guide handed out by the German government to asylum seekers: "Germany and Its People." Every illustration would make for an awesome t-shirt or poster.
19th Century atlases contained hundreds of fake islands.
A map of the Chicago "L" in the style of the London Underground.
"And since then, the two countries have waged a not-quite-serious "whiskey war" over Hans Island."
A trip to the Faroe Islands.
Fbomb.co. Yep. Thanks Marshall.
"There is a saying that all roads lead to Rome. We set out on 3,375,746 journeys to check if that was really true." Roads to Rome.
An exploration of NYC neighborhoods, nightlife, airport traffic, through the lens of publicly available taxi and Uber data. Analyzing 1.1 Billion NYC Taxi and Uber Trips, with a Vengeance.
Related to the last, a map showing rents in London, by stop.
So you know, a map showing walking times between stations in London.
Need a healthy fix of great footage of cities in Poland, shot with a Red camera mounted on a drone, and set to overly-dramatic music? Well, here you are.
Sad topographies, Very Sad.
"...making these stations more prominent than the rest of the stations makes both navigating the system and locating yourself on the map easier. This way it is also possible to show all the trains stopping at a specific station in a row below the station name which is exactly the way you would see them at station entrances. I like this kind of connection between the map and the real world." The New York City Subway Map Redesigned.
What would Lake Michigan look like if it were just one long, continuous coastline instead of a lopsided oval-shaped body of water?
London-Centric, photos by Jason Hawkes, words by Jon Kelly.
Sad Topographies, via This Isn't Happiness.
Map of Amercian Businesses with Punny Names.
Not every memorial in Washington, DC is a colossal, tourist-swarmed, marble and stone monument. Some, like Sonny Bono Memorial Park, are quiet, intimate, and easy to miss if you don't know where to look.
Related to the new Field Notes Shenandoah Edition, a 2015 Fall Foliage Prediction Map for the United States.
Inside Lyon's Musée Miniature & Cinema.
1962 Trip Planning Map of the United States by The General Drafting Company of Convent Station, New Jersey. This is the finest map of its kind. Zoom in for fantastic detail, typography and illustration. Via This Isn't Happiness.
Judgemental NYC Subway Map. Via Quipsologies.
Local note, there is still a cow path in the Loop. Not many cows though.
How far did Frodo & Sam actually walk?
61% of all trips in Groningen are made by bicycle. Right on.
Atlas Obscura's Guide to Literary Road Trips.
Atlas Obscura's interactive map "is the result of a painstaking and admittedly quixotic effort to catalog the country as it has been described in the American road-tripping literature."
Surprisingly LA is in Calcium, and not Californium.
Just time zones.
Order a map poster of a specific location with Mapiful.
A Norwegian short guide to the United States of America.
Game of Thrones real-world filming locations.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorada, Utah, Nevada, California. Open to lawful traffic without any toll charges.
Alex Griendling designed and illustrated a map of Super Mario World's Dinosaur Land and then had it laser engraved onto 14" x 18" pieces of wood. Fab.
100,000 Stars, a gorgeous interactive tour of the Milky Way.
So you know, five human activities you can see from space. Via Things.
Cam restored an 1898 Bird's-Eye View of Chicago and it is magnificent (and also on the way to CP HQ). Cha-ching.
So you know, for Chicago, the history of the ground-level L on the Brown Line.
Luis Dilger, "The OpenStreetMap data enabled me to visualize the satellite-based information using DEM Earth in Cinema 4D. The results are some extraordinary views of large capitals and small towns." I'll say. Via This Isn't Happiness.
Neat idea from the always inventive Art Lebedev Studios, The I Was Here Scratch-Off World Map.
New Topographical Lunar Maps "based on data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter which is aboard NASA's LRO. To create the maps, the cartographers used more than 6.5 billion measurements collected between 2009 and 2013."
An interactive map showing the age of Chicago buildings.
The Imagination Machine from S7 Airlines lets people control a virtual airplane by using their brains as game controllers.
"In March 2011, Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, a specialist dealer in fine and rare antiquarian cartography and historic maps, donated their collection of over 2000 digital images to Wikimedia Commons. Here is just a small selection of a really great collection."
Cameron Booth's lovely and well-considered new Amtrak Subway Map for 2015.
So you know, where Americans see the most UFOs.
Explore your desert.
Beautiful Maps. I'll say. Via Tina.
Guess the city by transit stop.
America mapped by its roads, every single one of them.
Meeting these four German scooterists was a highlight of last summer, can't wait to see their book of photography documenting their trip across America.
Mapping all the cities in Willie Nelson's songs
A day on the London Underground.
Google's Street View Trekker explores Michigan, including the top of the Mackinac Bridge.
After Cameron Booth saw this railroad map, he decided to make this, American Class I Railroad Heralds.
"One of the most remarkable and mysterious technical advances in the history of the world is written on the hide of a 13th-century calf. Inked into the vellum is a chart of the Mediterranean so accurate that ships today could navigate with it."
Perfect for summer, optimal road trips across the world.
So you know, How to really drive across the U.S. hitting major landmarks. Via Glass. Also, take this along.
Meet the surfing girls of Iran.
Sea level rise maps by Jeffrey Linn. Via Gizmodo.
22 Spectacular and bizarre Airbnb rentals.
Word Map. An amazing and terrific looking translation tool. Just try it.
For mcj, who's finally installing Field Notes signs in the 400 N. May hallway right now: Guerrilla Wayfinding on the LA Freeway
Whiskey and all, the wooden dwellings of early explorers have been restored to look as they did during the first treks to Antarctica in the early 1900s.
Geologic Maps of Volcanoes are beautiful. Via Feltron.
Any site that starts with "Downloading Earth" followed by "Rendering Globe" is probably going to be interesting. An animated map of global wind, weather, and ocean conditions. Thanks Marshall.
If Frodo had Google Maps.
So you know, exactly where nobody lives.
Nice work by Alexander Rapp, who has made interactive graphics showing how various city transit maps have developed over time. Via the excellent Transit Maps Tumblr.
"I stopped counting after 100. Just say I've been to almost any country that has a port." 86-Year-old Lee Wachtstetter lives on a cruise ship.
Colorful city maps by Jazzberry Blue.
Map of Mars.
I did this years ago on a laptop while traveling on the Acela Express, but using GPS on a plane is even more fun (and quite a bit faster).
The Typographic Heartland Map by Nancy McCabe is beautiful. Via FPO.
Related to the last (maybe more than I'll ever know), thanks Chicago for following me around and adding bike lanes everywhere I go, it's uncanny, they did Hubbard and more of Lake Street over the weekend.
Plan your commute with Strava Labs' Heatmap based on user data from their running/cycling app. Awesome.
So you know, MapCrow, Travel Distance Calculator and Map between World Cities.
The 2014 Fall Foliage Map.
Gunther and Christine Holtorf's roadtrip lasted 23 years and covered half a million miles. Are we there yet?
"City Railway System is a new approach to projecting the identity of a city onto its subway map. Whereas conventional subway maps aim at conveying information as clearly and concisely as possible, the City Railway System by ZERO PER ZERO distinctively incorporates symbolic elements of each city into its map while preserving clarity." Via Sploid
Equal Population Mapper.
Stentor Danielson draws fantasy maps of modern cities.
Oliver Jeffers "made a bunch of maps for the United Airlines inflight magazine. They are all geographically accurate." Via Austin Kleon.
So you know, Timothy B. Lee explains the internet, with 40 maps. Thanks Tiberio.
1930s humorous maps of National Parks and other tourist stops "hatched and scratched" by the Lindgren Brothers. Fabulous, via this post at Mefi.
Zulkey's ode to Edgewater here in Chicago.
Find your city and make your plans for the apocalypse with the Zombie Safe Zone Maps. Via Cool Material.
What do Afghan Kyrgyz nomads eat?
Pentagram designer Hamish Smyth's excellent illustrated post on the design and development of the WalkNYC wayfinding system currently being installed around the city. Via Khoi.
Before they were banned: drone footage over Utah's National parks
The United Sweets of America. We get brownies!
High up on a mountain in Colorado, a day spent at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, a place where I would have zero fun and multiple panic attacks.
The tiny island on the Thames that once held The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and the UK's largest hippie commune.
A nice collection of 51 vintage Chicago postcards.
"Using pre-digital techniques as inspiration, three cartographers lead the charge against cookie-cutter digital maps."
Idele Muc, the pre-war "Al Capone of Tarnow, Poland."
A transit map of Westeros and Essos
Go under the sea with Fabian Cousteau.
Local note. Glossop's Hotel, Amusement and Business Map. The Loop in the 1880s. Via Dmitry Samarov.
Adventure.com it's full of great photography and travel stories like NYC to Hong Kong By Bike. Oh and they dig our Expedition Edition too. Thanks for that.
An algorithm that finds the most beautiful route for your walk in London. Powered by Urban Gems.
So you know, a map showing the most popular Fourth of July songs in each state.
Vice's latest installment of this fun series: Reasons Why Austin is the Worst Place Ever. Previously: Phoenix, London, and LA.
Make your own little slice of Norway using the Terrafab 3D modeling system. Just choose your fjords, or whatever you like, and print it in sandstone. Note: "We have since updated the color scheme: your mountains will be darker, more brooding — your vegetation a more restrained hue." Via Things Mag.
NATS is a UK air traffic controls service and they're also behind this fantastic film that shows all the flights during a day in the North Atlantic Skies. Via Sploid.
Blitzortung.org is "a world-wide, real-time, community based lightning detection and lightning location network with live lightning maps." Via Mefi.
How much could it cost to fill a World Cup Sticker Album?
From KPCC, the Peacocks of Palos Verdes. Growing up in Arizona, we had peacocks living at Sahuaro Ranch Park. On quiet nights, you could hear their slightly spooky squawks and cries from home.
Bolinas, California, "The Town That Didn't Want Company." Thanks Claire.
"I can't stop thinking about the possibility of one of the lines, or the thin metal beam supporting it breaking which would most likely cause the rider to fall to his death." The Swing at the End of the World.
An email sent to myself last night: "Look up Delaware Water Gap." And here's that info. Mission accomplished.
NY Train Project, art director Adam Chang documents the signage of the subway system through illustration. Sweet. More at Creative Review.
Giant Concrete Arrows. Neato!
Comic Book Cartography, John Hilgart's collection of maps and diagrams.
"Occasionally, I get in a bit of a rut with Transit Maps - I feel like I've seen everything there is to see, or that I'm just treading water - and then something like this comes along that just blows me away." Cameron Booth on the Atlas of Italian Rail Transit, by Andrea Spinosa.
Alex writes. "I made a walkthrough of Tokyo using my travel documentary shots, mixed with a particularly bizarre British voiceover."
Always helps to watch ahead of time before taking a trip there: take offs and landings as seen from Maho Beach on St Maarten.
The U.S./Canadian border is far more interesting than you'd think.
Scenes from a market in Osh, at the eastern end of the Fergana Valley, near the Kyrgyz border with Uzbekistan.
Helpful and very smartly done, an Interactive Game of Thrones Map that features a slider control so you can enter how far along you are in the series and avoid spoilers.
This map visualizes the 1085 bicycle crashes in the city of Chicago in 2012. It's no surprise that Milwaukee Avenue leads the list. Keep your head on a swivel and your headphones out of your ears. Part of the You Are here mapping project, by the Social Computing Group at MIT.
Cameron Booth's massive new project, Highways of the United States of America. "It shows every single current and signed Interstate Highway and U.S. Highway in the contiguous 48 states" in a clear, simple style. Preordered! See also Cameron's fabulous Eisenhower Interstate System in the Style of H.C. Beck's London Underground Diagram.
"A riddle. Children, what is this? A figure? No! It is the name 'Otta', the soap with the crayfish logo!" A quick history, along with some faded billboards and scanned ads, of Prague's Otta Soap.
"Today, 60 years later there is still no other atlas so completely and relentlessly informative." Or beautiful, I might add. Jim Hughes on the World Geo-Graphical Atlas: A Composite of Man's Environment, designed by Herbert Bayer for the CCA in 1953.
A main reason why we're obsessed with subway and metro maps is that each map's designer approaches the problem from a different angle, each communicates information in a way that is unique to the city being mapped. So, you'd expect us to be wary of Jug Cerovic's standardization system for metro maps. And we are. But it is pretty sweet.
"I have developed a technique to replicate the amazing nighttime images of cities taken from the astronauts on the International Space Station. These are artistic interpretations that are geographically accurate and match the real images as closely as possible." Gorgeous Nighttime City Maps. Via The Roosevelts.
A map of China by stereotype.
The Lunar Map Catalog.
"Tulip" metro map of Amsterdam by ZeroPerZero. Via Quipsologies.
"Manners with cars in America are really damn good. Japanese people should be embarrassed when they look at how good car manners are in America. You must wait whenever you cross an intersection for the traffic light. People don't get pushy to go first. Except for some people, everyone keeps exactly to the speed limit. America is a car society, but their damn good manners are not limited to cars." Japanese travel tips for visiting America.
A German student used all the geographical markers mentioned in Jack Kerouac's On the Road into Google Maps and produced "a set of all-text driving directions that goes on for 45 digital pages."
Mapping where people run.
Lovely National Park maps at the appropriately titled Muir Way.
So you know, biking in Vegas makes for an uneasy rider.
Seven minutes of video to cover the 2600 miles from Campo, California at the US/Mexico Border to Manning Park, British Columbia on The Pacific Crest Trail. Yowza. Learn more about Tyler's trip at Halfway Anywhere.
Google beach view in Hawaii.
Related to the last, this Gangster Map, Sing a song of gangsters. Pockets full of dough. Four-and-twenty bottles. Makes a case you know, See also: Chicago vice maps.
A timeline of the far future.
Oh for the good old days. 1974, United Airlines.
National Geographic captured a brief moment late at night in February 1968 that Chicago's Circle Interchange wasn't a total logjam.
Enter a location and see the latest Instagram photos from there. Simple. Worldcam.
So you know, Global Metal Distribution, perhaps not what you expect.
Lovely collection of National Park Maps. Via Cool Material.
28 Hours 50 Minutes. A new coast-to-coast record.
"See where more than 200 of the top-rated horror films of all-time took place."
Tour de France 2014 route announced.
As you know, we're big fans of public transportation, especially the maps. But don't get us started on the cruddy new CTA payment system.
Related to an earlier post, Smith Islanders' accent is just beautiful. Thanks JSM.
Bigfoot Sightings in the US and Canada, mapped. Thanks Andrew.
"11. Because you meet taxi drivers who listen to poetry while driving, and even if you do not understand Persian, the rhythm, the sound, the music of the language cradle you along the road." 30 (and more) reasons to visit Iran.
Nick Sidwell on where every novel nominated for the Booker Prize since 1969 has been set. Related: Sometimes it really matters where you read a book
Aaron Rayburn is wondering if he is a real Oregonian. So he went a few places. Lucky for us he brought his camera. Via Matt Haughey.
Jim Hughes' richly illustrated post on Herbert Bayer's epic 1953 World Geo-Graphical Atlas, which was produced as a gift for clients of the Container Corporation of America.
Fastest loop around Manhattan, 24 minutes on August 26th.
What Did Chicago Look Like Before the Great Fire? Nicely presented and annotated, an 1868 pocket map overlaid on a current satellite photo. Via Calumet 412.
Slowly I turned, step by step...
Very local note. Milwaukee Avenue, Kinzie Street and Des Plaines Street in 1955.
An interesting story from the NY Times about doing the unthinkable in Los Angeles: walking. Nice to see long-time FotA and dedicated sidewalk enthusiast, Alissa Walker, in there.
Images from a new book by Susan Schulten, Mapping the Nation - History
& Cartography in 19th Century America. More here at Making Maps. Thanks Peacay.
Entering an afternoon-eating wormhole of humor videos made by cities about their bus services: here's the romantic How to Load Your Bike on the RTS Bus from Ganesville, FL, and here's Ballad of the Boyz, a music video by the Houston MTA's Transit Boyz.
Design your own boulevard with Streetmix. Also, check the blog.
Grantland's Rembert Browne visits Detroit.
The City's first 100 years in ten maps. See also: Vice maps and "Sing a Song of Gangsters."
"Modeling the real world, with constraints like melting ice cream and idiosyncratic human behavior, is often where the real challenge lies." A great piece on solving the Traveling Salesman Problem using math and instinct, Unhappy Truckers and Other Algorithmic Problems, by Tom Vanderbilt.
