September 2010
- Google Maps Errors and Disappearing Cities
- When Google replaced map data from Tele Atlas with its own map data from a mix of sources (for the U.S. last October and for Canada last April), new errors proliferated. In some cases the wrong labels were applied —…
- Street View: Live in Brazil, Ireland and Antarctica, Lambasted in Germany
- Google Street View expanded again today, adding Brazil, Ireland and even a spot in Antarctica (Google Earth Blog, Google LatLong, Google Maps Mania, the Guardian). Meanwhile, Germany remains one country where Street View is not to be found, even though…
- Stuck by Satnav, Rescued by Helicopter
- This has to be one of the most spectacular examples of a driver getting stuck by following the directions of his GPS receiver: a van driver trapped on a “glorified goat track” in a mountainous part of Switzerland had to…
- Ordnance Survey: Digimaps for Schools
- The Ordnance Survey Blog announces the OS’s Digimap for Schools service, which is set to replace the OS’s Free Maps for 11 Year Olds program (previously), which is closing down after this year. Maps are a mandatory part of the…
- The New York Times on Gerrymandering
- A feature in last Sunday’s New York Times takes a look (with great maps) at some of the more creatively gerrymandered congressional districts, and why they were done that way — everything from keeping the Hopi and the Apache in…
- GPS Reception Myths
- Rich Owings’s interview with TeleNav CTO Bob Rennard addresses some of the “myths and misconceptions” about GPS reception — for example, whether water or trees interfere with GPS signals, whether being in motion affects GPS lock, and so forth….
- Lunar Temperature Maps
- Thermal maps of the Moon have been released by Chinese researchers. The maps were constructed from data collected by the microwave radiometer aboard the Chang’e 1 lunar orbiter. The maps display the brightness temperature of the lunar regolith during…
- Chinese iPhone 4’s Maps Are Censored and Hobbled
- Stefan Geens has discovered that the Maps app on the Chinese version of the iPhone 4 shows the Chinese-censored version of Google Maps (e.g., with the “official” national boundaries approved by the Chinese government), whether or not the phone is…
- MapQuest Adds OSM for Four Countries
- MapQuest Open — the variant of MapQuest launched in July that uses OpenStreetMap data — has expanded to four more countries: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. I hope that reflects a certain level of quality of the OSM maps in…
- Mapping Global Fine-Particulate Matter Levels
- Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a form of air pollution that has been linked to a number of diseases like asthma, bronchitis and cardiovascular disease, and is suspected as the cause of millions of premature deaths worldwide. Researchers at…
- Mapping: Memory and Motion in Contemporary Art
- Mapping: Memory and Motion in Contemporary Art, an exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, New York (north of NYC), features paintings, works on paper, sculptures, videos, a sound installation, and a live web terminal to address such…
- The Arrival of Digital Cartography
- Cartographers were still using pen and paper in the 1980s, Penny reports. “I arrived at college in 1984 with my electric typewriter and a bit of BASIC learned in high school. I was a geography major, and learned to…
- Digital Preservation and Waldseemüller’s 1507 Map
- A short, five-minute video from the Library of Congress about the physical and digital preservation of Waldseemüller’s 1507 map of the world. Flash required. (For the LOC’s digital versions of Waldseemüller’s maps, see this page.) Via MapHist….
- Oceans in Google Earth for Mobile
- Mobile versions of Google Earth now have bathymetric and other ocean data: it came with Google Earth 1.1 for Android last month and Google Earth 3.1 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad today….
- National Geographic Maps the Gulf of Mexico’s Oil Infrastructure
- The October issue of National Geographic includes a map supplement that shows the Gulf of Mexico’s oil infrastructure; it doesn’t so much map the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as its context. A zoomable version is available online. The verso…
- Mapping European Stereotypes
- Yanko Tsvetkov continues to create more maps of European stereotypes beyond the one we saw in May 2009. Add to that one maps of Europe according to the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, and Britain. Via Mapperz. Previously: Yanko…
- Maps as Home Decor
- Shelterpop has a post about map-inspired home decor, which it turns out goes beyond merely framed or wall-mounted maps; one or two of the items featured look new to me (such as the scratch map and the chalkboard globe). Via…
- Maps at the Denver Public Library
- The Denver Post takes a look at the map holdings of the Denver Public Library, which — in no small part due to the library’s former status as a federal repository — are apparently substantial. “If you’re feeling lost, head…
- Google Maps Pushpin Coasters
- Oh, cute: someone is selling coasters in the shape of Google Maps pushpins. Via Geospatial News….
- Google Maps Symbol Design
- The Dominion Post of Wellington, New Zealand talks with Google Maps designer Patrick Hoffman about the challenges in designing map symbols — for things like churches and hospitals — for the online mapping site. Via GIS Lounge….
