mapmaking – The Map Room

Bad Maps, Kindness and Empathy

Jonathan Crowe — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 23:28:58 +0000

The 2023 iteration of the 30 Day Map Challenge is coming up, and Daniel Huffman has some thoughts about the day four prompt (“a bad map”) and making room for kindness in the mapmaking community.

It’s fun to play with those things that you’re not supposed to do! But, these are also same kinds of choices that might be made by someone who’s new to our community, and who isn’t as experienced. I’ve seen plenty of students who start out their careers by producing work that is very similar to the material that my colleagues produced when they were prompted to make “a bad map.”

Imagine, then, being one of those novices and seeing someone out there make something in the same style as you, and then see people laugh at it. Might you learn a useful lesson about design? Maybe. But there’s a kinder and more effective way to teach the next generation, isn’t there? […]

It’s no secret that I think our community has had a history of toxic critique and gatekeeping. I’ve written about it here, and talked about it at NACIS. This year, when prompted to make “a bad map,” I invite you to think of “bad” in more ways than just “what a beginner would make.”

Previously: Thirty Day Map Challenge; ‘One Bad Map a Day in February’.

The Spilhaus Projection for Designers

Jonathan Crowe — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 17:03:08 +0000

The Spilhaus projection has been available to ArcGIS Pro users for nearly two years. Now, to expand the Spilhaus’s availability beyond ArcGIS users, John Nelson provides vector assets suitable for designers working in, say, Illustrator.

Previously: The Spilhaus Projection Comes to ArcGIS Pro; Everything’s Coming Up Spilhaus; About the Spilhaus Projection.

Disney Insider Looks at National Geographic Maps

Jonathan Crowe — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 15:41:09 +0000

If you subscribe to Disney+, check out the 10th episode of Disney Insider, which dropped yesterday: its first segment looks at how National Geographic Maps produces its trail maps. The talking is done by National Geographic’s director of cartographic production, David Lambert. I can’t help but be reminded of those old newsreels that talked about map production; this is kind of that, only with really good production values.

Our NatGeo Maps office here in Colorado was featured on Disney+’s Disney Insider show episode 10 that dropped today! Watch 0:47-7:15 to see our boss talking about what we do! My 7-second, focused-cartographer cameo starts at 2:30! pic.twitter.com/p49B6Z1NfY

— Aly D. Ollivierre, MSc, GISP (@AlyD_VT) December 8, 2021

CaGIS Map Design Competition

Jonathan Crowe — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:28:22 +0000

Submissions to the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS)’s annual map competition, which consists of both student and professional categories, are due by 31 January 2022. (Here’s a list of last year’s winners and honourable mentions, and a gallery of some of their work. Previous years are also available.) [CCA]

Thirty Day Map Challenge

Jonathan Crowe — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 23:34:56 +0000

The Thirty Day Map Challenge is taking place right now on Twitter: see the #30DayMapChallenge hashtag. For the second year in a row, mapmakers are challenged to make a map based on the day’s theme. (Today’s, for example, was to map with a new tool.) It’s open to everyone; for more information and resources see the challenge’s GitHub page. Here’s the page for the 2020 challenge, which saw 7,000 maps from 1,000 contributors.

Some Obsolete Mapmaking Processes

Jonathan Crowe — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 13:40:14 +0000

Cartographic services firm Lovell Johns posted this on their blog last April: 5 production processes in map making that are no longer in use. Includes such diverse elements as scribing, waxed type and rotring pens. Darkrooms! [Kenneth Field]

MonoCarto 2019 Winners Announced

Jonathan Crowe — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 15:00:58 +0000

The winners—or as Daniel Huffman is calling them, the “final selection”—of the Monochrome Mapping Competition (now called MonoCarto 2019) have been announced. All 15 of them, with notes from the judges on why each of them was awesome.

The premise of the competition—a map made with any tint of a single colour of “ink”—was fascinating, and the resulting maps put paid to any assumption that you couldn’t produce a visually appealing or informative map with just one colour. The diversity of map styles is something to see as well.

Previously: Monochrome Mapping Competition Announced.