"...the tiny uninhabited island - a glacier-covered volcanic shield lying at the far southern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge - is literally the most remote place on Earth." Jim Hughes on Bouvet Island.
"Even though you may use a station every day as part of your commute to work or school, it's likely you have no idea where the stamp is located." Riding the Yamanote Line Railway Stamp Rally, by Mayu Fueki for PingMag.
Tracing Dracula's history in Hungary.
For the Sesquicentennial, Gettysburg mapped, an excellent illustrated post from Codex 99, including clean scans of the famous and beautiful Bachelder "daily maps."
The U.S. is looking kind of vein.
From 1993, Iggy Pop gives a tour of the East Village.
A Cemetery in the Carpathians.
With "apologies to Alaska, Hawai'i and the rest of the world", Nelson Minar has mapped out US Rivers in the contiguous 48. Lovely. Via DRB.
Collages from Maps, by Shannon Rankin. Via Quipsologies.
They could have found a more succinct title for this, but it's still great. 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak Totally Differently From Each Other.
"...current maps, as we know them today, are obsolete." As demonstrated by this video, the size and shape of a place can be displayed in ways that go beyond strict geography. Timemaps incorporates public transportation and time of day to redraw The Netherlands according to the relative time needed to travel between places. Brilliant. More from the creator Vincent Meertens, here.
Watch the world change over the course of nearly three decades of satellite photography. Fascinating.
"Places like Amsterdam, Stockholm and Venice have long histories and illustrated maps from the Age of Discovery, 15th to 17th century. Chicago's a newer city but I thought it needed something similar to recognize the photogenic lakefront and architectural legacy." Phil Thompson's Lakefront Currents. Via Curbed.
12 Hour long itineraries that boil down the best a place has to offer in one handy schedule.
Using "some stupid simple hacking techniques to build a 420,000-node botnet that helped him draw the most detailed map of the Internet known to man."
Hunting down remnants of Koranyi and Frohlich, a long-past company that once made locks and shutters for storefronts all over Budapest.
The Atlas of True Names uses etymology to give us an unusual insight
into familiar geographical names. Interesting concept, executed beautifully.
Local note. Why the blue line is blue, etc..
"Gate to Hell Found in Turkey" A sensationalist headline, to be sure, but worth the click.
Tracking dollar bills and phone calls to remap America. Thanks Marshall.
A fun interactive look at London's West End, then and now. What a shame that Casa Pepe is now a Subway.
"We've left off the identifying information from the below map. Try and guess what it references." —TMN.
A couple of years ago, Australian illustrator James Gulliver Hancock moved to New York City and, in an effort to "own" his new home in his unique way, set out to draw every single building in town.
Google Street View Hyperlapse makes time-lapse films out of map directions. (Only works in Chrome.) Fab.
After receiving dozens of hand-drawn maps, Becky Cooper has collated some of the finest into a book: Mapping Manhattan: A Love (Sometimes Hate) Story in Maps by 75 New Yorkers.
Gorgeous, London Street Map, a modern reference map of streets and cycle routes. For David.
Related to an earlier post, let's take a peek at two Historic Vice Maps Of Chicago and then maybe stop for a pop at the "Bucket of Blood."
Michael Williams collects some fantastic historical maps in his post, Charting Chicago.
Super Mario Bros 3 tube map.
Bomb Sight. Mapping the World War II London blitz bomb census. Yowza, Thanks Marshall.
A Map of the World, beautiful, playful, colorful. Via Kottke.
"Follow Me." OK. Via Glass.
Souvenir map of the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893. From Chicago Past.
Stately, a font by Ben Markowitz for creating maps of the United States. Nice, via Tina.
Vaguely Rude Place Names of the World.
"i got bitten by a snake in my bed and got rushed to hospatil and all the boss did was put the snake in the bin. Aslo no one told us it was all hills and my nan has breathing problims and she fainted and also ended up in hospatil." Tripadvisaargh.
Related to today's cover feature, The City to See in '63.
Yesterday's awesome WBEZ Afternoon Shift segment answering questions about Metra trains, bridgehouses, honorary streets and Chicago's Western Avenue viaduct. More like this please.
Click that 'hood!
Paul Bradley took the day off to ride the entire LA Metro. And for just $5 to boot.
50 Years of Space Exploration on one map. Via Joe Hanson.
That last link is from Venue, "a pop-up interview studio and multimedia rig traveling around North America through September 30th" under the direction of Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley. Bookmarked.
Fields of the Moon, where Apollo astronauts practiced in Arizona. Via Jason Kottke.
The former hospital in Tonnerre, in the province of Burgundy, has a meridian on its floor, carved sometime in the late 13th century.
Nordlandsbanen: Minute by Minute, Season by Season. A rail journey, filmed four times, once for each season, by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Via Andrew Sullivan.
Tangentially related to the last, Clémentine Tantet presents the Paris Metro Map as an astronomical star chart. It's a beautifully simple idea and executed deftly.
Not sure where he found it but this 1887 December & January Star Map Nicholas Felton posted sure is beautiful.
Maps of all the action in Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
A Guide To Alternative London Tube Maps. Awesome, Check Curvier, Walking and Geographic. Via John Coulthart.
If you've ever wondered why there is so much footage from Russian cars' dashboard cameras floating around, here's your answer.
An incredibly detailed hand-drawn map of NYC by Jenni Sparks.
Atlas Obscura. a great idea for collecting travel stories to little-known places, like the Rotary Love Hotel in Paris.
Bomb Sight maps the London Blitz, from Oct. 7th, 1940 to June 6th, 1941.
Hand-drawn and "meticulous maps showing the names and locations of every brothel, bar, casino and saloon that existed in the Cheyenne and Levee Districts of Chicago between 1870 and 1905." Just wow. "Click to enlarge" is good advice. Via Matt Fraction.
Found on the way to researching something else: Highpointers, an organization dedicated to discussing, and visiting, the highest elevations in the country.
Though residents of Detroit might protest its inclusion here, here's an interesting list of the 25 creepiest places on Earth.
Beautiful Wind Map by Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg.
Nice. Cable Car And Snake Fight. Jesper Wiking and Jesper Källgren have plotted real locations in James Bond films on a Google map.
Next time in Vienna I'm staying at Hotel Daniel and maybe in The Trailer.
A street map made up of over 900 film titles: Film Map. Via The Khooll.
Check the nice hand-lettering on this 1915 map of roads on the West Coast.
"I think there are at least a million maps here, this dwarfs our collection and we've been collecting for 100 years." A find for The L.A. Public Library. Thanks Andrew.
For BB: Long Live the Kings, a short documentary about taking a road trip through Europe by motorcycle and shooting it on film.
On Monday, October 8th, Felix Baumgartner will attempt a 120,000 foot skydive from the edge of space.
My wife and I are visiting Santa Fe, which has a thriving craft brewing scene. Last month, the first annual "Art of the Brew" Festival included Green Chile Cerveza, Flemish Sour Ales, and plenty more. The Santa Fe Reporter has a video recap.
Put This On, a web series about dressing like a grownup, visits Milan, a world fashion capital.
"The small white areas on the California coast are the only areas that aren't in any major league fair territory." —Craig Robinson. God, I love this concept and map, The Foul Lines of Major League Baseball Do Not Create Infinite Ballfields.
TMBG's Alphabet of Nations.
Google maps meets the world of vintage postcards.
A great post from the always funny Sweet Juniper: "The true story of how we brought two kids to Italy in August and barely traumatized them at all," as told in three parts.
It's amazing how many of these future US map prophecies came true, including Rhode Island sinking into the ocean in the mid-90s, and the creation of the Phoenix Seaport once California became a chain of islands.
The Amazing iOS 6 Maps.
"Obviously a rally driver cannot afford to take his eyes off of the road, so a navigator rides shotgun to call out the 'plays,' as it were. They carry what are known as 'pacenotes' in place of what we'd call directions."
Relink. Terrific collection of diagrams from the archives of Fortune. A mandatory starter set for infographicistas. For example, Lend-Lease and the Legislative Process. Then move to maps from the same source and note the awesomeness of From the Solomons.
Scenes from an Odessa flea market, both past and present.
The National Atlas, January 1872. Beautiful.
Why is Utah so salty? Why is Connecticut so haunted? Via Gizmodo.
"With food as a universal language, we intend to engage individuals from multiple socioeconomic backgrounds using the bistro table as common ground. Every day for 50 days, we will seek out an individual/family with whom there is no connection (perfect stranger) and engage with them by either purchasing and/or preparing a meal for them."
Zero Per Zero's
Tokyo Railway System "is a railway map of Tokyo metropolitan area whose overall image is inspired by the circle of the national flag of Japan (Hinomaru). Concentric circling lines spread out to the entire city with the center of the Yamanote line." Spectacular. See the other city maps too.
Zero Per Zero's
Tokyo Railway System "is a railway map of Tokyo metropolitan area whose overall image is inspired by the circle of the national flag of Japan (Hinomaru). Concentric circling lines spread out to the entire city with the center of the Yamanote line." Spectacular. See the other city maps too.
"Yeah, Grindhouse is right around the corner on Howards End, over there in The Village." Hot off the heels of their popular Song Map, the design team Dorothy have released the Film Map.
Alphadesigner's Mapping Stereotypes.
Zulkey talks to her cousin's wife about her affinity for a certain vacation destination: "A Chat With a Person Who Has Been to Disney Parks 40 Times."
The 1949 Negro Motorist Green Book, with a spotlight section featuring Chicago.
These tours of North Korea will never stop being fascinating: In the Land of Paradise.
BibliOdyssey on hand-coloured etchings of 1870s street scenes by A.P. Martial. Paris Boulevards
Gettysburg mapped, an excellent illustrated post from Codex 99, including clean scans of the famous and beautiful Bachelder "daily maps."
"You know you have good friends, kids, when you can give them no notice and they show right up on your doorstep in perfect pirate garb." Sweet Juniper continues to reign as parent of the century with A Pirate Adventure, held to mark the arrival of the first day of summer (and to keep the kids busy for a day).
"I rode 10 miles north, and then turned west, and bumped into two guys at outside of a bowling lane. One guy, Lee Hamlet, said I could sleep in the field behind his auto repair shop. I took him up on the offer. He threw me a beer. I told him about the trip thus far, mentioning that it was only 18 degrees during my first night, back in Virginia. Lee's buddy looked me up and down and said, 'You're a durable fucker, huh?'" Johnny Waldmen's eventful cross-country bike ride.
Check out the weather along your road trip route with The Weather Channel's new trip planner.
An unsettling read for anyone like myself who doesn't particularly care for flying: "Adventures Aboard Airlines in Nigeria" Thanks Claire.
Go up to 87mph on ZipFlyer Nepal, the world's most extreme zipline.
Hallstatt, Austria... China.
"Despite almost crippling my hand and going boss-eyed, I absolutely loved this project." Jenni Sparks drew London.
Lovely scans from Herbert Fry's London from 1880. Of particular note, the "bird's-eye views of the principal streets." Via Ralf Zeigermann.
Here are five Great Lakes destinations if you're still planning your summer road trip.
Keith Wright will backpack across Europe this summer. He's 95.
Time-lapse map of Europe, "fast forwarding from 1000 AD until 2005 showing shifting borders, alliances, unions, territories, occupied land etc." Via Orbiting Frog.
"Over the course of two weeks we covered 5158.3 miles, 17 states, 2 speeding tickets... heard Adele on the radio more than we care to remember, ate more gas station food than could ever be healthy, broke into Four Corners National Park and made out at the Four Corners in the pitch black desert night, and learned that the line between man-made and nature is blurrier than we had previously believed."
Get anything you want from anywhere in the world by rewarding a traveler for delivering the goods.
The first road across America.
"100 years of ship paths in the seas, as recorded in hundreds of ship's log books, by hand, one or several times a day." Then animated. Via Mefi.
Metro transit maps without labels are beautiful. Lineposters, by Cayla Ferari and John Breznicky. Via Core77.
City DNA maps by Lu Xinjian.
"While living in Barcelona, inspired by each corner that I turned, I began to carry my camera with me at all times. Over time, I began to collect a nice batch of photos of architecture, store fronts, art exhibits, but mostly, a very eclectic mix of Barcelona public art. Over the past few months, I have been organizing these photos to share something that gave me a lot of inspiration over the past two years." MBPA.
Assuming the internet still works during the coming zombie apocalypse, this map should come in handy. via Gapers Block.
Wind Map of the United States Accurately described as "Mesmerizing. Beard-like" by Chris Glass.
An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us – energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future. This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US right now. Via swissmiss.
ExtendNY, The Manhattan Grid extended to every point on Earth. A project by Harold Cooper. Via Manhattan-ization, a fascinating post from Kosmograd.
So simple. so hypnotizing. Stratocam by Paul Rademacher. Via Adrian Holovaty.
The summer melt of Arctic ice, "the greatest seasonal change on the planet." Via Explore.
The BBC's 2008 Britain From Above series features splendid visualizations of data, animated on maps. See also Flowing Data on patterns of daily life in the Netherlands from above.
The Papaya Playa Project is a pop-up design hotel in Tulum, Mexico.
Charts and Diagrams Drawn by Famous Authors, especially William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County map. Via Dan Roam.
"When we travel, packing our bags is the first part of the adventure. Finding the balance between necessities, showing off in a new city, and leaving space for all your shopping is an art." I Am Packed.
Facebook dominates in the 2012 World Map of Social Networks. Via TNW.
"Pheasant Island is not only the oldest surviving condominium, it is also the only one where sovereignty isn't shared simultaneously, but alternately. For six months a year, Pheasant Island is French; for the other six, it is Spanish." Frank Jacobs on "The World's Most Exclusive Condominium."
If you're an Airstreamer, Jamie has a Futura-tastic accessory you'll definitely want.
Where the trees are.
Google Maps: Designing the Modern Atlas. A fascinating look at an ongoing process.
Nicknames of the states from 1884. Via Gapers Block.
Timothy Donaldson's handful of photos illustrates why it might be a good idea to buy a travel guide before heading to Wales. Via Design Info.
A live webcam at the South Pole station. Nice weather for Felicity Aston, 26 days and 625 kilometers since starting off.
Great Britain: Her Natural & Industrial Resources, a beautiful vintage map via The Accidental Optimist.
Cameron writes, "...thought you'd like to see my latest creation. This time, it's U.S. Routes (the old highways like Route 66 and the 101). This one almost did my head in, it's so complex and convoluted." Yowza, U.S. Routes as a Subway Map.
"If you're in the north of England and you're in a town ending in -by, you're in former Danish-ruled territory." Alphabet maps of Great Britain and Ireland.
For the music geek in your life, the Song Map poster.
Related to the last. Felicity Aston is almost to the South Pole on skis and alone. Follow her trek on Twitter.
"Exactly 100 years ago today, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole, effectively ending a race that he had been engaged in for years with his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott. Both men had been eager to become the first to plant his country's flag at 90°S, and in doing so, they created one of the most indelible and tragic stories in the history of exploration."
A zoomable map of Paris from 1550.
Jim Hughes' The Streets of New York Part II. Terrific vintage maps, smartly annotated. Here's Part I so you can begin at the beginning.
A glass walkway has been added to Tianmen Mountain in China. Here's a video.
Outstanding tents by FieldCandy.
Hello Chicago just arrived. A sweet illustrated map by Herb Lester. Lots of other fun stuff in shop too.
Codex 99 on The Streets of New York, Part 1, The Commissioner's Plan.
Geological Maps of Volcanoes.
Timemaps plot trip durations instead of distances and look amazing too. More at Fast Company.
"The Waldseemüller map is a printed wall map of the world by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, originally published in April 1507. It is known as the first map to use the name 'America'. A single copy of the map survives."
Nicely shot short doc about The Triple Crown, wherein bike riders must summit Vancouver's Seymour, Grouse and Cypress mountains in just one day. Via Doobybrain.
"#5. Avoid places that don't take walk-ins; there's nothing worse than coming in alone and being turned away... alone." Dining solo in LA.
No.
Yowza. Amazing 3D mapping from C3 Technologies, which was recently acquired by Apple. Check the videos. Via Daring Fireball.
Welcome to the Movie Locations Guide.
The United States of What is Coming to Get Us
Alistair Hall and Dafydd Waters are The Gentlemen Cyclists. They just completed and documented this trip from end to end of Great Britain while raising money for charity.
HD and full-screen alert. Joe Capra's Midnight Sun, shot while traveling solo in Iceland for 17 days while the sun never set. Via Open Culture.
