Uncategorised – The Map Room

AI Chatbots and Geolocation

Published on 12 June 202512 June 2025 by Jonathan Crowe

AI chatbots don’t have the best track record when it comes to accuracy. They appear to struggle with geolocation too, as Bellingcat discovered two years ago in a test of OpenAI and Google chatbots. Bellingcat has now tested them again, this time putting 20 large-language models to work on 25 travel photos to see if things have improved, with Google Lens reverse image search as a control. The result? A few ChatGPT models outperformed Google Lens, but not by much; the rest were worse. Details at the link.

(Update: Bellingcat’s coverage goes in quite a different direction than reports last April highlighting ChatGPT’s “scary” ability to pinpoint locations from photographs, largely because it compares it with existing non-AI reverse image search. Privacy risks may not depend on the kind of technology analyzing the photo, in other words.)

A Globe Safety Tip from xkcd

Published on 9 May 20259 May 2025 by Jonathan Crowe

Randall Munroe, “Globe Safety,” xkcd, 7 May 2025.

In Wednesday’s xkcd comic, Replogle has apparently been taken over by mad scientists. I’m having a hard time resisting the urge to explain the joke (I doubt many of my readers are physicists, but then I’m not one either). But in a weird Einsteinian way Randall is doing with globes and mass what Carroll, Borges and Eco did with maps and space: assume a 1:1 ratio between the map and the mapped.

Discounted Map Books at the University of Chicago Press

Published on 6 February 2024 by Jonathan Crowe

The annual University of Chicago Press book sale is frequently hazardous to one’s bank account. This year’s is especially dangerous for map lovers: I count more than 20 cartographic titles with discounts varying between 29 and 76 percent (the PDF catalog shows the discount more clearly), including several I’ve previously reviewed (Picturing America, The Red Atlas, A History of America in 100 Maps, The Writer’s Map, Phantom Islands, Elsewhere). The fact that I already have most of these books—admittedly most as review copies—keeps me relatively safe (which is good: I’m still recovering from last year’s sale).

Maps Reveal Extent of Land Privatization in Traditional Territories

Published on 3 August 2023 by Jonathan Crowe

New maps show the extent to which the Saskatchewan government has been privatizing or leasing public land near indigenous reserves. First Nations in the province are unhappy to discover that those lands—the subject of ongoing negotiations with the government—are no longer available for their traditional use. CBC Saskatchewan has the story (also see video above; the centre responsible for the maps has not posted them online).

Hand-drawn Map Leads Man Abducted in Childhood to Birth Mother

Published on 3 January 2022 by Jonathan Crowe

Vice: “In an attempt to locate his birth family, a man who was abducted at the age of four resorted to drawing a map of his childhood hometown from memory and posting it online. The map went viral in China, resulting in the 37-year-old reconnecting this week with his long-lost mother, whom he is set to see for the first time in 33 years on Jan. 1.” [MAPS-L]

New Exhibition of California in Maps

Published on 7 October 2021 by Jonathan Crowe

You Are Here: California Stories on the Map is an exhibition showing at the Oakland Museum of California through 2022. “Showcasing a diverse range of maps from Oakland, the Bay Area, and California—from environmental surroundings and health conditions to community perspectives and creative artworks—experience how maps can be a powerful tool to share unique points of view and imagine a better future.” San Francisco Examiner coverage. Admission is $16 or free to museum members.

Erin Davis’s Average Colours of the World

Published on 26 July 2021 by Jonathan Crowe

Map: Average Colors of the World (Erin Davis) — Erin Davis

Erin Davis has created maps showing the average colour of each country of the world (plus maps showing the average colour of each U.S. state and county). She derived the average colour from Sentinel-2 natural-colour satellite imagery; she appends the process and the code to the end of her post. [My Modern Met]

A Maps Playlist

Published on 29 August 2019 by Jonathan Crowe

CityLab editor Grace McKenzie has assembled a playlist of map songs, though in some cases these songs’ relevance may be limited to the title. Forty-eight songs in all (so far). Warning: “I’m the Map!” from Dora the Explorer is included. “Longitude and Latitude” by Glazer and Evans is not.

Muse Magazine on Maps

Published on 8 May 2019 by Jonathan Crowe

Muse (May/June 2019) Children’s science magazine Muse has dedicated almost its entire May/June 2019 issue to maps, with features on map projections (the new Equal Earth Projection is prominent), cartographers Marie Tharp and Tim Wallace, the Carta Marina, using maps in search and rescue, geocaching, and more. A lot of good stuff, accessible to young readers. The issue is not online, and not available yet via the back issues page, but it can be had via Apple News+ (which is how and where I saw it) or, presumably, on a newsstand somewhere. Subscriptions to Muse can be had via the publisher or Amazon.

The Minimal Geography Atlas

Published on 15 February 2019 by Jonathan Crowe

Our friend Alejandro Polanco’s latest project is The Minimal Geography Atlas, a collection of 40 thematic maps.

In my work as a map designer and science writer, I have collected over the past two decades hundreds of curious stories related to cartography or geography. These stories have seen the light of day in the form of hundreds of articles in magazines and blogs, as well as in posters or maps of very diverse types. Now, I’ve decided to compile my best maps and lesser-known but interesting curiosities from all that material I’ve collected over the years. The result is this book, an atlas designed to awaken your curiosity. The thematic maps that I have selected are part of the ones that I have created in the last years, improving them and adapting them for this book.

Alejandro is currently running a Kickstarter for the book. €18 gets you the digital edition, €65 the print edition (in softcover).

Previously: Alejandro Polanco’s Minimal Geography; Alejandro Polanco’s Lost Worlds.

Satellite Image Guide for Journalists and Media

Published on 15 January 2019 by Jonathan Crowe

Pierre Markuse’s Satellite Image Guide for Journalists and Media:

So you would like to use a satellite image in your article and you would like to explain it to your viewers? Here is a short guide covering some of the most frequently asked questions and giving some general explanations on satellite images. It by no means covers all aspects, as there are far too many types of satellite images, but should give you a good start to find out more on your own and maybe motivate you to create your own images, which has become quite easy and quick even with no prior knowledge of it.

Complete with examples of imagery, examples of how to use it properly, and links to resources.

Map to Globe

Published on 21 March 2018 by Jonathan Crowe

Map to Globe is an online tool that makes a globe out of any two-dimensional image. (Caitlin went for the Tabula Rogeriana.) For best (read: least distorted) results, you want to upload a 2:1 ratio map in an equirectangular projection. Some examples here.

Alejandro Polanco’s Minimal Geography

Published on 20 March 2018 by Jonathan Crowe

Our friend Alejandro Polanco has produced a nifty infographic poster map that is centred, for a change, on the Dymaxion projection. The central map is surrounded by lots of little inset maps and infographics. Called Minimal Geography, it’s available for sale via Kickstarter as a €6 digital download in two print sizes. A second reward level adds a full edition of Alejandro’s Maptorian.