Memorabilia – The Map Room

3D-Printed Lithophane Globe Ornament

Published on 8 December 2023 by Jonathan Crowe

3D lithophane globe ornament Every year, for the past few years, John Nelson has released a DIY globe ornament; this year he eschews papercraft and teamed up with Ruben Bruijning to produce a 3D-printed lithophane globe: “A lithophane is a backlit 3D object that glows brighter or dimmer depending on how thick the material is. Areas where the ornament is thin, the light more readily shines through, so it appears light. Thicker areas let less light through, so they appear darker. It’s a 3D negative.” Obviously needs a light put in it (to say nothing of a 3D printer).

Previously: Orthographic Papercraft Ornament; This Year’s Papercraft Globe Ornament; John Nelson’s Cassini Globe Ornament; John Nelson’s Dymaxion Globe Ornaments; DIY Map Ornaments.

The Return of the Map Projection Trading Cards

Published on 27 September 2023 by Jonathan Crowe

Map projection trading cards (Daniel Huffman) — Daniel Huffman

Daniel Huffman’s map projection trading cards are making a comeback. “While my colleagues and I did our best to let everyone know about these cards, some people inevitably missed out during the first print run. I’ve had many people contact me asking and hoping to get their hands on a pack or two. So, I am bringing them back for one final print run via Kickstarter,” writes Huffman. “I hope you’ll share this widely, so that we don’t miss anyone this time around, as this is almost certainly the last time these cards will be printed.”

Previously: Map Projection Trading Cards.

A Christmas Map Roundup

Published on 24 December 2022 by Jonathan Crowe

Detail from Willem Barentsz, <em>Map of the Polar Regions</em>, 1598, showing a man wearing a red suit in a sleigh being driven by reindeer. — Detail from Willem Barentsz, *Map of the Polar Regions*, 1598. Newberry Library.

The Newberry’s David Weimer explains the presence, in a 1598 map of the Arctic Circle, of a man in a red coat riding in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.

Maps Mania links to two Santa trackers: NORAD’s and Google’s.

In a post from last year, James Cheshire notes how Indian and Chinese laws about depicting their contested borders are reflected in Christmas ornaments made in each country. [Mappery]

Orthographic Papercraft Ornament

Published on 11 December 2022 by Jonathan Crowe

John Nelson's papercraft ornament Every year John Nelson comes up with a papercraft globe ornament for printing out, cutting and pasting together; this year’s uses Living Atlas world imagery in an orthographic projection.

Previously: This Year’s Papercraft Globe Ornament; John Nelson’s Cassini Globe Ornament; John Nelson’s Dymaxion Globe Ornaments; DIY Map Ornaments.

Map Projection Trading Cards

Published on 30 June 2022 by Jonathan Crowe

The Projection Collection (Daniel Huffman) — Daniel Huffman

Daniel Huffman’s map projection trading cards are now a thing you can order. Daniel, earlier this month:

A couple months back, I floated an idea for making some fun trading cards based on map projections. I’m very happy to report that several dozen of you responded and contributed designs to help make the set happen. I’ve been spending several weeks on managing everyone and working through logistics, and I’m pleased to now be able to offer a pre-order of The Projection Collection.

The cards can be pre-ordered here, with delivery later this year (or pickup at NACIS). Each pack has 16 cards, with complete sets not available by design—these are meant to be trading cards in the classic sense. Pre-orders will close on July 6, so you have until then.

Bert Johnson’s Map Ties

Published on 2 June 2022 by Jonathan Crowe

The late Bert Johnson’s collection of map ties—some 50 of them—has been donated to the Osher Map Library. See their Facebook post and Matthew Edney’s tweet for photos. Bert died in 2019; he was a stalwart of the Washington Map Society and friend of this blog, and apparently quite the snappy dresser.

Lego’s New Globe

Published on 16 February 2022 by Jonathan Crowe

Lego Ideas Globe If Lego’s 11,695-piece world map was not enough for you—and believe me, I understand—then they have something else for you: a 2,585-piece globe that’s 40 cm (16 inches) tall, comes with glow-in-the-dark labels, and costs US$200/C$270/£175/€200. The Brothers Brick take a brick-by-brick look¹ at the thing from unboxing to assembly. Kenneth Field has one and is not impressed, finding fault with the land shapes and much preferring Lego globes designed by Dirk’s Bricks (previously).

This Map-Print Basketball Hurts My Brain

Published on 15 December 202115 December 2021 by Jonathan Crowe

Spalding map-print basketball available at Urban Outfitters There is something decidedly off about a map-print basketball that stretches a Mercator projection across the basketball’s surface instead of, you know, doing it like a globe. Why? Why would they do such a thing?