I went 0 for 3 on this Morning News map quiz.
"The pain and humiliation of not being a billionaire is a part of every interaction here. If I had never left as a child and then bought a part of some ferrous-metal enterprise at a rigged auction during the Yeltsin era, I wouldn't be bargaining over a $40 cab ride." The New Moscow, by Gary Shteyngart. Via TMN.
"Some of that can come serendipitously, while wandering the city. Big, busty Roman matrons with tiny lap dogs, workmen struggling with an enormous red sofa in the shape of a pair of lips—sometimes I get the feeling that Fellini's up there in the sky somewhere, directing this stuff." Fellini's Rome, by Lee Marshall.
So you know, what happens when you ask Google maps for the location of Zombies around the world.
Regarding yesterday's transit map post. I've never seen this before. Philadelphia's Rail Map from 1972 is an absolute classic. Via Feltron.
Related to the last, and from way, way back in 2001! Susan and I created a feature on transit maps for Brian Taylor's ahead-of-its-time Dodge Magazine, see pages 19-21, many links are 404 I'm afraid.
"Its obsessive clarity turns out to be the perfect basis for digital information." Paul Goldberger on the Vignelli NYC subway map going digital.
Cincinnati's abandoned subway.
"A series of mergers in the rail shipping industry over the past 50 years has led to the creation of four freight rail giants that now control 90% of all business." Nice visualization.
Old S.F. Explore the history of San Francisco through an interactive map and timeline. Thanks Marshall.
Submarine Cable Map. So cool, via Kirstin Butler.
Some video from yesterday's 100 mile NYC Century Bike Tour.
"Border Town is a 10-week, multi-participant collaborative design studio that will investigate the conditions that surround life in cities situated on borders, divided by borders, or located in conflict zones."
For SD: the secret rituals of aviophobics.
"41. Our backyard scorpions could take on your rats any day of the week" and "31. It's a great place to be a naked meth addict." In response to Gawker calling my home state of Arizona the worst in America, the Phoenix New Times has compiled this list of 50 Reasons Why Arizona is the Best State in the Country.
"The majority of the island is held under a conservation easement granted by the Keweenaw Land Trust assuring it's unique ecosystem will remain healthy in perpetuity. A very small cabin is planned over the next several years which will be sustainable and built using the rocks and wood on the island. It will serve as a place of scientific study, creative expression and recreation for the generations." Rabbit Island in Lake Superior.
"You will discover the astonishing landscapes of our world and the infinity of space through the pod's panoramic windows, all in a quiet, warm, comfortable atmosphere." Bloon.
The Crumpled City Map can be easily crammed into your pocket, backpack or the carrying pouch provided without having to worry about refolding it along the original creases. Via Lost At E Minor.
In case you need to get away from it all, the top ten most desolate countries.
Places I Haven't Been (North America). Via Think.
Sweet Juniper visits and photographs the Monroe and Lenawee County Fairs in Michigan. Ah, memories.
Local note for New York: the NYC Century Bike Tour, in mid-September, looks fantastic. Via Peachfuzz.
The Rorschmap.
Yowza. A big PDF from CHS detailing Chicago street name changes and many derivations. Compiled by William Morris in 1948. Bravo Mr. Morris. Bravo.
One more. The Straight Dope on Edward P. Brennan, the guy that got Chicago organized, street-numbering-wise.
Still related. I've never wrote these words before. Wow, what a comprehensive and nicely organized Wikipedia entry.
Related to the last. Plan of Re-Numbering City of Chicago, August 1909. PDF.
So you know. In 1908 it was decided that State Street would be the dividing line between east and west in Chicago's street numbering system. Madison would divide the north and the south. Eleven years before that, Thomas Edison made a short film at the intersection where those streets meet.
Regarding a recent Herb Lester post, check this lovely illustrated post at Aqua-Velvet about some of their map projects.
See Something or Say Something, by Eric Fischer. "Red dots are locations of Flickr pictures. Blue dots are locations of Twitter tweets. White dots are locations that have been posted to both." Via Andrew Sullivan.
On Yer Bike is design student Jun Kwon's proposal for a well-considered graphics and information system for urban cycling.
Codex 99 on The Atlas of Florida, Erwin Josephus Raisz and the development of the landform map.
Art of the Luggage Label.
"This is an experimental media project, tracking the deployment of 1/8
-1st Battalion, Eighth Marines, throughout the duration of their
deployment to southern Afghanistan. A small team of mobile media
operators is embedded with the battalion, transmitting their reports
and reflections from Helmand province as they travel across the
battalion's area of operations Via ACL
Christoph Niemann's World Map of Useless Stereotypes.
"The cost of this simplicity is geographical accuracy." The Economist on designer Mark Noad's new
take on The London Underground Map. If nothing else we'll give him points for courage. Thanks again Marsh.
A must-read piece at Forgotten Chicago by Terence Banich, Remnants of the "L," includes a brief history of Chicago public transportation and what's left, of what once was. Via Tolva.
For MS, the Lawrence, KS Design Guide.
"Heathrow Heritage is a series of excursions run as a cooperation where the activists, historians and residents with the assistance of the airport deacon take stranded passengers for bike tours around the ancient villages under threat from airport expansion. It's an activity that brings 2 communities together and leaves entertaining and memorable experiences for the passengers and a new form of activism for the protesters."
In an attempt to set the world record for longest documentary, an interesting way to launch a new television network. You have until tomorrow to check in with the live, streaming voyage of the MS Nord-Norge as it travels by sea from Bergen to Kirkenes in Norway.
1000 Foot Chicago, by Lincoln Schatz. Via Gapers.
So great, a Tube Map of British Comedy
Driving Through Detroit.
James Bridle's Robot Flâneur, uses Google Street View to explore cities. Especially nice in full-screen. Via Waxy.
What does Britain sound like? It depends where you listen. UK Sound Map.
The Hoje Malebordsblade is "a mosaic of several hundred individual 1:20,000 sheets and was the first official civilian topographical map of Denmark." An update on an older, fabulous Codex 99 post.
An interactive map that allows you to find and translate over 10,000 newspapers from all around the world.
When all you want to do is ride. Michael Cotty tests the new SuperSix EVO from Cannondale. Via Ben Saunders.
"This print is a reproduction of Matthew Fontaine Maury's Whale Chart. Lieutenant M.F. Maury (1806-1873) was the chief the U.S. Naval Observatory and one of the most important nautical thinkers of his day. He conceived of the Whale Chart in the 1840s to aid the whaling community."
So you know, how to photograph the ultimate summer road trip. Would be a good idea to take notes too.
50 State Stereotypes in 2 minutes.
Skate the State, in which four friends skateboarded across the whole of Nebraska to raise money for the state's only indoor skate park, wrapped up this weekend. Dig through the archives to read up on the 420+ mile trip.
Simon Litton had dinner at The Cube. Wow.
Arounder, a collection of 360° panoramas from dozens of travel locations. Inside Cologne Cathedral, at the Bejing National Stadium and on the surface of the moon.
Although now long dormant, Motel Americana provides a nice look at those disappearing places to hang your hat along the highway.
Skate the State kicked off this past Sunday, with four friends skateboarding across the whole of Nebraska to help raise $50,000 for the state's only indoor skate park. Love the project's new logo.
National Geographic's fab Universe Map.
"Two brothers riding recycled bicycles across the United States and meeting people. Lots of them." They're also documenting the trip on a nicely designed and well-written web journal so we can saddle up with them, America reCycled. Thanks Marsh.
Some of us are looking at the sky.
600 Acres of northern Michigan have been designated a Dark Sky Park, one of six in the US.
An interactive map showing battles and casualties of the Civil War.
Relink, related to current conditions. Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River, a 1944 Report by Harold N. Fisk, unearthed by Pruned and online in its great big beautiful entirety. Make sure to click through to the huge winding version. Amazing.
As of December 29th, today will be tomorrow as the island nation of Samoa moves across the international date line.
The WebGL Globe is an open platform for geographic data visualization.
Why we love Ace Jet 170.
To ward off the eternal spring rains I am starting to think about a road trip. (Scanned and reconstructed by Ward Jenkins)
An instant MoOM classic, Vintage Vending. Via Mira y Calla.
Historic aerial photos of Chicago all the way back to 1938. Via Gapers Block.
Europa touring maps.
Tangentially related to the last. Where exactly was Middle-Earth?
There and back again, Frank Jacobs' Magical Siberia: A Russian Take on Middle-Earth. A Mikhail Belomlinsky map accompanying a translated Hobbit.
In order to raise money to keep Nebraska's only indoor skatepark operating, five friends will Skate the State, starting in Scottsbluff and ending in Lincoln.
Bienvenue. Je suis la machine a voyage. Appuyez sur le bouton.
Part two of Codex xcix's series about historical cartography of the Grand Canyon, The Bright Angel Maps. Fab. In case you missed it, here's Part One by Jim Hughes, The Colorado River Maps.
This site displays a range of historical geological maps, sections and memoirs of Ireland, mostly from the 19th century. Via Ace Jet 170.
Relink. The Beauty of Maps.
The BBC's The Beauty of Maps series is now available to watch online. Via Flowing Data.
Read about Vladivostok's glass beach last night and discovered this morning that we have two of our own in the US: one in Hawaii and another just outside of Fort Bragg, CA.
A map of a Tweet.
"The United Great Lakes is a hydrostate encompassing the entire drainage basin of the Great Lakes plus a chunk of the St. Lawrence River Basin. These territories ceded from Canadian provinces and American states are organized into administrative cantons coterminus with the sub-basins of each individual lakes. The capital city is Chicago."
Local note. The city from the International Space Station and from a plane too. Via Gapers.
Browse the timeline of war and conflict across the globe.
"I joined twenty-one dating sites in order to make my own census of the United States in 2010. These are my findings: a road atlas of the United States, with the names of cities, towns, and neighborhoods replaced with the words people use to describe themselves and those they want to be with." A More Perfect Union by R. Luke DuBois. Via Boing Boing.
"'What are you pulling a man's arm off for?' said the coachman looking angrily down. 'That's the house,' replied Squeers."
"This detail of the Colorado River, centered around the Grand Canyon, was produced by Frhr. F. W. von Egloffstein, topographer to Lt. Ives 1957-58 expedition." Amazing stuff, as per the usual, at Codex xcix.
Cameron Booth's vision of the US Interstate System as a Subway Diagram has been redone from the ground up, with lots of tweaks to the design and the information. Splendid.
In 2009 Romain Corraze traveled around the world for one year. Here are some of the sunsets he captured on his journey.
For MS and DW: Welcome to Andersonville!, made by the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce.
A brief history of time zones.
Le Flâneur, Paris in 2000 images. Creator Luke Shepard chats with NatGeo about the project. Via My Modern Metropolis.
Interesting series of interactive maps from the NY Times: How Manhattan's Grid Grew.
Two Days, Ben has to start out by tomorrow and the weather is not cooperating for the flight. Fingers crossed, hang in there. Follow him here.
Jonathan Klinger is spending a full year driving a 1930 Model A and writing about the experience at 365 Days of A. Via Cynical-C.
After Sitting Tight, Ben has posted a new film from the high Arctic that proves that he's either "a) losing the plot or b) maintaining a sense of humour." Killing Time.
Typographic World Map by designahoy. Sublime. Via This Isn't Happiness.
The Hungarian National Association of Radio Distress-Signalling and Infocommunica-tions operates the Emergency and Disaster Information Service, monitoring and documenting "all the events on the Earth which may cause disaster or emergency." Via J-Walk.
The Berlin hotel Sankt Oberholz has a terrific blog dedicated to their lost and found. The English version hasn't been updated in a while, but if you speak German, that side is still going strong. Via Peachfuzz.
How gangs and cupcakes seem drawn to one another in San Francisco.
Matthew Cusick's Map Works.
"Saying goodbye to your mum is arguably the hardest part of a solo expedition to the North Pole." —Ben Saunders.
A demo of some incredible 3D maps from the Swedish imagining company, C3. Via Doobybrain.
The story of and photos from Baron Max von Oppenheim's Middle East expeditions from 1886 to the 1920s.
I have no idea what is going on in this super awesome interactive illustrated map of Guangzhou. It's something about "Mapping Your Life" and it's very impressive. Via Eric Meyer.
The Seattle Band Map is a project that showcases the Pacific Northwest's vibrant music scene by documenting the thousands of bands who have performed and recorded throughout the decades. Via Wired.
The Big Bunny.
Relink. NYC's subway map as a musical instrument.
Scans of Land and Property Surveys made and recorded by Henry David Thoreau. Via Pragmatik.
Related to the last, Overland Expo 2011, Amado, Arizona. Wow, what a cool concept. Maybe next year.
"You'll spend four weeks living on and exploring Isla Palenque - a 400 acre island covered in wild jungle, protected mangroves, shady coconut groves, primordial lagoons and exotic beaches." Panama is looking for an island intern.
Interesting read about taking a cruise on the world's largest ocean liner.
From Oz travel east into Narnia then head south through Wonderland to Whoville. The Fantasy World Map.
GII Winter Expedition, Dispatch 4 The Way to the Summit. Funny, we're sort of obsessed with mountain climbing now.
Photos from a trip riding the Ukrainian Rovno, Europe's longest narrow-gauge railway. Via Poemas.
Zulkey interviews local traffic reporter, Sarah Jindra.
Cranberry juice? $38. Butter? $28. The high cost of grocery shopping in the High Arctic. Via J-Walk.
Tom Gauld's Favourite Maps from Flickr, Episode 2. Love the one from What Rhymes With Murder? Here's his first collection.
A sweet State Farm Road Atlas from 1950. Man, we should have commissioned something like that for our Field Notes County Fair Editions. Maybe we still will. Who has an idea for an illustrator? Use the contact link at the bottom of the page.
Fifteen years of UFO sightings, mapped. Via Cabell Harris.
The difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England explained. Via Doobybrain.
The United States of Shame.
No Swearing in Utah and other cartographical observations on profanity. Thanks Marshall.
In the mountains of Majorca, some great photos of the Valldemossa Charterhouse in the fog.
Growth? Check Shanghai in 1990 and in 2010.
"The lottery of birth is responsible for much of who we are. If you were not born in the country you were, what would your life be like?"
Tinywrld, a mosaic of the world made out of tilt-shifted videos.
Just watched Werner Herzog's excellent 2004 documentary The White Diamond last night and now digging through Graham Dorrington's Dendronautics site, dedicated to "exploration of the rain forest canopy using airships and other methods."
Here & There, a cool horizonless projection of Manhattan. Found among other Things.
Legoland California is adding a Star Wars Miniland in March.
There's a jungle inside Vietnam's mammoth cavern. A skyscraper could fit too. And the end is out of sight.
"The late 17th century Stedenboek (book of cities) by Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit is one of the rarest map books in the world. Only four copies are know to exist." Dutch Town Atlas.
Tom Gauld's holiday project, "starting a gallery of interesting maps from Flickr."
BBC Dimensions takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.
Ruby and Sam Anglund's travel scrapbooks from 1935-1956. A great find, full of snapshots, ephemera and maps --and all of it narrated in a charming voice. I. II. III. Via WFMU.
Cameron Booth has done it again. The Amtrak Passenger Rail System like his awesome Eisenhower USA Interstate System, done in the style of Beck's London Underground Diagram. Bravo.
The United States of Autocomplete.
For Tolva, Art Lebedev's Moscow Metro map and the design process that went into it.
A map of the world's countries rearranged by population.
Wanting to move to rural Australia but don't want to spend a lot in the process? Through the Trundle Tree Change, you can rent a farmhouse for $1 per week (with the provision that you live there for 3 years and renovate the house along the way).
"Using county-level data, I spatially and temporally interpolated presidential vote returns for the two major party candidates in each election from 1920-2008." Isarithmic History of the Two-Party Vote.
The Common Census Map Project divides the US into "spheres of influence" for major cities.
"Last week Parisian agency BETC Euro RSCG presented three music acts with an unusual challenge: to write and record a song during an Air France flight between Paris and Tokyo..."
Ten centuries of European history in 5 minutes.
Click through four lovely spreads from Ralph Tubbs' Living in Cities.
How to make your own scratch-and-sniff map.
Typomaps.
Archeology in New York. Sic transit gloria.
The Unites States of movies.
For SE, Elliott's Halloween pumpkin carving skills are mad-awesome.
A drive through the empty Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway at dawn. Via Doobybrain.
BibliOdyssey on Pierre de Luxembourg's Pleasure Garden near Brussels. Wow.
