Library and Archives Canada has posted a four-part series on early automobile maps to their Facebook page (they don’t have a blog, just social media accounts), featuring examples from their collection: Nova Scotia, Montreal, Banff National Park, Vancouver.
The Unofficial Street View Economy
Back in September 2024, Phil Edwards explored the hidden, unofficial economy Google Street View, where third parties spend money and resources uploading 360-degree imagery to promote a region or tourist attraction or local business or whatever, in this 22½-minute YouTube video.
Using Emoji to Depict Train Delays
It’s a single animated map in a larger, infographic-rich Bloomberg CityLab article about how NJ Transit is the least reliable New York City area commuter rail service, but you can’t help but pay attention to a map that uses emoji to indicate how late a train is. Surprisingly effective, though I doubt transit agencies would be brave enough to adopt it for themselves. The Intercity Rail Map uses colours (green, yellow, red, black) to indicate lateness, but the icons indicate train number so you couldn’t swap them out for emoji, more’s the pity. [Maps Mania]
‘The Correct Map Does Not Exist’
Miguel García Álvarez weighs in on the Correct the Map campaign to replace the Mercator projection with Equal Earth:
I think the Equal Earth projection is an excellent compromise. But as a cartography enthusiast, it pains me deeply every time someone talks about the “true” map, the “correct” map, or that the Mercator projection is “wrong.”
I will never stop loving this scene from the West Wing of the White House, but please don’t say that any map is right or wrong simply because of the projection it uses. We should just focus on saying that some projections are more or less suitable for different purposes, but we have to avoid sensationalism.
(This is the English version; it was first posted in Spanish.)
Previously: In Case You Thought the War Against the Mercator Projection Was Over Long Ago.
The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin
The Word for World is both an upcoming exhibition and an upcoming book exploring the maps of Ursula K. Le Guin—i.e., the maps she herself made for worlds like Earthsea.
When Ursula K. Le Guin started writing a new story, she would begin by drawing a map. The Word for World presents a selection of these images by the celebrated author, many of which have never been published before, to consider how her imaginary worlds enable us to re-envision our own.
Le Guin’s maps offer journeys of consciousness beyond conventional cartography, from the Rorschach-like archipelagos of Earthsea to the talismanic maps of Always Coming Home. Rather than remaining within known terrain, they open up paradigms of knowledge, exemplified by the map’s edges and how a map is read, made and re-made, together. The Word for World brings her maps together with poems, stories, interviews, recipes and essays by contributors from a variety of perspectives to enquire into the relationship between worlds and how they are represented and imagined.
The exhibition runs from 10 October to 6 December at the Architectural Association Gallery in London. The book comes out from Spiral House in October. Preorder: Amazon (Canada, UK), Bookshop. Thanks to Zvi for the tip.
Previously: Limited Edition Earthsea Map Print Now Available.
Misinformation, Conspiracy Theories, and the Oregon Wildfire Map
“In the end, what’s most remarkable about the campaign against Oregon’s wildfire map isn’t that misinformation found an audience. It’s that it worked.” ProPublica looks at how misinformation and conspiracy theories led to the downfall of Oregon’s wildfire hazard map.
Eclipse Atlas Launches
Eclipse Atlas is the third iteration of Michael Zeiler’s solar eclipse map websites. First there was Eclipse-Maps.com, which launched in 2010; then came the Great American Eclipse website to cover the North American total and annular eclipses in 2017, 2023 and 2024. As with Zeiler’s past projects, it’s a collection of maps of historic, upcoming and future eclipses; he’s launched this new website “with the goals of expanding to a global scope, replacing his two prior websites over time, and to taking his work in eclipse cartography to new levels.” Press release.
Previously: Michael Zeiler’s Solar Eclipse Map Website; Mapping the August 2017 Solar Eclipse.
Some Asian Updates to Online Maps
Google has announced that Street View imagery is now available for Nepal.
Meanwhile, Apple observers are reporting that cycling directions are rolling out for Hong Kong and Taiwan in Apple Maps (AppleInsider, MacRumors).
Update, 22 Aug: And Singapore gets the Detailed City Maps treatment in Apple Maps.
In Case You Thought the War Against the Mercator Projection Was Over Long Ago
A new front has been opened in the never-ending war against the Mercator projection. The African Union endorses Correct the Map’s campaign to replace the Mercator projection (which diminishes the relative size of Africa) with the Equal Earth projection. I think it’s awfully interesting that they’re proposing Equal Earth instead of the Peters map: Equal Earth is a better choice for maps of the world than the Peters or the Mercator, but then so are dozens of other projections. That the campaign against the Mercator is no longer necessarily a campaign for the Peters is something to take note of. [Andrew Middleton]
Though I’m still wrapping my head around the idea that campaigning against the Mercator is still a thing. Really, still? After all, it’s been decades since the Mercator was the dominant projection on wall maps. A quick look at the catalogues of Stanfords and World of Maps suggests maybe one in ten wall maps of the world use the Mercator, and the ones that do seem to be second-tier publications at best (because it’s been known for a long time that the Mercator is shit at being a world map). I guess the Mercator is too good a metaphor for colonialism and foreign domination to let go of it.