It’s a Spalding ball exclusive to Urban Outfitters, it costs $29, and it hurts my brain. [r/Maps]

This Year’s Papercraft Globe Ornament

Published on 9 December 2021 by Jonathan Crowe

In what is now an annual tradition, John Nelson has released another do-it-yourself papercraft globe ornament; John says that this “this year’s ornament craft is the most straightforward yet! Just some cutting and pasting and high fives all around.”

Previously: John Nelson’s Cassini Globe Ornament; John Nelson’s Dymaxion Globe Ornaments; DIY Map Ornaments.

2021 Holiday Gift Guide

Published on 7 December 20216 December 2022 by Jonathan Crowe

Every year at about this time—

(Actually no, check that, this year I’m late; and last year I didn’t post one at all except for this stationery guide.)

—I post a gift guide that lists some of the noteworthy books about maps that have been published this year.

(Actually . . . this year not very many books were published. Thanks, pandemic. I’ve had to expand my scope a bit this year.)

If you have a map-obsessed person in your life and would like to give them something map-related—or you are a map-obsessed person and would like your broad hints to have something to link to—this guide may give you some ideas.

Please keep in mind that this is not a list of recommendations: what’s here is mainly what I’ve spotted online, and there’s probably a lot more out there. Also, I haven’t so much as seen most of what’s here, much less reviewed it: these are simply things that, based on what information I have available, seem fit for giving as gifts. (Anyone who tries to parlay this into “recommended by The Map Room” is going to get a very sad look from me.)

This post contains affiliate links; I receive a cut of the purchase price if you make a purchase via these links.

Enough with the caveats. Let’s go shopping!

Fun with Lego and Spreadsheets

Published on 5 July 2021 by Jonathan Crowe

Jon Schwabish has been building the Lego world map (previously), but he’s also been building a spreadsheet version. “Because the map is laid out in a grid, it’s primed to be built in Excel. And voila, I present to you the Excel version of the Lego World Map! I built a grid in a big Excel spreadsheet with each number then placed in the appropriate spot according to the instructions. Each number is then assigned a color using Excel’s Conditional Formatting menu.” Good for making drafts of your Lego map, or also if you can’t lay hands on the real thing.

Lego’s 11,695-Piece World Map

Published on 3 June 2021 by Jonathan Crowe

Lego’s recently announced world map is 104 cm by 65 cm (41 × 26 inches) and has a staggering 11,695 pieces. Part of the Lego Art series aimed at adults, it’s built basically pixel-by-pixel, and comes with pin pieces to mark locations once it’s finished.

Lego says that you can customize the oceans in any number of colours or patterns, but it seems to me, based on the building instructions, that there’s nothing stopping you from doing the continents completely differently as well. You’re not physically limited to the three choices the instructions give you: Europe and Africa in the centre, the Americas in the centre, or Asia and Australia in the centre. You could do a different map projection, or even a different globe. But that’s the point of Lego, isn’t it?

Anyway, it’s available as of this week for US$250/€250/£230/C$350; it’s already out of stock at the online store but may be available through other channels. [Boing Boing]

More Map Stationery

Published on 25 January 2021 by Jonathan Crowe

More to add to the list of map stationery. San Lorenzo Design sells a number of map-themed items, including, notably, Kartos’s A5 notepad and two sizes of map notecard sets (small, large). You’ll find them at specialty stores rather than on the big online stores. The Pen Addict has a review of the large notecards.

Previously: A Guide to Map Stationery.

John Nelson’s Cassini Globe Ornament

Published on 14 December 2020 by Jonathan Crowe

Another year, another DIY papercraft globe ornament from John Nelson. “This ornament is a blending of NASA Visible Earth imagery and Esri/USGS Ecological Land Units. It uses the Cassini projection as six half-gores for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, arranged in ArcGIS Pro.” In this blog post he shows how to print and assemble it.

Last year John released a set of Dymaxion ornaments. The year before that, a more complex geodesic globe ornament. This is now officially a tradition, John.

A Guide to Map Stationery

Published on 24 November 20206 December 2022 by Jonathan Crowe

To keep myself connected to distant friends and family members during the pandemic, one thing I’ve been doing has been to send them actual, handwritten correspondence. A bit old-fashioned in the era of Zoom meetings and video chat, but it gets me away from the computer, and the firehose of awful that comes with it. Since I’m me, I was interested in finding map-themed postcards, notecards and stationery that I could use when writing to friends and colleagues who shared my interest in maps. It turns out that there is some out there.

This post is a roundup of what map-themed stationery for correspondence I’ve been able to find. It can serve as a gift guide, if map-themed stationery strikes you as a good gift; the holidays, after all, are coming up. As usual, I link to stores selling the stuff; I get a small cut of the income from qualifying purchases.

Continue reading “A Guide to Map Stationery” →