A map showing the true size of Africa.
Lists of 40 and 41 things to do in Detroit before you're dead.
"The only accident, engineers said, was when one Google car was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light."
The whole Swissair fleet.
10 maps that changed the world.
Relink. Sounds, mapped to locations in the UK.
Be careful navigating the Bay of Grammar Pedantry, there be dragons. XKCD's wonderful Map of Online Communities 2. So fun. Via everyone.
"Britain's sonic environment is ever changing. Urbanisation, transport developments, climate change and even everyday lifestyles all affect our built and natural soundscapes." The British Library's interactive UK Sound Map.
Back in Phoenix, we used to get big sandstorms at least once or twice a year, but nothing like this one in Africa. Via Doobybrain.
"This visualization draws a red circle at the center of each zip code indicating the number of people who travel to or from that area. The blue lines show the driving directions." Harry Kao's Commute Map.
How segregated is your city?
Explore the beauty of the web as Friends of Mighty take you through the Lost World's Fair.
Aaron's on the road again, he's taking the Highline Tour, U.S. Route 2, Westbound.
Designing a better subway map.
300,000 of the largest websites visualized with favicons. Oh, that one looks familiar.
Scratch off the gold foil top layer to reveal geographic information about countries you have visited with My Scratch Map.
Hidden faces of the UK coastline.
All Coast U.S.A., a new look at the map by Craig Robinson.
Michael Surtees peeks at From Here to There, a new anthology from the Hand Drawn Map Association. Cha-ching.
Great Metro maps from around the world.
Cartographers' Guild is a resource for people who like to create maps of imaginary worlds, and in case you were wondering, here's a tutorial for making realistic coastlines. Via Things Magazine.
How big, really?
So you know, the 2010 Social Networking map.
On first glance, it's quite a classy-looking wall map, but if you carefully scratch off the places you've been on holiday, it reveals some lovely colorful and geographic detail. My Scratch Map. Via Apartment Therapy.
So you know, a round up of bizarre Google Earth images.
Lovely, a map of New Jersey based solely on Bruce Springsteen lyrics.
A Twitter mood map reveals the emotional state of America. Via New Scientist.
NASA maps depicting global forest heights.
Flying over St. Petersburg in a dirigible, with a camera. A gorgeous a set of photos of a dream city. Translated. Link via Peacay.
West Ashfield, London Underground's "secret" tube station.
8-Bit London and 8-Bit NYC. Via Things.
Four years in the making by Art.Lebedev. We have linked the new Moscow Metro map previously, but here's an awesome "making of" post that walks through the design process and details some options that were considered.
"Songs about musicians being 'on the road' don't qualify unless they actually mention roads." Some Road Songs from the US DOT Federal Highway Administration. Now that's government in action, via Mefi.
Giving you an insight into Twitter activity from around the world, the Tweet-o-Meter.
Flying car, check.
Pin your history on the world, Historypin.
A map showing countries in the world that are landlocked.
Great idea and one we should import to Chicago, someone is stenciling directional compasses outside subway station entrances in NYC.
The Atlas of True Names. Scroll down for the visual. Via Mefi, which also links some dissent on the methodology.
For some of us this is really big news, especially since it's from our second favorite design shop anywhere. A new Moscow Metro map. The old ones were pretty boss too, more from Suzanne Labarre for FC.
More than 10 million Americans moved from one county to another during 2008. Here's where they went. Via GOOD.
Tested out this flight attendant-conceived suitcase packing method last night and it works great. More here.
10 Midwest roadside attractions you must see.
If San Francisco crime were elevation, graphics by Doug McCune.
Blue points on the map are pictures taken by locals... Red points are pictures taken by tourists." Via Waxy.
"Regular Octolinearity," or why we love the maps we love, maybe. By Maxwell Roberts for Eye.
A local globe. Sweet. Via Michael Surtees.
So you know, ten of the greatest maps that changed the world.
How big is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill compared to your city?
LAxNYC.
"We've left Los Angeles to move in New York City. We've decided to drive across the country. During this 14 days trip, we have driven 4129 miles through 14 states and we've sent 94 postcards." Via Feltron.
The World Touristiness Map, indicating the most popular destinations for those on vacation.
The drive from the mountains of Kentucky to the coast of Spain is around three hours. A map produced by Paramount in 1927 showing where you go in California to shoot things that take place in other parts of the world.
The strange phenomenon of frazil ice at Yosemite National Park.
Get me back to Brussels: the Pantone Hotel. Via bblinks.
Related to DW's Los Angeles link below, if you're ever visiting there, do yourself a favor and go on a Charles Phoenix walking tour.
The Map Room on where to shoot on location along the Nile and other places... in 1927 California. Via Boing.
"All we wanted was a simple, modern world map. When our search turned up nothing but glossy posters and cheap antique reproductions, we knew it was time to design our own." And it's gorgeous along with all their other maps. Via Surfstation.
The floating railway of Wuppertal.
Nice collection of airline stickers.
"If you ever find yourself driving through Chiapas, Mexico, in the middle of a nighttime downpour that seems to have been procured by K'uk'ulkan himself and obscures any vision you might have of the road ahead of you through your rapidly blinking rental windshield wipers, you should probably know that in Chiapas, the highways have speedbumps." Travel Tips We Learned the Hard Way.
"Unlike some of my previous excursions out into the world, this will not be a drug-fueled, heavily-armed Thompsonesque nightmare trip." Former Guest Editor and Field-Tested Books contributor Leonard Piece has headed out for three months to aimlessly wander state roads and scenic routes, and will be reporting on it all at One Car Jam.
A relink for Stephen Walter's The Island, a massive hand-drawn and annotated map of London.
So you know, Tips for international relocation from someone who knows.
ZERO PER ZERO's City Railway System maps on display at Kemistry Gallery in London.
Comic book cartography. Via Cartophilia.
Ohio: Far more than the sum of its parts, even if those parts were so nicely illustrated.
A 360 degree map of what you can see from The View, the rotating cocktail lounge at the top of the Times Square Marriott in NYC, conveniently located on your cocktail napkin.
Hard to believe we haven't posted this, or that ncz didn't beat us to it: These Are Things, mighty awesome silkscreened maps, outta Columbus, OH. (Thanks, Andy.)
European airspace reboot, mapped for video. Via Infothestics.
Vintage US state map postcards.
The Beauty of Maps.
Every Time Zone. That would have helped during the last Layer Tennis exhibition match, Around the World in Ten Layers.
Comic Book Cartography collects maps and diagrams from places like Doom Patrol and Little Archie. Via The Map Room.
We've been big fans of Jan Chipchase's Future Perfect for years. We always list it when asked about our favorite places on the web. The new design of the site is just about perfect for his posts of photos and observations from his various Field Studies. Bookmark it.
Mapfrappe, a Google mashup that lets you compare outlines of certain parts of the world overlayed on another part of the world. Check this mashup of Tiananmen Square vs. Red Square. Via MeFi.
Very Small Array's The Real Park Slope and the college stickers on the rear windows of cars that are parked there.
American States That Might Have Been.
Do your states' highways and byways send you correspondence? Ours do. Greetings from the Ohio Turnpike.
So you know, a map of the World Anti-Spanking League.
While others debate the best way to track down the lowest airfare, I went the other direction, spending the evening tracking down the most expensive airline ticket out of town. Via J-Walk.
"Travel like a human" is the motto of Airbnb, which is "an online marketplace allowing anyone from private residents to commercial properties to rent out their extra space." In other words, if you had "stay in a Vermont treehouse" on your bucket list, consider yourself served.
Pygmalion, Oedipus, Faust, and Leviathan; A map of four well-travelled tales.
Statistical Atlas of the United States based on the results of the Ninth Census 1870. Just in case you thought infographics were a new thing. Beautiful and insane. Via Feltron.
8-Bit NYC.
The British Library's online exhibition of over 1200 printed and hand-drawn maps of London from 1570 to 1860 is amazing, check out the Crace Collection of Maps of London.
"200 of the pins are black, one of them is red and one of them is blue. Red is for headquarters, blue is for next target." A signed print of a hand drawn map of the world by Oliver Jeffers from You and Me The Royal We.
"Ten days before we were supposed to go, they said, 'No, nobody can come'" Vice TV goes to North Korea. Thanks Marshall.
Just in time for spring, bike lanes on Google Maps.
"By reducing the amount of information, and rendering the oceans in white and landmasses in black, the corona globe highlights the reliefs of islands and coastlines." Fab. Via Minimalissimo.
50 state tourism logos all in one place. I miss Wisconsin's classic "Come smell our dairy air."
Local note for CTA enthusiasts. On Sunday, March 28th a four car train using Chicago's oldest cars, the 2200-series built by Budd in 1969-1970, will travel on almost every line as well as some non-revenue and yard trackage. Snowflake Special on the CTA. Via CTA Tattler.
The Commonwealth of New Island.
A swell poster graphic for Time Travel in Popular Film and Television and the notes, sketches and drafts that transported the designers to the final product.
Pruned on laser scanning abysses. Cool.
A Valentine's Day gift for the cartographically inclined, States United.
View today's newspaper front pages from a map.
Relinking Richard Howe's The Manhattan Street Corners because even if you saw it you need to see it some more.
A day in the life of a cursor. Via @H&FJ.
This gigantic arrow is "a dynamically rotating electronic LED screen that allows passers-by to send in their favorite location and coordinates via text or email."
Seven 4,000 pixel continental video arrays across 51 monitors. The 4K Video Globe was created by our pals at The Brand Experience. Check the video too.
If you ever get a chance to see a presentation by local cartographer Dennis McClendon, do it. Caught two lectures of his at ORD Camp this weekend and would have happily attended twenty more. Here's his Chicago Growth 1850-1990.
Modern Empires Decline, two historical timelines, animated.
Snapshots of Provence, travel notes in sound and images in an innovative interface. Via NotCot.
Photos of major intersections make up the street grid of our fair city, Mile By Mile. Thanks Hanan, and Adora.
Paper map, zoomable.
Milky Way Transit Authority System Route Map. Handy.
Sam Potts' Hopeful Enterprise: Alphabets for Chinese Christmas and the 7th Grade sings When The Saints Go Marching In.
If Anne Ward's 2009: The Year in Pictures doesn't make you want to move to Scotland, nothing will.
An interactive map showing all eco-crimes in the US in 2009. Via Archinect.
Katie Spotz is spending the next 70-100 days rowing 2,500 miles across the Atlantic.
For JC, how to ride every CTA El route in one day.
An animated map displaying a year of edits made to OpenStreetMap. Beautiful. One of FlowingData's top five dataviz projects of 2009.
Cracking the Planet, a nicely illustrated post at Bldgblog on the most efficient way to map a sphere in two dimensions. And just in case you like this sort of thing, you'll find this just exactly the sort of thing you like.
Hopelessly and delightfully lost among David Rumsey's collection of historical maps.
Related to an earlier post, Detroit goes 3D on Google Earth.
Mysterious Nebraska-shaped field in..... Nebraska.
Tangentially related to the last. The origins of the compass rose.
Dinosaur battles to the north. Seek alternate routes.
Chairman Mao's Underground City, a photo tour of Beijing's semi-unihabited, mostly-abandoned fallout tunnels.
From SVA: Design history, theory and practice, a Master's Workshop in Venice and Rome next summer.
A look at the Airbus A-380, that is one magnificent flight.
A slide-show from The Guardian. Tunnel Vision, the history of the London tube map. Via DO.
The Map Room reviews Paris Underground, by Mark Ovenden and also features a guest post by the author on how three great innovators in the world of transit map design came together for the first time in thirty years.
Accidental geography.
Eleven Senators draw their states.
The London of Sherlock Holmes..... mapped.
So you know. How to make a US County thematic map.
"Tweak a map projection formula a bit, and the results can be interesting."
"It struck me as something very natural to actually write these notes directly on the images. The photographs became a graphical chart, a roadmap that helped me decode the life of this strange new town I'd found myself living in." Douglas Gayeton talks with TMN about his book Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town.
"This is central London, taken from the standard A-Z map, but with everything removed apart from the names of streets, stations, and a few major buildings."
A relink that's always fun to explore. Theme park maps dating all the way back to 1931.
Relink for SD, flow charting the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
We may not rank very highly (or at all) with things like "Art & Culture" or "Friendly Locals" but the US is still #1 on Future Brand's 2009 Country Brand Index. Um, congratulations us?
Terrific collection of diagrams from the archives of Fortune. A mandatory starter set for infographicistas. For example, Lend-Lease and the Legislative Process. Then move to maps from the same source and note the awesome From the Solomons.
The terrifying secret collaboration Africa and South America have been keeping from the rest of the world.
New personal goal: visit Tristan da Cunha, the world's most isolated island. Good photoset here, and this one, "My Stay on Tristan da Cunha 1962," is great too.
Tangentially related to Senex Prime's US Interstate System as London Underground diagram, here's a similar map of 250 movie titles, designed by David Honnorat,
Information on climbing Tree 9, a right of passage for students at the University of California Santa Cruz. And here's a documentary about it, complete with helmet-cam. Via 2 or 3 Things.
Eisenhower Interstate System in the style of H.C. Beck's London Underground diagram. Bravo to Senex Prime. Check his notes too.
An interactive map showing the effects of global warming.
"This is Chicago, where nothing is easy." Great Cecil Adams piece in the The Reader on why the CTA El lines are the colors they are.
1954 bird's-eye view Boston MTA system map. Nice. Via Cartogrammer.
NYC and Paris map cuts.
Fontblog on Atlas of the Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky. Sample spreads in a PDF and various other elements in the author's photostream.
Jon Uddell's literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database, "a compendium of definitions of the world's timezones, plus rules for daylight savings transitions." Via Andy Baio, of course.
"You all" versus "Y'all." Via Ebert.
Related to the last: Dick Schwab also runs the blog Iowa Nice, which focuses on things that make Iowa, well, nice.
KK on The Geek Atlas by John Graham-Cumming.
J's subway poster.
Beschreibung der Reise von Konstanz nach Jerusalem from 1487. An illustrated diary of a German knight, Konrad von Grünenber, and his journey from Konstanz to Jerusalem. Wow. Further proof that BibliOdyssey is a mandatory bookmark.
"I don't claim to understand them but they are kind of beautiful." Agreed, acejet170 highlights illustrations from a book on map projections.
The Map of The Art, a gallery at TMN.
Remodelista finds a new must stop location for next year's trip to Belgium: The White Hotel in Brussels.
When politicians and the media mention Main Street, they evoke one people and one place. But there are over 10,466 streets named Main in the United States. Mapping Main Street.
Utterly insane. Got a Big Mac attack? Find a the nearest McDonald's using this map. Via Josh.
Fab, a map of best movies of all time.
Infosthetics on visualizing the S&P 500 as a planetary system by James Grant. Check the video demo. Yowza.
So you know, a Sci Fi road trip map.
A Literary map of San Francisco.
Roadtrip! Timelapse! San Francisco to Washington DC in just four minutes.
20 Creative recreations of Stonehenge.
Sweet Juniper's trip to The Magic Forest in upstate New York. It's the home of "The Nation's Only Diving Horse" and lots of creepy fiberglass creatures.
The Mannahatta Project, seeing what NYC looked like before people started building a city there.
Al Franken draws a freehand U.S. map at the Minnesota State Fair. Funny, I always start with Ohio.
Interesting map tracking the wildfires in Los Angeles.
Freelancer? Meet some new folks and get some work done using the Google Co-working map. Via Workalicious.
"When the third told me his donkey's name was H'mar, I realized it couldn't be a coincidence." Susan Orlean finds unsung majesty in Morocco's hard-working donkeys.
"I have been an avid map collector and roadgeek ever since I can remember. From the age of 3 or 4 I have designed my own cities and nations and have since drawn a few hundred maps." Revisiting The Map Realm, the fictional road maps of Adrian Leskiw.
Expo 67.
The London tube map anagrammed. Via Rex Crowle.
Information on and a map of Bicycle Commuter Superhighways in Copenhagen. Via Peachfuzz.
Sure, you can enter to win a romantic getaway in NYC, but the real prize seems to be the inclusion of Field Notes. Via NOTCOT.
Boom, Bust, Burn, Blame: The Story of Fake Omaha. A look at Neil Greenberg's city planning and mapping art project.
So you know, the world's most expensive cities.
Interesting interactive map tracking hate groups across the country. Via Peachfuzz.
Abandoned Six Flags, New Orleans. From Jonathan Haeber's excellent Bearings.
