New World Cartography, a South Carolina firm that produces maps that are produced with a computer but coloured by hand, gets a brief profile in Garden and Gun magazine.
Category: Industry
Fast Company Profiles Ed Parsons
Fast Company profiles Google’s geospatial technologist Ed Parsons, whose name should be familiar to longtime Map Room readers. (I first encountered his work when he was still at the Ordnance Survey; he joined Google in 2007.) In some way the profile uses Ed to understand Google’s mapping ambitions, which Ed discusses at length. Understanding the corporate via the personal, as it were. (Parsons was also the subject of a similar profile in The Independent in 2014.) [Owen Boswarva]
The Newberry Library’s Rand McNally Photos
The Newberry Library has uploaded some 400 photographs from their Rand McNally and Company collection. The photos, most of which date from the mid-20th century, chronicle various aspects of the company’s mapmaking business. [WMS]
Whither Here Maps?
Last August Nokia sold its Here map service to a consortium of German automakers for roughly half what it paid for it (when it was Navteq) in 2007. What has Here been up to since? This interview with a Here vice-president doesn’t really offer much in the way of specifics, and rather a lot about data and business partnerships rather than consumer product.
Atlas Obscura Profiles Peter Bellerby
Luxury globemaker Peter Bellerby gets another profile, this one in Atlas Obscura.
Previously: Globemaker Peter Bellerby Interviewed; Bellerby’s Hand-Painted Globes.
It’s ‘Too Early’ to Announce the Fate of the Maine Atlas
It’s been three months since Garmin announced its purchase of DeLorme, and there’s still no word on the future of DeLorme’s Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, at least if this item in the May 2016 issue of Down East is any indication.
As of press time, Garmin hasn’t committed either to keeping or killing the Gazetteer, but the PR mumbo jumbo doesn’t sound good: “We’re currently evaluating the DeLorme product roadmap, but it’s too early to make any official announcements on our plan going forward,” one press rep told us. “We are still continuing to sell [Gazetteers] and we don’t expect that to change, um, right away,” said another.
The article also notes that, unlike the atlas, Google Maps and GPS don’t indicate road quality—which in rural Maine is very much a thing. [MAPS-L]
Previously: Mainers Speak Out on the DeLorme Atlas; ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Gazetteer’; Maine Reacts to DeLorme’s Acquisition by Garmin; Garmin Is Buying DeLorme.
Herb Lester, Travel Guide Publisher
Gear Patrol interviews Ben Olins and Jane Smillie, the founders of travel guide publisher Herb Lester Associates. “[A]fter designing three unique maps in three major cities, they realized there was something to the idea of curating small guides (nothing too expensive, or too ordinary) accompanied by hand-drawn maps. As the company celebrates its sixth birthday this month, we caught up with the founders to chat about maps with personality, curating entire cities and the pitfalls of travel.” Amazon [NLS Maps]
Andy Woodruff Q&A
A Q&A with mapmaker Andy Woodruff, whose work has been featured here from time to time (Beyond the Sea, Islands of Boston). [Alex Chaucer]
Human-Annotated Maps for Self-Driving Cars
Self-driving cars need extremely detailed and comprehensive maps in order to work—far more detailed than what’s usually available. Paradoxically, Vox’s Timothy B. Lee reports, that’s going to require significant human labour, in the form of human analysts annotating the map. “As Google and its competitors expand their self-driving vehicle programs nationwide, they’re going to have to hire thousands of human analysts to produce the detailed maps that enable cars to drive safely.” [MAPS-L]
Sanborn’s 150th Anniversary
Monday was apparently Sanborn’s 150th anniversary. Known for its detailed fire insurance maps during the late 19th and early/mid 20th centuries—a treasure trove for historians—Sanborn has since diversified into a geospatial company, though fire insurance maps are still one of their business lines. [WMS]
Sexism in the GIS Workplace
Is Sexism a Problem in GIS? Caitlin Dempsey Morais of GIS Lounge grapples with a thorny subject. “Over a two week period in September of 2015, I opened a survey on GIS Lounge to those working in the geospatial industry in order to take a look at the question of, ‘is sexism in the workplace an issue for women (and men) working in GIS?’ This article reports back on the results from that survey.”
The Atlantic on Tom Harrison
The Atlantic interviews Tom Harrison, an independent cartographer based in San Rafael, California who produces maps of California parks and wilderness areas for hikers and mountain bikers, about his individualistic mapmaking process. (Tom Harrison Maps at Amazon.) [via]
Mainers Speak Out on the DeLorme Atlas
The issue of whether the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer will survive DeLorme’s purchase by Garmin continues to be of concern to Maine residents. The Bangor Daily News last Thursday:
Some Mainers consider DeLorme’s Atlas and Gazetteer their own backwoods bibles. The collection of maps works perfectly for planning expeditions afield, and can prompt plenty of discussion around a wood stove after a long day of hunting or fishing.
When the BDN asked for readers to share their thoughts on the iconic map book, dozens responded, telling us how much the maps have mattered to them.
[via]
Previously: ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Gazetteer’; Maine Reacts to DeLorme’s Acquisition by Garmin.
Wide World Books and Maps to Close
Shelf Awareness is reporting that Seattle’s Wide World Books and Maps, which has operated since 1976, will close at the end of the month. The owner cites the trend toward online shopping and something more particular to map stores: digital maps and online travel guides. [via]
‘Keep Your Hands Off My Gazetteer’
DeLorme publishes other state atlases and gazetteers, but the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer is the one that started it all, the one Mainers rely on heavily, the one they’re worried might disappear now that DeLorme’s been bought by Garmin. Hence screeds like Troy Bennett’s (I should warn you, there are song lyrics):
Is there any other publication so complete, showing roads, trails, campgrounds, public reserve land, rivers, coves, islands and city streets? Am I the only one who didn’t know what an esker was before they picked up a Gazetteer? I doubt it.
If the new owners kill the map that helps define the state, what will happen to us? How will we know the Crocker Cirque even exists, let alone how to find it. (Map 29, D3, by the way.)
So, I’m looking at you, Garmin, out there in Kansas: Keep your hands off my Gazetteer.
Of course, nothing’s happened yet, and nothing may necessarily happen, but Maine losing the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer would be like London losing the A to Z or Winnipeg the Sherlock atlas: paper maps that are local, idiosyncratic, and essential. [via]
Previously: Maine Reacts to DeLorme’s Acquisition by Garmin.