Monochrome Mapping Competition Announced

Jonathan Crowe — Mon, 06 May 2019 22:32:43 +0000

Daniel Huffman has announced a Monochrome Mapping Competition.

I love working in monochrome (and gave a talk about it at NACIS 2018). I think color is overused, and the challenges of a limited palette can be liberating. I want to draw more attention to the great work that mapmakers are doing in this medium, and encourage more people to experience the joy of composing with only one ink.

Daniel emphasizes that “monochrome” doesn’t mean black and white: “They can be made from tints of any ‘ink.’ So if you’ve got a green & white map, it’s welcome here.” Submission details at the link. Deadline 25 June 2019. Submissions to be reviewed by a surprisingly high-powered panel of judges. No prize; it’s for the honour and glory, says Daniel.

The Maps Cartographers Made as Kids

Jonathan Crowe — Sun, 26 Feb 2017 22:15:52 +0000

Maps made by children are interesting enough; maps made by children who went on to be professional cartographers—that’s something else altogether, as All Over the Map’s Betsy Mason shows. Because you know they all did that, when they were kids. (And no, before you ask, I don’t think any of my childhood cartography still survives.)

Previously: Children Map the World: The Book; Children Map the World, Volume Two; 19th-Century Children’s Maps.

Engraved in Copper

Jonathan Crowe — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 14:51:06 +0000

Engraved in Copper: The Art of Mapping Minnesota opened this week at the University of Minnesota’s Elmer L. Andersen Library. “This exhibit highlights unique engraved copper plates used to print topographic maps of Minnesota in the early 1900s, surveying and mapmaking techniques, and government documents related to the process. The plates are part of the evolution of government mapping and the history of the United States Geological Survey, from early mapping efforts to Geographic Information Systems.” Runs until 22 May.

The Cartographer Behind Virginia’s Official Highway Map

Jonathan Crowe — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 23:09:46 +0000

Virginia Official State Transportation Map (detail)

Virginia Official State Transportation Map (detail)

Official highway maps—paper highway maps—are still a thing: the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot has a profile of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s sole cartographer, Dwayne Altice, who’s responsible for the biennial updates to that state’s official transportation map. Includes some interesting behind-the-scenes detail about how the map is made—and how it used to be made (layers and layers of film). [WMS]

Pantographs

Jonathan Crowe — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 19:43:05 +0000

Caitlin at Geo Lounge on pantographs: “Before the use of computers to replicate and manipulate maps, a pantograph was one of the ways used to either reduce or enlarge the size of a map while reproducing an accurate copy of the original map.” I did not know about pantographs—they seem to have been widely used in drawing and diagramming. Maps too, it would seem.

Understanding Engraved Maps

Jonathan Crowe — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 16:45:55 +0000

My last post was about engraved copper plates used in map printing. To understand the relationship between printed maps and the plates that print them (woodblock, copper plate or lithographic stone), see Tony Campbell’s article, “Understanding Engraved Maps,” reprinted at his indispensable Map History/History of Cartography site.

Engraved Copper Plates Retrieved

Jonathan Crowe — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 15:50:01 +0000

The British Library has acquired nine engraved copper plates, used to print maps of India for the East India Company in the late 18th and early 19th century, from a scrap metal dealer. Another plate had been acquired in 1988 from a Norfolk farmer, who had intended to use it as a mudguard for his tractor. The plates were apparently diverted to the scrap metal trade during a move in 1860; how they managed to avoid being melted down for their copper in the intervening 150 years is a minor miracle. Daily Mail. [WMS]

Previously: Copper Plates Used to Make Topo Maps on Display.

Copper Plates Used to Make Topo Maps on Display

Jonathan Crowe — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 15:49:00 +0000

The Michigan State University Map Library now has on display three copper plates used to make the 1912 USGS topographic map of the Lansing, Michigan area. “From the 1880s to the 1950s, the U.S. Geological Survey used engraved copper plates in the process of printing topographic and geographic quadrangle maps. Copper alloy engraving plates were inscribed with a mirror image of the points, contour lines, symbols, and text that constitute a topographic map. Each plate was inscribed with details for a single color of ink.” [via]