JetBlue's $599 All You Can Jet, anywhere you like, as often as you like for 30 days. Sounds perfect for more Field Notes field trips.
New Yorkers: Here's your chance to tour the world's oldest subway tunnel.
The atlas of hidden water.
Soil maps of Africa.
"CityMurmur aims at addressing maps and diagrams not as passive representation of realities but as tools for interpretation and action." NOLA and Madrid are currently murmuring. Via Infosthetics.
1948's Chicago the Beautiful from MGM's film series James A. Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks.
Kevin Kelly's Internet Mapping Project rolls along. Awesome. Via Mefi.
"I have been working on a city map series of Linocuts, This is the latest in the series. The carving took 2 months of daily work, and the design took 4 months. I will be printing this in the next few weeks." Paris. Wow.
Earl Shaffer and the Appalachian Trail, a nicely presented and annotated history of the first person to walk the whole thing in a season. Via Mefi.
Giles Turnbull hears the present sound of London.
A stroll down First Avenue in Seattle with photographer Caitlin Burke and Matthew Baldwin.
Map showing where iconic album cover photographs were taken. Nice. Via Anil Dash.
Warning for MS, steer clear of the subway stop at 96th and Broadway in NYC.
A 3D map of Hong Kong. Via MeFi
Peacay on an incomplete evolution of the cartoon political map.
US states as countries of equal population.
"Tokyo to Hong Kong to Shanghai to Yichang and back, on planes, trains, buses, rental cars, taxis, and bicycles." A videologue from Jason Koxvold. Now we see where the footage and ideas came from in Friday's amazing Layer Tennis match against Scott Hansen.
Ring roads of the world. Via Strange Maps.
Atlas Obscura, a new "compendium of this age's wonders, curiosities and esoterica." Excellent. Recently added: the world's largest Tesla coil.
This summer David de Rothschild and his crew will sail from San Francisco to Sydney on a boat made out of plastic bottles. The Plastiki Expedition. Via Good.
This map was constructed by sorting roughly 800,000 published papers into 776 different scientific paradigms based on how often the papers were cited together by authors of other papers.
If you're ever visiting Beijing, my recommendation is to skip all the regular tourist haunts and visit the 798 Art District, which is full of contemporary art galleries inside of Bauhaus style factories built by East Germans in the 1950s. In particular, make the UCCA one of your first stops.
Lee Jang Sub's ComplexCity.
UpNext, 3D Manhattan for your iPhone. Via Cult oF Mac.
A History of the London Tube Maps nicely illustrated and annotated survey of how "the map" got that way.
A very quickly edited clip of the sand dune sledding from earlier today here in Dunhuang. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a POV shot for fear of a) getting a lens full of sand or b) having the desert swallow my camera.
After today's three hour drive to the Yadan National Geological Park (or "The Devil City"), I'm convinced that all the moon landings were faked and shot there. I offer Exhibits I, II, and III.
Canada, here we come!
The first tweet from space.
Sweet visualization mapping people who have "Just Landed," according to their Twitter feeds. Lots more detail here from the project's creator, Jer Thorp.
Here & There, a horizonless projection in Manhattan. Via DesignNotes.
"Chicago is on par with many third world countries when it comes to road repairs." Ouch. Here's a tour of some of the worst potholes in the world.
Visualizing the U.S. electric grid.
Tracking the Swine Flu outbreak on Google maps.
Man Hat Tan, a lovely map by Jim Datz. How about Chi Ca Go next?
"On May 3rd 2008, artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley invited the Google Inc. Street View team and residents of Pittsburgh's Northside to collaborate on a series of tableaux along Sampsonia Way."
Watch people buy shoes, really, it's fascinating.
Oliver Reichenstein's amazing Web Trend Map #4 is in final beta. Awesome, as expected.
We have a dump truck site near the studio. Sometimes they drop some pretty huge dumpsters and the whole studio shakes. On other occasions, the earthquake-whisperer in me swears it's something more. When BB looks at me like I'm nuts, DW smiles indulgently, and SD ignores us all, I go here to prove my case. I have actually been right. Twice. The rest of the times don't count.
"A while ago, I had an idea for a website that automatically creates time lapse videos of drives through cities using images from the Street View feature of Google Maps. This is a rough example of what it might look like." Via Waxy.
Remodelista visits the Ace Hotel & Swim Club, newly opened in Palm Springs.
Mapping with Isotype, a collection of maps using the "language by pictures" technique.
What did you say? Mapping Mutual Incomprehension.
From NASA's Earth Observatory, an amazing satellite image of the continuing activity at Chaiten Volcano in South America.
Interactive maps showing How the Crash will Reshape America.
Peter writes to show us Three Times Hotter Than Bournmouth. "Postcards my Grandfather sent from Japan to his brother in the 20s and 30s." Sweet.
The Hand Drawn Map Association.
SVA is holding one-week design workshops in Rome and Venice this summer which are open to professionals. I wonder if that includes professional gelato tasters?
Milky Way Transit Authority System Route Map. Via The Cartoonist.
So you know, the mean center of the United States.
Too bad it's only available in the UK, the gorgeous London Underground mirror.
The trials of living in the British towns of Penistone, Crotch Crescent, Wetwang and Titty Ho.
A pretty sweet new tourism site for New York City.
Why ski outside when you can Ski Dubai?
A bike lane that goes where you go.
Paul Neave's Flash Earth. Thanks Mabes.
Rocket Strikes I Am Near maps where V2 rockets landed in London during the second World War. If you don't have a London postal code at the ready, here's an example. Via I Like.
Google adds a transit layer to their maps in over 50 cities. Check out the Chicago map which even ties in the CTA's bus tracking system.
Some people like burritos, others like McRibs.
Hi res version of the Star Wars galaxy.
Manhattan subway map, in ACSII!
Kevin Broome has learned that cartocacoethes means "a mania, uncontrollable urge, compulsion or itch to see maps everywhere." I might have a case of that.
Learning about Mountain Design.
For KG, an interactive map of The Simpson's Springfield. Via Neatorama.
We all know where the Sea Pirates are now, but how about a real time emergency and disaster map?
Michael Lewis from Milwaukee Tourism writes, "I wanted to pass along a booklet we have just released. Please feel free to call up our office day or night if you have any questions on the relocation procedure." Totally great.
Show/World.
A snapshot of all the other 1600 Pennsylvania Avenues across the country. Via Cynical-C.
Peacay on old -fashioned panoramas or Accidentally Anamorphic. A great post, copiously annotated and illustrated.
Rand McNally's new FabMaps. Great for cyclists or motorcyclists, and only $2 w/free shipping. I only wish they had state and metro-area versions, it's hard to get lost on the Magnificent Mile.
"On May 3rd 2008, artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley invited the Google Inc. Street View team and residents of Pittsburgh's Northside to collaborate on a series of tableaux along Sampsonia Way." Street With a View. Via bblinks.
Mark Newman updates his famous election maps page with last night's results. That was fast, especially considering no one's called North Carolina yet.
Electoral maps for every election in US history. Via Mental Floss.
Better Place is expanding their electric vehicle network to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney which will each receive around 200,000 charging stations and 150 battery swapping stations by 2012.
The Tokyo design guide.
The new book The Grim Reaper's Road Map, which helps British people figure out how they're likely going to die. Some really interesting, yet morbid infographics, like in these sample pages (pdf).
An 1888 murder map of London.
Follow the DDC Fall Tour through Aaron's Flickr Set.
It's easy to get quite lost in Data Is Nature.
For William. Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River. Spectacular infographic. Much larger file here.
"The Danube River Project is a photo, video and sound portrait of the more than 2,800 kilometer-long river" using water level photography, video and audio. Splendid.
Separated by Motorways, a blog dedicated to satellite shots of the UK's highway system. Via I Like.
"It's still possible to travel around the world without airborne transportation, of course. And here also the travel times have greatly diminished since Phileas Fogg's era." Around the world in 42 days.
"The Atlas of the Real World uses software to depict the nations of the world, not by their physical size, but by their demographic importance on a range of subjects. Here, we select a series of travel- and news-related maps."
Spectacular Tokyo Topographies.
Literally, a handy map of San Francisco Bay.
Ordnance Surveying in 1953. Very British and definitely of its era. Via I Like.
Gorgeous, huge and precise wall maps from Raven. Via Kevin Kelly. Cha-ching.
After 4450 miles traveled and $4670 raised for animal shelters, the Tour de Dog has made it home for some much needed rest.
So you know, maps showing personality variation by region in the US.
A rambling history of Van Buren Avenue in Phoenix, including dozens of postcards and photos from the whole slew of 50s and 60s-era hotels that once lined that stretch of road.
A map of the country showing you where connections were most frequently missed.
Where the most Dicks live.
What your global neighbors are buying.
Saatchi Austrailia's print campaign for the Sony Walkman is smart, simple and looks great too.
Are online maps wiping out history? The British Cartography Society says yes. Via I Like.
The Tent of Tomorrow and the world's largest roadmap, today.
For Ella, for whom this is a truly magic bus. Yes, we can watch it AGAIN: the Westfalia VERDIER solar vehicle.
Qantas was always my favourite airline when I was a kid, and they're impressing me still with the new Marc Newson-designed cabins for their Airbus A380. Most details are subtle and highly considered, which is even more important in the "mini-world" of an aircraft.
Finished with your summer travel? Live vicariously with Good Magazine's interactive Wanderlust, a map of history's greatest journeys.
If you hate taking your laptop out of your bag at airport screening then you might be interested in these. Via Gadling.
A bus shelter swing.
Perfect for your next road trip, the NPR map.
Notes from the road: The Eyes of the West Indies.
Our friend and occasional co-conspirator Jason Koxvold went to the Arctic Circle for two weeks. This is what happened. He brought his camera too.
The Shortest Path Tree, an experiment in mapping and the visual display of information by Brandon Martin-Anderson.
placeSpotting, the online map game.
Take free dance lessons while you're hanging out at Charles de Gaulle or Orly airports in Paris. Via Vagablond.
An interactive map of the most famous trips in history.
Peacay on satirical maps from WWI, Dogs of War.
Some of the stone sculptures of Monster Park in Italy.
Caught by the Google maps street cam.
If you have a dog this might come in handy.
Ride The Little Trans-Mongolian Railroad and "See Brooklyn By Rail."
Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren't Allowed to See on Google Maps.
"At some point in the conversation, one will ask the other, 'Where are you going?'" Rules for an American Road Trip. "'Nowhere,' with a shrug, is the only appropriate response to this question." Found among other things.
Yikes, the United States of Obesity.
Ontological road maps by Robert Walden.
The Hammer Museum goes straight into the MoOM. Thanks Jean.
Christoph Niemann's boys and the subway.
A photo-filled visit to Obama, Japan. Via Cynical-C.
A map of undersea internet cables.
Country logos.
"There are no tickets and no reductions for this visit to the underworld. A fat, unspiritual, greasy monk just takes the money and throws it into a basket with unexpected abruptness." A visit to The Museum of the Dead, perhaps a link to be avoided at night and while alone. Via I Like.
Field Tester John Tolva has mapped the locations of all this year's reviews. Man that is awesome. Here's a bigger version.
Dispatches from places you didn't think had tourists.
A map of Heaven.
The world's most impressive subways.
The Trash Map.
28 Days Later, the UK, UE urban exploration forums.
Related to the last. Craig Robinson's most excellent Atlas, Schmatlas.
All of the streets in the lower 48 United States by Ben Fry, whose Zipdecode is mighty helpful and beautiful too.
"Rob Weychert is circumnavigating the United States of America in his luxurious 1994 Toyota Corolla throughout the month of May, 2008." Follow along at Rob Across America.
Measuring "informational distance" between cities. Via Infosthetics.
Where News Breaks, an interesting map showing where most of our news in the US originates.
Afraid of heights? Check out this video of a hiker on the 3 foot wide El Caminito del Rey, a mountain walkway in Spain. Via Gadling.
London Cross, a straight line walk across London, related in text. Via Mefi.
So you know. A chart on the course of time from eternity to eternity. Phew, glad that's settled. From Docs Populi.
Visited States "draws a map where you've been and where not." Perfect for an ongoing competition at my house to be the first to reach fifty.
Post lunch post. "A very strange trip in which I personally visited all 50
states in a week's vacation." If you like this sort of thing you might enjoy his 21 states in one day trip too.
Satellite images of secret places. Found among other things.
The Singles Map, tracking "how many more singles there are in each metro area." If you're a man looking for love, stay out of California. If you're a woman in the same situation, steer clear of pretty much the whole East Coast.
The Dome is Home, South Pole history 1975-90. Interesting in a sort of mundane, day-to-day way. Found among other things.
Ben Saunders is skiing 478 miles to the North Pole in an attempt to break the world record.
We Tell Stories The 21 Steps by Charles Cumming, a narrative that unfolds across a map of the world. Fab. Via Jason Santa Maria.
See the USA through this small but delicious set of motel postcards.
The Atlas of Early Printing, a timeline at Iowa. Via The Map Room.
"When it arrived and I pulled out the near mint condition piece, I realised that I'd forgotten just how vivid and, well, beautiful this thing is." Ace Jet 170 on Swiss precision and Swiss hospitality in a vintage leaflet for SAS.
What part of "drive at a constant speed of 30 KPH" didn't they understand?
A Texas Designer's Map of the World.
NYTE: The New York Talk Exchange from MIT. Visualizations of data, conversation and communication. Check the videos. Via Infosthetics.
The SSB train map is not quite real-time, but "as Swiss trains are almost always on time, most of the time the position is accurate."
Five circular communities from the sky. Via ffffound.
"There exists in sound a map of Los Angeles, filled with song-lyric street names, neighborhoods, beaches, bars, empty spaces and spaces between spaces." Map of Tom Petty's LA.
Vintage school maps for sale.
A Map of The Sky.
Here's a plan: for "cooperative" traffic, remove all road signs, curbs, sidewalks and stop lights.
Take the purple line to the Coudal stop.
The World's Best Museum Restaurants.
"An Atlas of Radical Cartography is a collection of 10 maps and 10 essays about social issues from globalization to garbage; surveillance to extraordinary rendition; statelessness to visibility; deportation to migration."
London: A Life in Maps.
A map of the US with states renamed for countries with similar GDPs. Via TMN.
Pathetic Motorways - "dedicated to those motorways within the United Kingdom and Ireland that are not perhaps, the greatest feats of engineering ever seen."
Mid century ship interiors. Way to go.
Xerox must have been taken over by investors from Kyrgyzstan.
The world's flags given letter grades. Via Gadling.
A Dutch map of Mars half underwater.
A bit of a clumsy interface but worth the effort. Scottish architect Charles Rene Mackintosh kept a sketchbook of his European travels in 1891 and the Glasgow School of Art has put the entire thing online with annotations.
Hello Chicago. Let's get off to a flying start with Aerolot, a fansite for LOT Polish Airlines. Their vintage collectables are up there with the best of Polish design.
"Hesitations usually have to do with the patrons looking too scary, the proprietor too crabby, the cigarette smoke too thick, the housekeeping too marginal. But be brave. Take a seat. No one can pretend to know and love Paris and not its zincs.
"My mother always said she had only two rules for me in life: 'Never ride a motorcycle and never hitchhike. That's all I ask. Everything else is up to you.' The first time I rode a motorcycle, it took only five minutes for me to burn a hole the size of a grapefruit in my right calf. Mom drove me to the hospital. 'Please, please don't hitchhike,' she said. But of course I did."
Road Trip.
The Dutch want to build a tulip-shaped island off their coast.
Carving quite a large chunk out of the plains, here's a rough map of the Lakota Nation.
Yep, we even ship Jewelboxing to the Faroe Islands. Where's that you ask? Right here.
Lost lost me and DW a few seasons ago but we can still appreciate an explanatory map of the island.
Transit Map of the World's Transit Systems from the previously mentioned Transit Maps of the World.
The 53 Places to Go in 2008.
Beautiful visualizations of global data like population density. Data from the G-Econ Project at Yale.
'Tis the season. Viola's always interesting Antarctic Journal is back on for the year.
Also over at Daily Poetics, a new take on one of our fave subjects: the Lyrical Subway Map
Denis Wood creates maps of his Raleigh, North Carolina neighborhood showing everything from power line locations to houses that displayed pumpkins on Halloween to homes that get the most mentions in the local newspaper. Wood's maps were featured on a recent episode of This American Life.
