January 2005
- Pearcy’s 38 States
- In the 1970s, geography professor C. Etzel Pearcy proposed reconfiguring the United States into 38 states that were, in his view, more physically and culturally coherent. This page has the story — and, more importantly for our purposes, the map….
- Journal of Maps
- Richard writes to draw our attention to a new online scholarly journal, the Journal of Maps, which launched last year and had their first issue this month. From their about page: The Journal of Maps is a new inter-disciplinary online,…
- Question: How to Create a Better Trail Map?
- Brod Berser writes: I have the [National Geographic] Topo! California regional software and a Garmin III+ GPS. I would like to make a trail map for Torrey Pines State Reserve here in San Diego. There is a hand-drawn map but…
- Where Do You Want to Go Today?
- A bug in Microsoft’s MapPoint software makes a trip from Haugesund to Trondheim, Norway, look like an episode from The Amazing Race: it recommends a circuitous, 2,700-kilometre route through the U.K., Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Hilarity ensues, because…
- OpenStreetMap
- OpenStreetMap “is an effort to produce free (CC-licensed) streetmaps of the world.” It’s in “pre-pre-pre alpha” at the moment. The idea is to get free data by running around with a GPS, analysis of aerial photography or other methods since…
- Question: Best World Atlas?
- Marc asks, “Which is the best overall general-purpose atlas I can buy? My criteria would include depth, detail and quality of design.” There are, of course, several options, including the Great, Hammond, National Geographic (Amazon, National Geographic Store), Oxford University…
- London’s Ethnic Diversity
- From a Grauniad special report on London’s ethnic diversity, a couple of maps showing concentrations of ethnic and religious minorities in that city. The maps use only four gradations of shading, which can be misleading: in one, the darkest shade…
- Hungarian Map Blog
- This is a blog about maps written in Hungarian. Because I can’t read Hungarian, that’s all I can say about it….
- European Capitals Quiz
- Another damn geography quiz (see previous entry): this one, from the German version of RTL, requires you to throw a dart on the capital cities of various European countries; you’re scored based on how off the mark you are. In…
- Satellite Images and the Weather
- A couple of links tonight; the tenuous connection is that they both have to do with the weather and satellite imagery. I’ve never heard of Software MacKiev before, but they appear to do educational software for the Mac. They’ve released…
- GPS Connect for OS X
- Speaking of GPS receivers. Because of poor-to-nonexistent Mac support by GPS manufacturers, Mac users have to resort to third-party software to connect to their gadgets (see previous entries: Mac Mapping Software, Mac Software Updates). One option I was aware of…
- New Garmin Gadgetry
- My coverage of Garmin’s first GPS/PDA was pretty compulsive — I don’t usually cover GPS receivers, but PDAs are one of my other hobbies — so for consistency’s sake I should at least note two new models announced by Garmin…
- Global MapAid
- Global MapAid is a project that is trying to provide useful maps for humanitarian aid workers. The problem is, when things go blooey, whether due to natural disaster or war or famine, aid workers on the ground need accurate maps….
- Question: Mapping Software That Tracks and Links to Where I’ve Been?
- Bruce Frank asks a question that rings a bell with me, but I can’t put my finger on it: I’m looking for mapping software that I can edit and add my own tracks (places I’ve been) when I’ve made deployments…
- Map Questions RSS Feed
- If you’d like to track Map Questions by RSS, a feed is now available. It’s a full-text feed in RSS 1.0 format, and contains the 15 most recent questions and the number of answers given so far to each answer….
- Fun with Flickr; Mappr
- A little more about Flickr, which I wrote about in October (Flickr Users’ Map Photos). Some users tag their map pictures with “maps”, others with “map”; see them both here. You can get RSS and Atom feeds for either tag,…
- Where Is Here?
- Last month I finished reading Alan Morantz’s Where Is Here? Canada’s Maps and the Stories They Tell, which I got as a birthday gift last year — it was in the remainder pile. I suppose I should try to…
- Question: World Hydrological Map?
- James Geluso writes, “I’m looking for a really good world hydrological map. I’m especially interested in one that shows not just watercourses, but makes it easy to see the basins. I have the National Geographic Sept. 2002 map, ‘A Thirsty…
- Question: Long Island Aerial Map?
- (Questions are coming in fast and furious here at The Map Room; I’m afraid I’ll have to be selective. This little experiment is working far better than I had expected.) Rocco Cammarota writes, “Can I get a map (aerial view)…
- DIY Map
- John Emerson has been working on something cool. He writes, DIY Map is a clickable, zooming map written in Flash and colored by data from an external text file. The external data file makes it easy to customize and update,…
- Shaded Relief
- I’ve been meaning to post Tom Patterson’s Shaded Relief site for a while: this is a massive site that deals with the technical issues of creating relief maps. Way too technical for me, but the detail is absolutely fascinating. From…
- Question: European Map with English City Names?
- Brian Hennessey writes, “I’m planning a trip to Europe this summer and can’t seem to find a map that I can fold and unfold to look at for planning purposes and has all the names of the cities in English….
- Question: A Copy of the Erroneous PureCanada Map?
- About a year and a half ago, there was a big stink in Canada over the first issue of the Canadian Tourism Commission’s magazine, PureCanada, which had an unacceptable number of errors and omissions (see this post from July 2003,…
- Question: Best Wall-sized World Map?
- For our very first question, Sven Cahling from Sweden wonders whether anyone can recommend “a really good and beautiful world wall map.” I presume that means he’s looking for something that’s not only informative, but aesthetically pleasing as well. I…
- New Feature: Map Questions
- Announcing a new feature on The Map Room: Map Questions. Here’s the premise. Every now and then I get a question by e-mail about a map-related subject — for example, where they can buy a certain map, or whether an…
- Tsunami Wave Height Images and Animation
- More on the Indian Ocean tsunami. The NOAA has a page of images that show the height of the tsunami wave as it progressed (and expanded) over time, using data collected from radar satellites. There’s also an animation of the…
- Before and After the Tsunami: Satellite Photos
- A collection of satellite photos showing areas of Sri Lanka and Indonesia before and after they were devastated by the tsunami. The photos from the Banda Aceh region are particularly horrifying. Via Rebecca’s Pocket. Tsunami Relief….
- 2005 Bloggies
- Since I have neither shame nor subtlety, let me point out that nominations for the 2005 Bloggies are now open, if you’re interested in nominating this (or any other) blog in one of the categories….
- Comet Machholz
- Here are two sky charts that track the path of Comet Machholz, which will be visible to the naked eye for the next couple of months. Via MetaFilter….
