Lois Parshley’s essay on the last unmapped, mysterious places—Greenlandic fjords, the slums of Haiti, the ocean’s depths, black holes in space—is a long read worth reading. Originally published last month as “Here Be Dragons: Finding the Blank Spaces in a Well-Mapped World” in the Virginia Quarterly Review, it’s been reprinted by the Guardian, in an edited, tighter version, as “Faultlines, Black Holes and Glaciers: Mapping Uncharted Territories.”
Fantasy Maps Exhibit at Texas A&M Library
An exhibition of fantasy maps, Worlds Imagined: The Maps of Imaginary Places Collection, opens Friday at Texas A&M University’s Cushing Memorial Library and Archives. “The maps included are part of an ongoing effort by [Texas A&M’s] Maps and GIS [Library] and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Research Collection to develop a shared collection of maps of imaginary places. Cushing is known worldwide for its collection of science fiction and fantasy materials, even housing [George R. R.] Martin’s personal collection of memorabilia.” Worlds Imagined runs until 10 October 2017. [Thanks, Alex.]
Previously: Fantasy Maps Exhibit at St. Louis Central Library.
Mapping Where America Depends on Trade
The Washington Post maps the parts of the United States most dependent on trade—and thus most at risk if the Trump administration starts a trade war with the U.S.’s trading partners.
Google Maps for Android Adds Information Tabs
Yesterday’s update to Google Maps for Android includes tabs for nearby points of interest, driving information and traffic conditions, and transit schedules and recommendations. More at The Verge.
Previously: Google Roundup for January 2017.
50 Fantasy States
50 Fantasy States is Chris Engelsma’s ongoing project to create fantasy-style maps of all 50 U.S. states. Six have been completed so far, including the above fantasy map of Alaska.
The Origins of the Selden Map
The Selden Map is a map of Chinese origin bequeathed by John Selden to the Bodleian Library in 1659. The precise origins of the map have hitherto been unknown, but scientists at Nottingham Trent University are trying to do something about that. Using a series of non-invasive techniques to examine the map’s material composition, they conclude that the map was created in stages, and probably comes from Aceh, Sumatra. Their findings were published last year in Heritage Science. [Caitlin Dempsey/WMS]
Previously: The Selden Map.
Tactile Maps, Modern and Historical
Two items on maps for the blind and visually impaired—a subject I find terribly interesting:
Greg Miller of National Geographic’s All Over the Map reports on a new tactile atlas of Switzerland, which “is printed with special ink that expands when heated to create tiny bumps and ridges on the page.” I can’t find a direct link to said atlas, but Greg interviews Esri cartographer Anna Vetter, who led the project.
Tactile maps have been around for a long time: Atlas Obscura looks at tactile maps—and even a tactile globe!—dating back to the early 1800s. Many of these maps are in the archives of the Perkins School for the Blind. The Perkins School has a Flickr album of these maps.
This Weekend: Miami International Map Fair
The Miami International Map Fair takes place this weekend at HistoryMiami Museum. Local website The New Tropic has more, including some of the maps on display. [WMS]
Previously: History of the Miami Map Fair.
William Smith’s Geological Maps Online
William Smith’s 19th-century geological maps of Britain are now available online via an interactive map interface. [Maps Mania]
Oxford: Mapping the City
Geographical magazine reviews Daniel MacCannell’s
RSGS Playground Map Project
The Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Playground Map Project has been around since 2011; its aim is to provide a painted six-by-eight-metre world map to every school in Scotland that has playground space for one. [NLS Maps]
Cartographies of Disease
The revised edition of Tom Koch’s Cartographies of Disease: Maps, Mapping, and Medicine—“a comprehensive survey of the technology of mapping and its relationship to the battle against disease”—is now out from Esri Press. (Or at least it’s scheduled to be: the paperback is not yet in stock at Amazon.) [GIS Lounge]
Koch is also the author of Disease Maps: Epidemics on the Ground (2011).
Bellerby Seeks Apprentice Globemaker
Want to make globes for a living? Bellerby & Co., maker of expensive, hand-made globes, is looking to hire an apprentice globemaker. They emphasize it’s a long-term job, not an internship:
It takes between 6 months to a year to learn how to make just the smallest sized globe … it is a further few years to make the larger sized globes.
Since it is unlikely we will find a former Globemaker.. all applicants will have to have a trial period… you have to try it before you both know you can do it … and to know you like doing it!
All jobs in our company require a patient and passionate person who will commit to the learning process and wants to stay in the company for at least 3 years afterwards.
The job posting was up for at least two months before Atlas Obscura blogged about it yesterday, but I presume, given Bellerby’s rather precise requirements—not so much about the candidate’s qualifications but their characteristics—that the position is still open. Have at it.
Danny Dorling’s TEDx Talk
Oxford geography professor Danny Dorling spoke at the TEDx Exeter conference in April 2016. If you’re familiar with Dorling’s work, it will come as no surprise that he makes extensive use of cartograms to describe the world’s population. Video: TED, YouTube.
Previously: Hennig and Dorling on ‘Seven New Maps of the World’; People and Places.
Redesigning the Paris Métro Map
Last June I told you about Constantine Konovalov’s redesigned Paris Métro map, a map based on concentric circles. Now, in Smashing Magazine, Konovalov does a deep dive into his own design process, which took more than two years. Quite a bit more detail than on his own website. [Alejandro Polanco]