John Ogilby's 1675 Road from London to Pool. "Ogilby's maps formed representational conventions for centuries, standardised the mile, and had unknowable impact on the future of the English transport network. Plus, they are things of beauty." Mapping Hacks.
Riding shotgun with Google's eleven-lens Street View camera Beetle.
The $30,000 a night hotel room, designed by I.M. Pei.
The Ideal City.
"More modern editions of OS [Ordnance Survey] maps seem quite sanitized when compared to older publications like this one which still has loads of charm and character."
Country Codes of the World. Via Strange Maps.
Fascinating essay on the theory and application of employing increased realism to improve National Park Service maps. Via Anil Dash.
Map of online communities and related points of interest.
On the way to pick up lunch a truck turned in front of me and started leaking pink fluid out of the back. Looking up I cringed as I discovered it was the meat truck.
Strato Cruiser is a luxury helium-filled airship concept with a gourmet restaurant, spa, swimming pool and resident DJ onboard.
Seven underground wonders of the world.
The spectacular Jellyfish Lake.
Despite the fact that there are hundreds of beautiful old maps here, you will get lost.
Edward Hann's IDP 06, "...using the uniformity and order of the grid, mixed with the natural topographical beauty of a landscape, to demonstrate the scale of humanitarian crisis in Western Darfur and Eastern Chad." Spectacular.
Interesting, sometimes beautiful, experiments with data by the Yahoo! Design Innovation Team.
The Stockholm Metro system has three main lines and 100 stations, 47 of which are subterranean. Found among other things.
Noted without comment. Pokemon Airlines.
Is France making a backup of itself in China?
"Give way before entry." Alice Rawsthorn for the IHT on The rise of the modern roundabout.
Maps For Us, because "the children of the US America are in deep trouble." Via bblinks.
The United Countries of Baseball. Via Gapers.
On a similar note, vacation time around the world.
Ace Jet 170's tickets and maps. Buses run daily on all routes unless otherwise stated.
My buddy Briana has been blogging about her American-in-Ukraine culture shock at Chick In Kiev. Just back from Moscow, she suggests that this may be the best statue ever. I agree, but I believe that's cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, not Colossus from X-Men.
Start saving. For $4M you can take a 3 day vacation in space.
Top six of Tokyo's coolest souvenirs.
March along the Thames from the flood barrier to its source. Via Plep.
Narrated slideshow of James Fallow's visit to ShenZhen China and its marketplace for gadgetry.
Encouraging and intimidating all at once, and as personal as A Walk in the Woods, great stories and writing at TrailJournals.
Each Escape rental camper has it's own theme or story behing it and was hand painted by a top New Zealand artist. Via vi-R-us.
Jonathon Russell on image as journey.
On Sunday June 17th, Tom Allen, Andrew Welch and Mark Maultby started on their mission to circumnavigate the globe, on mountain bikes.
Good read for those of us who hate to fly: How to Survive Plane Accident. Via Torrez.
As we've all learned in school, 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water, only 30% is solid ground. What if everything was reversed? What if every land mass was a body of water, and vice versa?
I said more cowbell!
Video demonstrating multi-touch interaction with maps on a tabletop display.
Walking the Wall follows the 3000km hiking journey of Brendan Fletcher and Emma Nicholas along the Great Wall of China.
A couple of days late, but for JC & MS: Mule Design's How to Visit San Francisco. Via Torrez.
Religious Adherents as a Percentage of All Residents, an interesting map from the UK Times. Via One Good Move.
Top 10 Vacation Destinations for Geeks.
Not sure I'd want to go quite that fast.
The Eisenhower Interstate System (simplified). Via Zach Klein.
Goofy taxidermy dioramas at the Moccasin Bar and vintage outboard motor graphics at the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, both in Hayward, Wisconsin.
How far can I go if I'm in Christchurch and have this much money to buy a plane ticket?
Antipodal location for any map point.
Moscow Metro memorabilia. Oh Lord. Tokens, fare cards, stamps, matches and best of all, tons of maps. Site by our second favorite design studio anywhere, Art Lebedev.
Okay, okay. Here's a happier map.
How children lost the right to roam in only four generations. Interesting and sad. What would your family's map look like?
Largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island: Vulcan Point in Crater Lake on Vulcano Island in Lake Taal on Luzon. More combos here.
Big Things, documenting all the big things in Australia, such as the gigantic koala near Dadswells Bridge. Via 1+1=3.
RPG style map of how Japan sees America.
Daytrips in major cities for parents and kids, narrated by artists. Bugaboo Daytrips is a whip-smart idea, executed beautifully. Check Cody Hudson's Chicago illustration. Wow.
1000 places to see before you die.
MS, Hogwarts sounds neat, but I have all the Road Trip I can handle, next week.
How easy or difficult it is to do business in 175 countries? Via My Heart's in Accra.
Circular visualizations of the globe.
Now that just about every U.S. state has unbelieveably poorly-designed and cheap-looking plates, hopefully somebody takes notice of Matsuyama, Japan's new motorscooter plates.
Red alert! A map of the United Federation of Planets.
If I had $49,066, I know what I'd spend $49,066 on: the Design Within Reach Airstream. Via Chris Glass.
Cartographical curiosities. Thanks PK.
In 16 awesome data visualization tools that are changing the way we view content. Via Mapping News.
The London Tube Map Archive. Via Bhikku.
Loca is a pervasive surveillance project tracking the trail of digital identities that people leave through physical space, using Bluetooth technology. Via Textually.
Locally focused, but applies to any major city really: writer Elizabeth Winkowski's look at Chicago's Motel Row. Same strip of road David Derr's now sold out Stars Motel print came from.
Virgin America has been cleared for take-off. Fancy new touch screens are integrated into every seat.
List of the best and worst airports to sleep in. Apparently you shouldn't get caught at O'Hare, because it's the only bad one ranked in all the US ("smells like 'feet and broccoli,' noise, 'long walks' to find food, fluorescent lights buzz continuously"). Via Thrilling Wonder.
The panorama model of the city of New York at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows' Corona Park covers 9,335 square meters. Via Nothing to See Here.
Artists inspired by maps.
Never Ending Drawing is a project by Oskar Karlin started in Stockholm in 2000. Inspired by Douglas Coupland's Microserfs Paul Auster's New York Trilogy, Karlin mapped his movements on a map of Stockholm, with every day a separate layer in Illustrator. After two years he moved to Berlin and repeted the project.
This is a diary for a journey, which started from Edo, on a rainy day in 1769.
Students from a South Shore High School art class were granted a simple assignment. Written on the chalkboard were the words, Which Chicago Do You Live In? and there were stacks of paper and writing utensils to use to answer by drawing a map.
Part of Lori Napoleon's Mapsprojects. Via Platial.
The Aboriginal Australia wall map attempts to represent language, tribal or nation groups of Australia's Indigenous peoples. Via Mefi.
The Fictional Road Maps of Adrian Leskiw.
"Carneteurs" are authors of travel diaries full of drawings, notes, photographs, tickets and small curiosities. Part artists, illustrators, cartoonists as well as writers, poets and reporters they have selected this way to describe their expeditions. The road book (in French) site is a tour around the world with an illustrator, and two musicians: Via Bldgblog.
"Usually pen tablets are used to 'draw' pictures on the computer, but in Streetscape they allow you to 'walk' while listening to the sounds of the city, and to feel the close connection between the map and sounds." Streetscape, by Japanese artist Iori Nakai. Via Creativemapping.
We've previously posted Claude Lelouch's 1978 drive through Paris with a gyro-stabilized camera on the front of his speeding Ferrari. It's a must-see called Rendezvous. Now check this mashup using Google maps to plot his course in sych with the film. Amazing.
Space-To-Your-Face. How Google Earth images are made.
UK Noise Map. Via Moon River.
Eddie Jabbour's Kick Map of the NYC subway is reviewed and criticized by the MTA. I'm not a New Yorker, but the Kick Map looks like it has more benefits than drawbacks versus the official map. The MTA's main issue with the map is its loss of geographical accuracy. Either you are a frequent rider, in which case you probably know the city well enough to overcome that, or else you're a visitor who will be using another map for your geographical directions. If you're the latter, the Kick Map would easily top the official map in terms of clarity, lines and transfer points.
Five underwater post offices and mailboxes around the world.
"What would happen if you were to connect all the ZIP codes in the US in ascending order? Is there a system behind the assignment of ZIP codes? Are they organized in a grid?"
Europe From Moscow (in 1952).
Over 6000 photos from cities around the world.
La France des pains.
WikiSky is an annotated map of outerspace. Via Mefi.
Quantas and Lufthansa found themselves racing to land an Airbus A380 in the U.S. Lufthansa won, and our buddy Ryan shot some photos at O'Hare today.
So you know. Map folding technique. Via The Map Room.
Susan Stockwell's Pattern of the World, tea stain on dress making pattern with dress making pins. Detail. Via Moon River.
Maps and other cool projects from Louisa Bufardeci's unique perspective, like the world as ground plan. Via swissmiss.
The Extreme Series showcases the biggest, lowest, hottest, driest and a whole bunch of other "ists" on the planet.
A map of Germany's Euroregions.
Cineaqua is a combination of aquariums, the latest in cinema technology, entirely original animations and live and recorded music. Oh yeah, and it's all underground in the heart of Paris.
A whole bunch of printable subway maps from around the world. Via Lifehacker.
Route 79, ongoing reflections on a bus journey home from London.
The first world map of Turkish origin known in history.
Aaron of the DDC is on the road again. For this North American odyssey he brought his Dad, his dog, and thankfully, his camera.
Grandma Knapp's 1937 Road Trip.
A map that shows which side of the road citizens drive on.
The Eisenhower Interstate System simplified.
"in 2003, Rupert Wilson-Young rode from Alaska to Ushuaia in South America - over 20,000 miles - on his 50cc Yamaha Vino.
One of the most famous misconceptions in cartographic history is of California as an island.
Everyone knows that travelers move from hotel to hotel. But what about a hotel that moves from city to city? Via Vagablond.
BB finds my new ride. Cha ching when warmer weather arrives.
So you know. Where is your local famer's market?. Via the brand new Whip & Grind.
Christian Marc Schmidt's 250 New York City bus routes, isolated from context and organized by frequency of service. Also, check his Fragmented Chicago. Found among other things.
Sun, sand and email. Work from the beach.
A collection of textile patterns found on various modes of transport. Who could possibly come up with this or this? Via Kottke.
The sleek, modern Bambi, complete with 40s inspired upholstery, recessed lighting and warm woodtones. Via Inhabitat.
Massimo Vignelli explains his 1972 NYC Subway Map. "I think it's the most beautiful spaghetti work ever done."
Sealand, the world's smallest country, is up for sale.
How Paris sells itself to the English.
C. Etzel Pearcy's Thirty-Eight State Nation proposal from 1975. Posted from Dearborn.
Strange Maps puts together a tourist map of Gotham.
21 hours into his epic train ride, SD just IMed to let us know his Blackberry works in middle of nowhere. Then he lost his connection.
"What would happen if you were to connect all the ZIP codes in the US in ascending order? Is there a system behind the assignment of ZIP codes? Are they organized in a grid? The result is surprising and much more interesting than expected." Thanks Andrew.
As long as we're on English maps: Atlas of Wizarding Britain. Yes, we're Potter Nerds.
A nice Motorway Map of England, Scotland and Wales, and a Monopoly Map, as well. Via Things.
Strange Maps on Jutland.
We've posted this before but after seeing a fine suggestion from Edward Lifson we thought we ought to post it again. Paris by night. Ahhh.
Seven wonders in each of the 50 states. Via GMM.
Peacay finds a treasure-trove of excellent scans of 19th Century Bavarian maps,
More Antarctic stories, opinions and culture. Big Dead Place provides an irreverent perspective on Antarctic employment. Thanks, Dan.
Antarctic Journal is back for the season.
You have received a geoGreeting. Via Next Nature.
Angela Detanico's "The World Justified" is a map represented in a "a graphic style and arranged like text." Simple and beautiful, (Mouse over the Flash navigation to locate). Via ToRC.
MapLib lets you turn any image as large as 6000 x 6000 into a custom Google Map. Via Google Maps Mania.
Pollster.com has frequently-updated and nicely-designed maps predicting outcomes of the U.S. House and Senate races.
"Who has conquered the Middle East over the course of world events? See 5,000 years of history in 90-seconds." Via Cool Hunting.
The Moller M400X Skycar prototype is up for auction on eBay, currently at $2.1M. Via BoN.
Terrific site about Boeing's New 787 DreamLiner. Nice use of hot spots in the 'step aboard' section, very engaging.
Flight pattern visualizations. Videos produced by parsing and plotting FAA data using the Processing programming environment. Via cpluv.
360° panoramic taken from standing just beneath Christ the Redeemer above Rio de Janeiro.
We play that game, too. Fox, lake, river, heights, grove, villa(ge), park, oak, lawn, lake, brook, hills, fields, forest, elk. Choose two or three at random, and chances are you've named a real Chicago suburb.
Mapping On The Road, on the road. Via TMN.
Pruned on astrogeological maps. Groovy. More at the USGS site.
"Tracking an individual's daily travels can be both uncomfortably intimate and frigidly anonymous." Brian Collier's Picturetrail. Via Moon River.
Google Mars.
The lower and middle Mississippi Valley geology mapping program of the Army Corps of Engineers, specifically the Arkansas River basin. Download virtually any piece of the map for a spectacular piece of information aesthestics. Via BldgBlog, posted from the road.
Panoramic Map of New York. Via Curbed.
More from Drap's visits to The American Sign Museum and to the recently, and sadly, shut-down WOXY, both in Cincy.
Jesse Bachman's chart of Death and Taxes. Via BB.
Cities to scale, at Tinselman.
Interactive map of early modern London.
Anil Dash on transit maps, one of our constant obsessions. See page 19. Here's a great resource of maps to get lost in. Moscow, Oslo, Tokyo.
Thanks to the International Hydrographic Organization there are five oceans. Who knew? Via Groovy Green.
Curating the City, Wilshire Blvd. as a museum. From Coop.
The Mapping History Project.
300-meter panoramic recreation of Moscow.
Amazing Design et Typo post on the sketchbooks of Marcus McAllister, an American in Paris. So cool. [translate]
Five letters in a carrot, French tobacconist shop signs at Ruavista.
"This summer we are building rafts and floating down the Mississippi River." The Miss Rockaway Armada. Here's a piece in The Voice about the project. Thanks Pete.
Collection of vintage Ward Lock and Co's Red Travel Guides. Lots to browse and inspire here like this map of The Island of Jersey. Via The Cartoonist.
US Map made of license plates. Pricey but cool looking. Via The Map Room.
If you're visiting Israel anytime soon and the sheer size of the landmarks is proving too much for you, a trip to Mini Israel is sure to cure what ails you.
"As I swam back again, though, the harsh and dangerous realities of this beautiful place became apparent. My body started to shut down – I could feel my muscles seize up and my circulation begin to stop." Charles Glover takes a two week trip to Antarctica.
Elementary French geography course 1957.
"In 1900, Eva Downing Corey, a member of All Saints Parish from the founding, undertook a 'Grand Tour' to the Holy Land and the Continent." She kept a journal. Via Neurastenia.
The sleek Tesla Roadster.
"I have drawn an acoustic map that consists of the Metro lines, and was at times overwhelmed by the sonic beauty that people are capable of producing." -Donatella Landi. More exhibits from Sonambiente Berlin.
"A mythic white dome out in the desert built by a 1950s UFO contactee named George Van Tassel." Santa Monica to the Integraton, a contribution to the NPR "A Hundred Bucks of Gas" series by Jennifer Sharpe. Reading is nice, listening is better.
A quick tip on hitting In-N-Out Burger during an LAX layover.
The fictional road maps of Adrian Leskiw. Via Gravity Lens.
Peacay on The Portolan Atlas. "An early modern European rendering, usually on vellum, in which complete coasts, ports and waterways were depicted together with characteristic direction lines from the thirty-two points of the compass." Especially nice, this table of declinations.
China's Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Train to the Roof of the World.
A cornucopia of transit maps for a slow holiday Monday. Also, fished out of the wayback machine, The Map is the Thing, a feature SE and I did for Dodge Magazine #1 (p19). The links are mostly broken, but perhaps it's still worth a peek.
While others are biking, Christian will be running from coast to coast starting July 1. Thanks John.
The 2006 Yes Ride, from Seattle to Boston in two months.
Will Kane posts on Braniff Airlines. More beautiful stuff at this historical site, and this one, organized chornologically. Uh-oh. Just reached my daily spending limit by ordering the Braniff In-Flight Video on DVD. Couldn't resist.
