October 2014 – The Map Room

Moon and Comet Maps

Published on 8 October 201418 November 2017 by Jonathan Crowe

Maps of planets, moons and other objects in our solar system always get me excited, though truth be told they were among the less popular posts on my old Map Room blog. Here are a couple of rather colourful recent examples:

Above left, a preliminary map of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the subject of a visit by the Rosetta mission, that colour-codes several morphologically different regions.
Above right, a topographical map of the Moon’s surface based on laser altimeter data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Image credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA (above left); NASA/Colorado School of Mines/MIT/GSFC/Scientific Visualization Studio (above right).

Fantasy Maps of U.S. Cities

Published on 2 October 201418 November 2017 by Jonathan Crowe

Fantasy map of Cleveland (Stentor Danielson)

For another example of using fantasy map design language to create real-world maps, here’s the work of geography professor Stentor Danielson, who draws maps of U.S. cities in the style of fantasy maps and sells them on Etsy. Boston, Cleveland (above), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington are available. His Tumblr. Via io9.

Previously: A Fantasy Map of Great Britain; A Fantasy Map of Australia; A Fantasy Map of the U.S.