ABC News (Australia) reports on how Apple Maps erroneously listed a Queensland restaurant as permanently closed, costing it thousands of dollars in lost business. What’s noteworthy is the difficulty the restaurant owner had in correcting the error. Apple accepts error reports via its browser and apps, and the owner is an Android and Windows user, but it seems to be more than that: a 9to5Mac commenter found it easier to correct map errors via their personal Apple ID than as a small business owner, whereas Google Maps makes it easier for businesses. The ABC News report goes on to note that this is not an isolated incident. [9to5Mac/
Month: January 2024
Montreal’s Interactive Construction Site Map
Montreal has launched an interactive map of its many, many construction sites. Per CBC News: “Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough Mayor Émilie Thuillier says the map will help Montrealers see in real time where a construction site is, what the reason for it is and what company is responsible for it. The map also tells users when the work began and when it’s scheduled to end.” Apparently there are problems with illegal construction barriers and abandoned traffic cones: if they’re not on the map, that will be a tell.
‘Cartographically Speaking, Water Sucks’
Last October, on her Huge If True YouTube channel, Cleo Abram explored the state of deep ocean mapping, why it lags behind our mapping of, say, Mars, and what’s being done to chart the ocean floor at a higher resolution than currently exists (e.g. the Seabed 2030 project). All told this is a good and enthusiastic primer for the relatively uninitiated (though I do have to quibble with the statement that Marie Tharp’s maps have “largely been forgotten by history,” but then I’ve seen rather a lot about Marie Tharp’s maps and am a bit of an outlier).
The Ocean Drainage Basin Maps of Robert Szucs
Smithsonian magazine takes a look at the ocean drainage basin maps of Robert Szucs, whose work we first saw in 2016. A lot has happened since then: he’s since produced hundreds of maps (and variations thereof) of the ocean drainage basins of various regions, countries and continents, and sells prints on his Grasshopper Geography website. The ocean drainage maps operate at a less precise level than the river basin maps, but there are plenty of examples of both. [MetaFilter]
Previously: River Basins in Rainbow Colours.
The Map Books of 2024 page is now live; I managed to get an early start on it this year. There aren’t many books listed so far, because it’s early, and books in this category typically get published in the second half of the year. But you can help me fill in the blanks. If you know about a book coming out some time this year that’s on a map-related subject, please let me know. Ideally, the book is in the publisher’s catalogue and has at least a tentative publication date, but I’ll work with what I can get; I basically just need something to link to.
Field’s Favourites for 2023
Another end-of-year tradition is Kenneth Field posting a roundup of his favourite maps of the year. The 2023 iteration is the usual mix of the very good (e.g. Eric Knight’s Tien Shan and Anton Thomas’s Wild World) and the extremely original, such as Chicago’s L depicted in snake form, or a river map designed for a receipt printer.
Previously: Field’s Favourites for 2022; Maps at Year’s End.
Map History Books of 2023
Just before Christmas, Matthew Edney posted his list of map history books published (or seen) in 2023. He’s been posting an annual list of such books since 2017 (previously).
Harold L. Osher, 1924-2023
Harold L. Osher died on 23 December 2023 at the age of 99. (Today would have been his 100th birthday.) He and his wife Peggy (who died in 2018) amassed a sizeable map collection, which they then donated to the University of Southern Maine; they went on to donate to and campaign for the map library that would bear their name. More: Maine Public Radio, WCSH.