Ambient, interactive installation for United Airlines at the Bank Underground Station. Check this overview first and then the detail photos. Created by Fallon London. Via How Advertising Spoiled Me.
Subway systems of the world, presented on the same scale.
Old but interesting comment thread on the London Tube Map at Tufte.
Wikimapia, describing planet Earth.
Recent ship activity on San Francisco Bay.
Finding North America's major domes on Google Maps. Via Reluct.
Photos from an abandoned Russian sub base. Sort of a Bond villian lair. Via Waxy.
Interesting story on the development of the British road and motorway signage system designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert. Via City of Sound.
"Why did you choose to visit the Chelsea? We're staying at Chelsea Hotel to retype [Valerie Solanas'] manifesto since she wrote it there 30 years ago." The Hotel Chelsea Blog, "The Last Outpost of Bohemia." Via Maud Newton.
World Cup promo poster in China. Sometimes it's hard to let Communism go. Via Zach Klein.
What's that big island off the Chicago Lakefront? Jason Kottke, inspired by Radical Cartography.
The new host of Extreme Engineering is a stand-up comedian - and a graduate student in architecture at Harvard University. He now flies around the world cracking jokes in front of the world's largest architectural structures, while studying to get his degree. Dream job? Read this interview and howl with envy.
Where atomic bomb pits, Buddhist statuary, crashed Japanese airplanes, cargo cults, and flooding archipelagos all meet: Ballardian.com takes a tour of the South Pacific.
An entire Swiss valley has won the 2006 International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens. Described as a "real utopia," it is full of "jagged ravines" and many of the houses don't have electricity: more info at Pruned.
The skyscrapers of Shanghai have become inadvertant climatological devices, generating often-dangerous windstorms at ground level. Via things.
The Guardian's new correspondent from Germany arrives in-country expecting "to find a cleaner, more efficient version of Britain." Instead, he discovers "a country ruled by the old, for the old - but with great trains, great hospitals and a rather charming love of nudity."
An old warship has been sunk in the Gulf of Mexico to form the backbone of an artificial reef - even while "a broken chain of tankers, tugs, barges, and patrol boats" now pollutes the territorial waters of Iraq. It's undersea architecture, or the residues of war.
A photographic study of small huts for security guards, all found throughout Mexico City.
"It's a good thing that the Martin Gropius Building has such high ceilings. It'll need them. The exhibit at the Berlin museum includes 15-ton statues sculpted from rose-colored granite that have spent millennia on the ocean floor." Ancient Alexandria on display. Via The Nonist.
Growing up, we called them "six corners." Gabriel Biller's site on Chicago's six-way intersections. Via Gapers Block.
Apparently learning from Jim's example, nearly 80 Colombian tribespeople have "wandered out of the wilderness, half-naked, a gaggle of children and pet monkeys in tow, and declared themselves ready to join the modern world."
The Mars Citizenship Program is now underway: "robots could set up the first Martian habitats - including a nuclear reactor - in about 10 years, for an initial $2 billion investment. That amount could be raised if 90,000 Earthlings parted with $10,000 each; 10,000 handed over $100,000 apiece and 100 tycoons each donated $1 million." New Scientist.
Since 1962, Heinz Stucke has traveled 335,500 miles, riding the same bike on a tour around the world. Then he got to England: his bike was stolen within hours.
"Blazing like a mother comet producing meteor showers throughout the world." Now that's ad copy. Starflyer Airlines debuts.
"The dish had to be spoilproof for at least three hours, leakproof, and non-odiferous." The perfect in-flight meal. Via Gadling.
This year's line-up for Hay-on-Wye's literary mega-fest has been announced: expect to see Al Gore, Margaret Atwood, Peter Carey, Alan Alda, Salman RusHDie, Christopher Hitchens, Will Self, James Lovelock, etc. etc. etc. etc. It's big.
Damn, that's a lot of dots. Via Kottke.
Freaky images of new deep sea species collected from the Sargasso Sea... Wired. Or see these four pages of photos.
Leo Fabrizio, the "bunker hunter," has tracked down and photographed over 3000 bunkers hidden throughout the Swiss landscape. WMMNA. Photo gallery.
The most insane intersection I've ever seen: it's Swindon's five-roundabouts-within-a-roundabout, spinning both anti- and clock-wise simultaneously: story (you can even buy a t-shirt!) and diagram. Good luck. (Via Sean F.)
"Deep beneath Moscow a crew of urban spelunkers frolics, hunting Stalin's secret hideaway, Ivan the Terrible's torture chamber, bootleg nuclear weapons, and a little fame and fortune" - it's from 1997... but still fun: Outside Online.
Historic Minnesota maps. Via Plep.
Didn't know much about the Chavez Ravine story until getting in to Ry Cooder's new album. Don Normark's photos are amazing.
"Pantyhose are so expensive anymore that I just try to get a good suntan and forget about it." And lots more very important dialect maps.
The Four Color Theorem which says "any map can be colored using four colors in such a way that adjacent regions (i.e. those sharing a common boundary segment, not just a point) receive different colors." Via, of course, The Map Room.
Mapping Religion in America. Via Chris Glass.
Bend to Baja, sweet new journey site for Patagonia, featuring illustrations by Geoff Mcfetridge, who himself was featured in the third episode of Western State.
In October, Ben Saunders and Tony Haile are scheduled to make the the longest unsupported polar journey of all time and you can own a mile of their jouney. We're happy to have #24.
18 best-kept island secrets. Via Vagablond.
Flip Flop Flyin' Pictorial Atlas of the World.
Flood Maps. See what's submerged when the sea level rises.
Mapping Switzerland. Genius. Make sure to download the whole PDF, in German, but great design needs no translation. Via Tina.
Re: Board-A, sorry about that Jake.
Southwest Airlines is more like a bus than an airplane, but sometimes they are just too cheap to avoid. I just used the awesome, free service Board-A to automatically get me checked into Group A and thus, get a chance to plant my bottom in the seat of my choice. Great service.
Beautiful. The Amon Carter Museum's Texas Bird's Eye View maps. Via Transbuddha.
For se - isnoop.net, package tracking with Google Maps. Via GMM.
Patterns of Progress, early bird's-eye map views of Texas, very nicely presented and annotated. Via, of course, The Map Room.
My Paris vacation photos, if anyone's interested.
The Ancient World Mapping Center.
Bldgblog's Topographic Map Circus.
Massimo Vignelli's 1972 New York City Subway Map.
Tucked away near Montmartre in Paris is the Kube Hotel.
It's a sort of flying Queen Mary 2. Aeroscraft.
Related the the last. "Hey friend, say friend, come on over, if you're looking for happiness, this is the place!" The National Archives of Canada site dedicated to Expo 67 in Montreal. And, this obsessional on The Belgian Worldfair at Brussels, Expo 58.
In case you wondered what cities have monorails.
Track your purchases after they ship with Package Mapper.
Ian Albert collects video game maps.
Shoepal writes,"Singapore's transit map is clearly taking cues from London's Tube Map. Sydney's is nice as well."
Not submitted by anyone during our recent Infequent Mailing contest is this fab poster of the Bordeaux area's tramway network. Via 1+1=1. For the next contest, join the mail list below and to the right or just jump on our blended feed.
Related. Many of the links are now dead, but se and jc did a feature way back when for the first Dodge Magazine issue, hosted at K10k called The Map is the Thing. Pages 19-21.
Sharif thinks the PDF of Spokane's map is a "pretty good one."
Guerrero nominates Vienna.
Dan writes, "A combination of utility and beauty? Bingo."
Woodrow reminds us "there is only one."
Making the rounds, but so absurdly cool that it can't be passed up: Footage from the Superconducting Maglev Train. Via Airbag.
Ethan digs Seoul. Us too.
Jason W. likes the Shonan Monorail Map.
Arlo writes, "The Moscow Metro has maps on their website going all the way back to 1931. Like our hometown of Chicago, Moscow has a loop, and on the modern map, it makes for an fascinating circle motif that is at once informative and visually pleasing. The locations where a rider can transfer stand out without overwhelming the rest of the composition."
Randy sends iSubwayMaps.
"Esso's map of Europe was drawn in the USA by the General Drafting Co of New Jersey. On most issues, such as those from 1953, 1956 and 1960 it was backed by 'a Pictorial Guide to Happy Motoring' - an outline map of the continent with several hundred small colour drawings of notable landmarks and customs."
City of Sound, "Map of Europe in which real distances seem shorter thanks to the high-speed train." So cool.
100's of interesting Google maps locations.
Sweet obsessional on parking garages. Via Kottke.
An interesting bit of info about copyright traps. Via Things.
You can rent Musha Cay in the Bahamas for a mere $24,750 per day for up to 24 guests. Via Vagablond.
The Principality of Sealand. Via Archinect.
Cornbread & BBQ Nation.
One of many excellent finds from Japan. Unfortunately, the largest size offered is about the equivalent of a Medium shirt here. Sorry, jc.
Nice Amtrak Map. Via Scripting.
Soviet Military Maps 1950-90. "These are of astonishing accuracy and contain an amazing level of detail, especially considering they were compiled under great secrecy during the Cold War." Via The Map Room.
Not ephemera nor trivia, nor even exactly minutia. Soviet Topographic Map Symbols (1958).
Chicago on Fire from the American Experience, Chicago: City of the Century.
Bldg Blog digs deep into the topography of Hell and surprisingly, it does not resemble a shopping mall. Via Design Observer.
In our obsessive perusal of all subway maps everywhere, let's pause a second to remember and appreciate those who designed them. Who's Who in Underground Railway Maps.
Hmm, we haven't had a good subway map link for a while: World Subways Under Construction.
Talking Street, cell phone walking tours.
Interactive Map of Chicago's Gangland, 1931. Nice. Lots of action in our neighborhood. Via Look At This.
Mapping Toponymy
"how regional differences in placenaming developed. I already had the vague sense that terms like 'hollow' and 'cove' for mountain valleys was more common in the Appalachians and the Ozarks, while 'gulch' seemed more of a western term." Fascinating project, via Infosthetics.
Great use of QTVR technology, Virtual Gettysburg.
I'd say this was the first Model Railroad post on coudal.com, but I think I said that last time I posted something about model railroads. In any case, it's been a while.
DB Type, new typography for the German railway system.
UFO sightings, mapped, as they happen.
On New Orleans, its history of storytelling, and Katrina; an amazing piece from Michael Lewis in the Sunday NYT magazine.
A mileage run is where you take a flight with as many connections as possible for the express purpose of earning frequent flyer mileage. Masochists.
We have many maps in our glove compartment, but this one is the most essential.
Excellent! iPod Subwaymaps by William Bright, Design Director of Nerve.com! Via GuiGalaxy.
Mapping Sex in America, designed by Entropy8zuper. Via MeFi.
"The visibility of each country on the map results from the quantity of media coverage the country receives, so those countries that do not make the news disappear progressively." Vanishing Point
Metro Bits, humbly subtitled "Some aspects of the World's Subway Systems." Lots here, including Variations of the Letter M and Voices in the Deep. Via The Cartoonist.
The site for the 34th Festival d'Automne a Paris is up. Via Aeiou.
Make a little splash by the Delaware River.
Once in a while we drop hints about what we think are our ambitious plans into our weblog. Or at least we thought they were ambitious, until we read Ben Saunders post yesterday. "Here's the plan. The first return journey to the South Pole on foot and the longest unsupported polar journey in history." We just sponsored mile 24. How bout you?
Mapping Worlds. "We develop maps in which the size of a country is rendered by an indicator, rather than by its geography." Known as cartograms, the maps are offered as PDF's and reveal much. Via the Map Room.
easyCruise has added a Caribbean route to their site. Now if only easyJet would come to the States. Via Vagablond
The next time you find yourself 90 miles outside of San Francisco, The Boonville Hotel comes highly recommended. Attending a wedding at The Philo Apple Farm also gets great approval.
1972 or 2005? You decide.
A traced route of one person's walking and biking paths through NYC over the course of one year. Via The Map Room.
A rail journey from Vladivostok to Moscow with seven stops in between. Via JK.
Sometimes you accidentally come across a page on the web and think "I will NEVER need this information but it's good to know it's out there."
Polar Inertia, a "Journal of Nomadic and Popular Culture."
In honor of Chicago's Bike to Work week: a trace of one person's walking and biking in NYC over a year's time. Via Kottke.
Peter writes, "Have a look at
Catherine Jamieson's Trains project.
27 photographers, dozens of beautiful pictures and delightful words."
I'm sure I'll spend hours exploring the planet when Google Earth is released. Here's a nice shot of our fair town.
The InterState Traveler is such a great idea, maybe some day. The best part is the car ferry in the video.
Sending some traffic to our Field Tested Books feature is Gadling, a smart journal about 'engaged' travel.
Virtual Rio de Janeiro.
Something tells me that Transatlantys is another transatlantic tunnel hoax, but one can dream. Via French'N'Fresh.
Rob gets the week going with a couple transit links. "Tile patterns of Toronto Subway stations reproduced as 1" pinback buttons and an unofficial 'efficiency guide' to the subway, to help one plan which car to get in, in order to arrive near an exit or stairway at your destination."
"In the 1970s, geography professor C. Etzel Pearcy proposed reconfiguring the United States into 38 states that were, in his view, more physically and culturally coherent." Posted from Dearborn, via The Map Room.
If the coffee doesn't wake you up, the mug will.
I just noticed this while looking up an address. Google Satellite Maps.
Five Dollars fine for riding or driving on this bridge faster than a walk, from James Teresco's comprehensive Road Signs Gallery.
Tour the ghost towns of the Mojave Desert without having your car overheat.
The London Underground in Films and Television. "I've now added a 'Grey Area' classification for certain stations previously defined as 'Fictional,'" Via the Cartoonist.
Frosted Window, 300 Years of St. Petersburg Through Western Eyes from the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas. "Some of the great strengths of our collections here are in the literature of voyages and travels; of natural history; of geography and cartography." I'll say. Just beautiful, each link you follow turns up something amazing, like this children's book cover or this spread from an 1852 cookbook.
Hello. Thank you to all the lovely folks at Coudal. Letís start, where all good stories do, in Canada. Reginald Pike. (pay special attention to the Perlorian Brothers)
Hot transit-map-geek porn. Craig Berman analyzes and annotates the Chicago CTA map for the year 2055 for Gapers Block.
Virtual Tour of the LA Metro. Produced by Axis Images. Whoa! Thanks Alison.
Earth as Art 2, spectacular satellite images like this and this.
Via Steven Green whose other name is Plep.
Mapquest is SO last week. Helloooo, Google Maps!
We're off to "the endangered species capital of the world" next month to see firsthand the source material for Remains of a Rainbow, a luscious collection of "portraits" of the endangered plants and animals of Hawai'i by David Liittschwager and Susan Middleton, two ex-Avedon assistants who bring a studio photographer's sensibility into nature with amazing finesse.
Worldprocessor. From artist Ingo Gunther. Interview in Shift Mag. Via lifi.
"Some of my colleagues make the error of trying to be reasonable, Floyd. Objectivity is the greatest threat to the United States today." David Brower to Floyd Dominy in John McPhee's Encounters with the ArcHDruid (1971 - but more relevant today than ever). One of my two favorite books on any topic, excerpted here. The other being Cadillac Desert which should change your assumptions about ... well, just about everything by the time you're through.
Only 2.5 percent of the world's water is freshwater. Two thirds of that is frozen. 20 percent is too remote and most of the rest arrives when we don't need or want it (hurricanes, floods, monsoons). This leaves 0.08 percent available for drinking and washing (our cars). Are you thirsty yet? No, this isn't a friday night drinking signal.
It's getting very cartographic around here. I received some beautiful maps from Raven Maps which I gave as Christmas gifts. Arizona, in particular, looks great in this format. And Jim just received his impressive Alaska, U.S.A.. We need more walls.
Maps of an imagined World Government from Tangential University. Of course they are complex. Really complex. Via Kottke.
Cartographer as design hero. David Imus and Patrick Dunlavey in cooperation with The Alaska Geographic Society have spent three years creating this new map of Alaska. "I'm not satisfied to take another mapmaker's word for it," he said. "Do they say the road is paved? Well, I want to talk to the road engineer." Cha-Ching. Via The Map Room.
Marshall send us for an overdue revisit to John Weir's Smoking Gun, and warns us, quite correctly, to "not miss the San Francisco transit map." I'll add that viewing Berlin: 25 Movies seems mandatory too.
