Geek and Sundry looks at four cartographers who make maps for role-playing games: Dyson, Derek Ruiz (Elven Tower), Mike Schley and Deven Rue (Rue Ink).
Previously: The RPG Maps of Dyson’s Dodecahedron.
Month: March 2017
Regions and Seasons
A new exhibition at the Boston Public Library’s Leventhal Map Center: Regions and Seasons: Mapping Climate Through History. “In this exhibition, you will discover how ‘Venti’ were wind personas who directed ancient ships and ‘Horae’ were goddesses of the seasons who dictated natural order during the 15th-17th centuries, how Enlightenment scientists started to collect and map weather data, and how 19th century geographers reflecting the golden age of thematic cartography created innovative techniques to represent vast amounts of statistical data and developed complex maps furthering our understanding of climatic regions.” Runs through August 27; also online.
Mapping Fossil Sites
The PBDB Navigator is a map-based interface to the Paleobiology Database, which among other things includes the locations of every fossil find. A map of every fossil site seems straightforward enough, but there are hidden depths to this one: you can filter by taxonomy (want to look up the fossil sites for eurypterids or tyrannosaurs? no problem!) or by geologic period, but what’s especially neat is that you can factor in continental drift: when searching by geologic period (the Permian, for example), you can show the continents as they were positioned during that period (see above). More at Popular Mechanics. [Leventhal]
Eleanor Lutz’s Goddesses of Venus
Last year Eleanor Lutz published a medieval map of Mars that, while not strictly medieval in style, was a magnificent application of an ostensibly old aesthetic to a very modern map subject. Now she’s produced a sequel: The Goddesses of Venus is an annotated map that explores the etymological origins of each of Venus’s features, nearly all of which are named after women or female mythological figures. [Kottke]
Previously: ‘Here There Be Robots’: Eleanor Lutz’s Map of Mars.
Mapping Bomb Threats Against Jewish Organizations
ProPublica is tracking—and mapping—bomb threats against Jewish organizations and community centers in the United States. As of this moment, there have been 133 threats against 99 locations since January 1st.
Rodney W. Shirley
According to a Facebook post by the Washington Map Society’s Bert Johnson, Rodney W. Shirley, the author of several books of cartographic antiquarian research, including The Mapping of the World, Courtiers and Cannibals, Angels and Amazons, and other titles on early printed maps, died last Saturday. I have not been able to find an obituary or other notice; I will update this post if I do.
A ‘Serio-Comic Map’ for the Modern Age
interesting job for private client; map a la 20thC political cartoon maps of Fred Rose etc; have taken liberties with geography pic.twitter.com/fm0nAR22tE
— Andy Davey (@DaveyCartoons) December 12, 2016
Last December political cartoonist Andy Davey posted a modern-day caricature map that hearkens back to the eve of the First World War, when such “serio-comic” cartographic portraits were common, but fully up-to-date and relevant to the Trump-Putin era. [Maps on the Web]
The Omitted Island
Canada is apparently suffering from an outbreak of maps that omit Prince Edward Island, and islanders are upset about it: culprits include a map at Vancouver’s airport, and a t-shirt sold by Hudson’s Bay Company. To be sure, in neither case are the maps meant for navigation, but this is a country where regional representation is a touchy subject.
John Blake’s Sea Chart Books
Two books by John Blake on nautical maps that had heretofore escaped my attention: The Sea Chart, the second edition of which came out last May; and Sea Charts of the British Isles, a 2008 book that is getting a paperback edition in April. [WMS]
Cartographers’ Stories
Daniel Huffman and John Nelson have launched A Cartographer’s Story, a website that collects personal essays from mapmakers.
While our community has a rich culture of sharing project walkthroughs and clever tricks, our colleagues also need to hear about the personal and emotional relationships we have with our maps. We invest ourselves in creating works that are meant to stir the hearts and imaginations of others—and in return our works invest in us. What are your stories? How has mapping moved you or changed you? Did it encourage you through a tough time? Teach you something about yourself? Represent a significant relationship in your life?
Seven stories posted so far; they’re looking for more.
Computer Keyboard as Transit Map
Oblotzky’s SA Metro is a custom keycap set for mechanical keyboards “inspired by big city transit maps.” I know you don’t look at the keys when touch typing, but … man. [Boing Boing]
OSM Then and Now
Martijn van Exel’s OSM Then and Now compares OpenStreetMap as it was in October 2007 with how it is today, with a slider to change how much you see of one or the other. Amazing how little was mapped back then, especially outside: my own town didn’t appear at all, and even Ottawa was rudimentary.