But then I have no idea which maps are used in classrooms, in Africa or anywhere else. And I’m often surprised at how much Mercator I see in online maps and infographics, because the tools they use default to Web Mercator. Web Mercator is perfectly fine—at large scales. Most online map providers use Web Mercator at all zoom levels (Apple Maps zooms out to a globe on Apple Silicon but not on older Intel Macs, Google offers globe view as an option on desktop). Web Mercator shows up a lot where an alternative would’ve been better. So it’s not like there isn’t a point here.
Previously: The Peters Map Is Fighting the Last War.
The Logistics of Selling Maps
Logistics advice for the independent map seller. The Independent Map Artists (previously) have compiled their experiences of, and opinions about, dealing with online marketplaces, printers and shippers—the logistics vital to running a business selling printed maps.
Reading Historic Maps
Reading Historic Maps: A Practical Guide “is an educational resource designed to help students and educators better understand historic maps. Focusing on depictions of navigation and conquest in world maps, the guide explains where to find these maps and how to analyze both common and unique cartographic details. The guide also contains suggested further readings and appendixes of additional maps to view.” Created by Kathy Hart, this 12-page PDF document covers the basics of what the details on old maps can tell the reader. [Paige Roberts]
A Tool to Generate Tactile Street Maps
Speaking of tools for generating maps for the blind and visually impaired (previously), there’s also TMAP (Tactile Maps Automated Production) from Lighthouse’s MAD Lab.
TMAP is a screen reader-friendly tool for creating tactile street maps. Raised lines and textures represent roads, pedestrian paths, and railways. Maps range from a few blocks to a few miles wide.
Map creation is automated; you do not have to design and label maps. Simply enter an address, intersection or landmark into the search bar. Then choose settings for paper size and map scale, and which features to include on the map.
The maps can be ordered from Lighthouse’s store or printed on an embosser or tactile printer (as opposed to a 3D printer). Thanks to Fred DeJarlais for the tip.
Two Light Pollution Maps
It’s been a while since I last posted something about light-pollution maps, which are used by astronomers to determine the best places to observe the night sky. But a couple of online light-pollution maps came to my attention recently: the Light Pollution Map at lightpollutionmap.app and the Light Pollution Map at lightpollutionmap.info. They’re different services despite being similar in name and in function, though I’d give the edge to .app in user-friendliness; .info has more tools but is fiddlier. (The usual tech dichotomy.) Confusingly, .info, not .app, is the one with the iPhone/iPad app. Both rely on NASA VIIRS data and give Bortle scale measurements for a selected location, which is the main thing. [Maps Mania/MetaFilter]
Previously: Light Pollution Maps; Testing Light Pollution Maps; Testing Light Pollution Maps Redux; Darker Than You Think; New Atlas of Artificial Sky Brightness.
How xkcd Does Maps
Randall Munroe, author of the xkcd web comic, posts a surprising amount of map-related content, which I invariably end up linking to here. With some exceptions, they fall into one of two categories, each of which has a recent example.
The first category is a hand-drawn infographic map showing, in earnest, some interesting or surprising information. See, for example, this map showing the most observed animal or plant in each U.S. state:
Other maps of this ilk include drainage basins, lesser-known towns sharing a famous place name, least informative Google Trends maps, and maps of the 2016, 2018 (challengers) and 2020 elections.
The second category is where Randall chooses the path of violence, with maps clearly designed by Black Hat Guy to hurt our brains. These include a series of maps that mangle U.S. state borders (1, 2, 3). But the most insidious are his Bad Maps Projections series, the most recent of which projects continents onto their own globes:
Thing is, this one isn’t as brain-curdling, because similar globes—globes that depict a portion of the world on an entire sphere—exist in the real world.
Ordnance Survey Settles with Family Business Over Map Blanket Design Dispute
The Sunday Times reports [Apple News+ link] that a small family business selling map-themed picnic blankets has reached a settlement with the Ordnance Survey. Rubbaglove’s PACMAT series was launched in partnership with the OS, but their sales “stalled” after the OS launched their own line of “almost identical” blankets, which, they said, violated their design trademark. In addition to a monetary settlement, the OS has agreed not to sell competing products for 10 years.