I'm fairly certain they had a system like this in Logan's Run.
Wow. More cool airline graphics..
Satellite Images of Earth at Night. Via The Map Room.
Political cartography mania! The comments in that last post let me to this archive of 2004 election maps which led me to "The Purple Map" and then to "The Purple Map by County". Neat!
San Francisco, the city of hills.
Great piece by Nicholas Crane in The Guardian previewing a BBC2 series about Henry Beck and The Map. "With a disregard for science which would have made Mercator spin in his grave, Foale dragged lines across the screen and shoved interchange stations about as if he was playing with a fictive city. 'No, it's definitely not a map,' he said. 'A map is geographic. This is a diagram.'"
Check out this extensive collection of subway maps and other things transport-related. I personally enjoy this sort of thing.
Trying to figure out what to do with all of my travel photos, including more than a few shots of well-used bicycles from last weekend in Montreal. Here's some inspiration. Very cool.
Sprufki Doh Craszko? I think its Molvania.
Heading for vacation. To exactly here. Man, that Terraserver is something.
Richard Phillip's Map Typography, consisiting of "a series of experiments on the legibility of type on maps. We argue that a search task is one of the best method for evaluating map typography and we have been able to formulate some practical recommendations on typography for the map designer." Via the aforementioned Make Ready.
Inspired by the 28th Olympiad: Flags of the World. Can you recognize Bhutan's? Exactly.
Mapping Geographic Myths, from the Philadelphia Print Shop. What? California's not an island? Via The Map Room.
Forgotten NY Signs. Via Archinect.
Milan's Duomo Cathedral in a spectacular full-screen QTVR.
Vienna Metro Maps. Check out some of the maps "freely translated" into English, like this one. Via Boing.
The Russian, CIS and Baltic Railway Map. Massive. Lovely.
155 days later The Arctic Transect returns home. Amazing expedition, beautifully described and documented at this site through QTVRs, audio files, video and photography. Sweet.
The Mori Urban Institute for the Future describes the step by step process of city model making. Via City of Sound.
Transit Maps!
The aptly named Outstanding Astronaut Photography of Cities Taken During Spaceflight. Found among other things.
All about the map. Via JK.
Rewiring your '61 de Soto? Visit the Old Car Manual Project. When I finally find my Studebaker Lark at a swap meet, I'll be ready to go. Thanks to the designer formerly known as The Coudal Kid.
"Inspired by the high-style airline travel of the fifties, this all-inclusive one-stop travel store will redefine your style on the go." Plus finding this in a list gives us an excuse to link The International Museum of Flight Attendant Uniforms again.
For everyone who drives, National Traffic and Road Closure Information. What's happening on I-25 near Casper, Wyoming? Check out the webcam.
The Degree Confluence Project "The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. The pictures and stories will then be posted here." I was going to point out a couple interesting postings, but that's impossible. Once you start roaming the site you can't stop hopping from place to place. An amazing, collaborative piece which was started in 1996 by Alex Jerret and is currently 18% complete representing 3768 individual confluences documented.
Chicago doesn't have anything on Moscow - at least when you're comparing scaled subway systems. Via Kottke.
"This is the web version of a set of photographs that map Chicago's famous and rarely-compromising grid into 212 4"x6" snapshots." Wow. Chicago, Illinois Mile X Mile, by Neil Freeman.
Today's destination feature at The Lonely Planet is Beijing. If you get a chance to go to China, don't hesitate. It's amazing.
Panoramic maps of the US. Via the Cartoonist.
With a little imagination you can find things in the shapes of clouds and with a little more you can find Animals on the Underground. Via Geisha Asobi.
'Preeshaydit: Trucker Slang.
A good resource for yer next roadtrip: Ghosttowns.com, that is, if "strayin' off the beaten path" is yer traveling forte'. (Turn the music down a bit, or enjoy the hokey loops.) Click around a bit on a route you've taken, and check out how many dead places you pass up in the normal course of a day on the road. Arizona alone has quite a collection of dusty old haunts.
Linked before. Shall be linked again. The Motherlode. Ephermera from the 1800's is stock certificates, bank notes, letters, railroad collateral, bills of fare, steamer schedules and tons of other stuff. Check this map that shows the Calumet Electric Street Car Line and beautiful Chicago Boulevards. Mark Forder found much of this treasure in "The Steele Box." Wonderous.
A hearty collection of larger-than-life "World's Largest" monstrosities. Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win, eh. The one that got away. Been through here, many a time. Almost lost it on this one.
Rail by rail, we offer up a whole stretch of Hobo links. Hobo signs. Hobo literature. Hobo art. (Scroll down and dig the whittling! The kind of carvin' that gives us a reason to keep livin'!) Take off yer hat, rest on one knee and share a moment of silence for those we lost... remembering those who Took the Westbound to Hobo heaven. Once we finished up paying our respects, we spent a good hour or so with North Bank Fred. (FYI: "Hobo" is short for "Homeward Bound.")
"Lonely, I guess that's where I'm from..."
In the category of "people who like this sort of thing will find this exactly the sort of thing they like," check Chris Corrigan's Maps and Territories, an occasional blog by an amateur map lover. Found among other things
Chicago has streets named for Curtis Mayfield and Ken Nordine, NYC finally caught up by naming the corner of Second Street and The Bowery "Joey Ramone Place."
I have a confession to make. When I was in Chicago, I actually frequented this bar quite often. It happened to be just down the road from where I lived, at Ontario Place. This is sad, isn't it?
Old London - an image database containing over 20,000 prints, maps, drawings, paintings and sculpture from its collections. Fantastic.
When I lived in London, nobody I knew would take the Tube between Leicester Square and Covent Garden. It's only 250m away, not to mention the pubs you'd miss while underground. Tube map with walklines, thanks to Marshall.
Planning on planning for planning a trip? You need The Chicago Tribune's Chicagoan's Guide to Chicago Guidebooks.
The Times has a piece on Northern Michigan that will have all of us, especially Midwesterners, counting our vacation days and looking into B&Bs. The article neglects to mention Upper Michigan's roots as a destination for city dwellers, like Hemingway, who suffered from hay fever at lower latitudes.
Fast-loading and beautiful Quicktime Virtual Reality files offering 360 degree views of geographical locations displayed and chosen from a 2D Flash map. 360∞ Erfurt. Really intuitive and perfectly integrated. Via netdiver.
Microsimulation of road traffic with a time-continuous model. Much better to be stuck online than on the road.
A slick presentation for Avionics, Southern California's leader in Aviation Services.
Map of the Richmond and Louisville R.R. connecting the railroads of Virginia with the railroads of Kentucky on the shortest route east and west of the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic Ocean. For a map freak, what could be nicer than that? Railroad Maps from 1828-1900.
At the end of every state highway, there's a guy taking a picture of it from a moving vehicle, apparently.
"The systematic engraving of [Paris] street names goes back to 1728, when the lieutenant de police of Paris stipulated that street names be posted on white steel sheets in big black characters." Via Plep.
Not For Tourists is a growing series of guides to major cities. Filled with tons of great information & useful maps. Don't miss the "ultimate web directories" for Chicago, New York, and L.A..
Lonely Planet Images delivers many great glimpses of places where I'd rather be. Nice escapism.
Kings of Africa illustrates government in a society much different than our own.
Ukranian bus stop shelters.
"My minibus runs to 100 kilometres per hour on a motorway of 10 lanes. In the event of war, it would make a perfect landing strip. In two hours we pass four cars and very few people." The eerie stillness that is North Korea.
"Roadside Peek will take you on a roadside journey in time. As you travel, visit old motels, bowling alleys, drive-in theatres, neon signs, petrol pumps, googie sites, tiki villages, and much more."
Mabes is a geek for maps and for the Civil War so it's unlikely that we'll ever get him out of The Univesity of Texas Perry-CastaÒeda Map Collection.
New Country. Thankfully, it's not what you think.
Around the world in 80 seconds: Today's Front Pages.
"The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." See if you can find your own hometown. Thanks Plep.
Vintage Airstream Photos.
Maps of Recent Earthquake Activity in the USA, which can be very helpful for residents of California, whose map looks like the diagram of a minefield.
Mercator's World, "The Magazine of Maps, Geography, and Discovery."
Like a kilo of pure heroin to the transit-map addicted. Marshall feeds our jones with this comprehensive link, The London Tube Map Archive.
Graphic Design from the 1920s and 1930s in Travel Ephemera. Over 1300 images in this excellent collection of posters, timetables, luggage labels, etc. Faves: 1 2 3 Link via newstoday.
A map of the NYC subway laid into the sidewalk in Soho.
Before the CTA was the CSL. A nice collection of Chicago's forgotten streetcars.
Feeding our insatiable Jones for transit-related design material, Jen of the currently napping Sharpeword writes, "The world's only website devoted to North Korea's metro system, The Pyongyang Metro: handsome trains, commie-style murals, bomb shelter grandeur, and mp3s of bombastic propaganda music, as heard in the stations."
Vagabonding. Courtesy of Marshall.
Great, great vintage topographic maps from the USGS, including a beautiful one dating to 1909 of my hometown. Thanks for the assist from Boing Boing.
Just because Plep's in South Africa doesn't mean he'd let you go without linkage.
The California Coastal Records Project has over 10,000 aerial photographs of the left coast on file and they can be accessed and searched in a number of different, interesting ways. Via Blurbism.
"In 1938 the [Department of History at the United States Military Academy] began developing a series of campaign atlases to aid in teaching cadets a course entitled, 'History of the Military Art.'† Since then, the Department has produced six atlases and nearly one thousand maps, encompassing not only Americaís wars but global conflicts as well." Just awesome, if you like that kind of thing.
"Do companies that produce maps make up little towns and dot them around their map designs so they can tell if anyone copies it?"
"The Cosmographia of Petrus Apianus is said to be one of the most popular books on cosmography. ever published." Via Plep.
Mysteries Under Moscow, a fascinating article about the secret life of ex-convicts, unidentified militias and other outlaws found lurking within Moscow's multi-layered underground labyrinth of abandoned sewer systems, government tunnels and bomb shelters.
If you want to get to the essence of a geographical place, say 16th and Mission for example, you have to start with a map. Via Archinect.
"The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." Via a dollarshort.
The Upsidedown Map Page. The world as viewed with the southern hemisphere on top. 'It came as a surprise to me after over 20 years of seeing "normal" world maps to come across an upsidedown one. The most surprising thing was that I found it surprising. It is completely artificial that we have North at the top of a map. '
"Antonio Jorge Goncalves makes drawings of people sitting in subway trains in 10 cities around the world." He also has arranged them brilliantly in a precise flash navigation map. Subway Life. Superb. Via Portage.
David Williams writes, "Transit Toronto is a railfan site devoted to the Toronto Transit Commission, they have a great collection of transit maps, pictures, and historical accounts, including this map of the system as it was in 1933." Note: If you're wondering about our obsession with transit maps, check The Map is the Thing or our contribution to Dodge Magazine.
Blackbelt Jones posted some snaps of the London Bus Map design project. Once we find a direct link we'll add it to The Map is the Thing.
The Mappa Mundi is a large, elaborate, highly detailed medieval English world map. You can get a good look at it here, and see a simplified version here. The relative sizes of the continents are noteworthy, as are features such as the Pillars of Hercules, the Tower of Babel, Alexander's Wall and Paradise.
Modeled on its Parisian predecessor: the Montreal Metro.
Steven, aka plep of nutlog points us to this nice collection historical NYC bus maps.
More excellent transit maps including Hamburg's Night Bus Map and Frankfurt's Transit System. Plus, a beautiful, small map from Zurich. All courtesy of Jannis Leidel.
Thanks to Jannis for sending along this great Berlin transit map.
I can't believe, for all the transit maps we have on coudal.com, we don't have the system that passes within 500 feet from both sides of our building and brings me to work everyday. Sheesh.
Michael Chevalier adds Edmonton to the transit map stew.
Matthias Risse writes to tell us that this Dresden transit map belongs with the others in our Dodge Magazine piece. We agree and have added it to our permanent collection. What other maps are we missing?
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD): Millennium Edition. This fabulous mile marker via XPLANE.
Not sure if this is for "Maps and Travel" or for the MoOM but it's pretty interesting in any case. Gallery of cover art from printed airline timetables. "Take off to the sun. Fly Ansett."
A beautiful link from Andrew. Don't miss this.
< Travel Brochure Graphics. Graphic Design from the 1920s and 1930s in Travel Ephemera. Yes! Oh, yes! A huge collection of worldwide vintage travel brochures.
Feeding the cp obsession with everything transport-related, I was intrigued by the piece on lauraholder.com about the New York subway trains that seem to play a song from West Side Story. And now the Times has picked up on the story.
"I bewared of pick-pockets." Practical advice for riding the Tube, circa 1920. Thanks to Plep.
"Keyhole fuses high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, elevation data, GPS coordinates, and overlay information about cities and businesses to deliver a streaming, 3D map of the entire globe." If this thing does 10% of what they say it will, it's gonna be scary. Via DiK.
"In the winter of 2000/2001 Tom and Tina made a first attempt to reach the south and north Poles of the earth, alone and unsupported.›Their means of communication with the world were computers worn around their waists and monitors built into eyepieces on their heads." Via M. Sokoloff.
With our obsession about subway maps, I believe we have overlooked the fact that trains have to load and unload somehere. Luckily, Metropolis Magazine hasn't. Their current issue includes a piece and photo gallery on modern station design. Plus, there's an interesting exhibit at our own Art Institute of Chicago called Modern Trains and Splendid Stations.
Kristie Willis writes. "I forget who is the lover of maps over there, but the David Rumsey Collection site is really fabulous, visually and technically." Yes it is, Kristie, Thanks!
Metropla.net, great maps of Asian and African subways, via Nutlog.
Two people, bounced by the dot-com collapse, travel the world with a digital camera and a laptop and keep their travel log at emergency exit. With its clean design, and excellent writing, you'll like emergency exit immediately.
If you are ever driving up highway 1 in California be sure to stop at the Post Ranch Inn. An amazing example of "organic architecture" designed by architect Mickey Muening and interior designer Janet Gay Freed. The view from the Sierra Mar is absolutely amazing ...the picture on the site doesn't do it justice.
Japan train lines. Irresistable cuteness, shamelessly swiped from
Copenhagen to Helsinki via Oslo is the route I'm taking. Plan your own here.
"The flowers are blooming pretty. The garden has a homey feel about it. Shall we refresh with open air?" Accidental English text on various consumer products found in convenience stores and supermarkets in Japan.
Yowza. How have we never spotted this until now? Brilliant, Brilliant. Brilliant. Mid Tokyo Maps. (thnx to version1.0)
Let me get this straight÷ Internal combustion engines are the Devil's handiwork, but Macromedia Flash is OK? Amish Buggy Rides.
cp welcomes our summer intern, Theresa Lee, from Indiana University, with her first post: "the nav at the Parsons School of Design site is inspired by transport maps."
Simon Patterson is a British artist who took the standard Tube map and reidentified the lines and stops with names of philosophers, movie stars, artists and other famous people. An interesting aspect is which names were chosen for the "transfer stops" where two lines cross. Simon discusses being a YBA (Young British Artist) and the "Great Bear" tube map piece briefly here.
Just returned from Amsterdam where bicycles are king and design is queen. Among Amsterdam's many great design sources, the bikes offered by Kronan Offline are so elegantly functional that they're a perfect symbol for the confident simplicity of everyday objects there. They're a testament to a way of living more while consuming less.
Historical US maps from a collection at the University of Texas at Austin. Includes some handy links to current maps as well.
I don't carry a watch and need this desperately: The current and accurate time in your area. I also dig the little map that shows you the places on the globe where it's currently daylight.
I remember being seven years old and going there for the first time. The walls are glass and angle inwards so that, if you have tennis shoes and get a running start, you can run up the windows and slide down again until your mom finds out.
Series of London Underground maps going back to 1908, showing the evolution of that design. Also includes geographic maps, like this one, showing the actual relative locations of each stop. The reality, of course, is not so tidy.
World-renowned artists' retreat just north of Chicago. Wouldn't we all dig 2 weeks there?
We love to check out city transit maps for the way in which they distill a large amount of information into its simplest graphic form. Some of them do this better than others. My personal favourite remains the map of LondonÎs Underground. But check out the happy chaos of Tokyo's transport system maps --each completely different from the next! Map 1. Map 2. Map 3. Plus, here's a great general site for transit map links.