- Debunking Google Earth Myths
- Google Earth Design debunks myths about Google Earth: “Over beers a topic that often came up was misconceptions about Google Earth from those with no GIS or Google Earth experience, so I’ve put together my personal list of myth busting…
- The Ordnance Survey’s Aerial Imagery
- A post on the Ordnance Survey’s blog explains how they acquire and process aerial photography. “We have a large contract in place with external suppliers to supplement our own flying and photogrammetric production. This gives us the capacity to have…
- Another OpenStreetMap Book
- Oh look: another forthcoming book about OpenStreetMap. Like the other one, it’s also called OpenStreetMap, which won’t be confusing at all, but the subtitle this time is Be Your Own Cartographer. It’s by Jonathan Bennett and it’s apparently scheduled…
- Commute Map
- Harry Kao’s Commute Map takes census data about where people live and work and creates a map showing how many people commute to or from a given zip code, and how long it will take. It’s really quite impressive…
- Codex 99 on Berann, Imhof and Everest
- Several interesting (and really well-illustrated) posts about map design on Jim Hughes’s blog, Codex 99: H. C. Berann’s cartographic panoramas, Eduard Imhof’s maps of Switzerland, and a two-part look at mapping Mount Everest here and here. (More on Berann; more…
- The Geospatial Revolution Project
- I first heard about the Geospatial Revolution Project more than a year ago (see, for example, posts from Boing Boing and Google Maps Mania), but promptly lost it in the bowels of my very lengthy to-do list. Described as…
- Reuters on Hand-Drawn Maps
- This Reuters article on hand-drawn maps is already turning up in a number of newspapers and other media outlets. Broad in scope, it touches on two things of interest. First, the publication of the book of collected maps from…
- OpenStreetMap Book Now Available in English
- OpenGeoData reports that Frederik Ramm, Jochen Topf and Steve Chilton’s OpenStreetMap: Using and Enhancing the Free Map of the World, a book that was first published in German (of course) in 2008 and has since gone through three (German)…
- Visualizing Sea Ice
- This image of sea ice at the North Pole is not a photo. It’s compiled from microwave data gathered by the Aqua satellite’s AMSR-E microwave sensor. “Ice emits more microwave radiation than water, making regions of the ocean with…
- A Book Roundup
- Bookslut’s Colleen Mondor reviews three map-related books for her September column: Michael Trinklein’s Lost States (reviewed here in July 2008); The Road to There: Mapmakers and Their Stories by Val Ross, a young-adult look at mapmakers from Mercator to Pearsall;…
- Garmin to Exit Smartphone Market?
- In an interview with Reuters, Garmin CFO Kevin Rauckman said sales of Garmin’s mobile phones have been below expectations and that if the situation does not improve within a couple of quarters, Garmin will “have to sit back and evaluate…
- Christchurch Quake Map
- The Christchurch Quake Map is an animated map that “aims to present a time-lapse visualisation of the earthquake and its aftershocks, primarily to help those outside the affected area understand what those of us in Canterbury are experiencing. It plots…
- Calendar Discontinued
- For lack of time to do the job properly, I’m closing down this blog’s calendar section. Be sure to check out John W. Doktor’s calendars of events and exhibitions and Tony Campbell’s list of forthcoming meetings. If there are any…
- AndroGeoid on Bing Maps for Android
- AndroGeoid takes a look at the new official Bing Maps app for Android. AndroGeoid is a new blog about mapping, location, GIS, GPS, geography and so forth on the Android platform; it’s by Leszek Pawlowicz, whom you may remember from…
- MapQuest, Playing Catchup, Offers Map Embedding
- Recent updates to MapQuest include the ability to embed a map in your web page with a bit of HTML. I’m not sure whether to be pleased to see this feature at last or to be depressed that it took…
- The State of Mapping APIs
- Interesting piece by Andrew DuVander on the state of mapping APIs. “Today we’re amidst another location and mapping revolution, with mobile making its impact on the web. And with it, we’re seeing even more geo services provided by both the…
- Damaged Infrastructure in Christchurch
- An interactive map (built in ArcGIS) showing damaged infrastructure in and around Christchurch, New Zealand, after Saturday’s magnitude-7.1 earthquake. Via Esri….
- Two by Denis Wood
- The Making Maps blog has an excerpt of Denis Wood’s new book, Rethinking the Power of Maps (previously). In Chapter 1, available as a PDF file, Wood argues provocatively that there were no maps before 1500 — making a…
- Louis XIV’s Scale Models
- I always enjoy reading Jeffrey Murray’s articles in Fine Books and Collections magazine, and his latest, on the three-dimensional scale models made of military fortifications and cities for Louis XIV and his successors, is no exception: it’s a fascinating…
- Rebecca Krinke Maps Joy and Pain
- The University of Minnesota’s UMNews on Rebecca Krinke’s public art installation, Unseen/Seen: The Mapping of Joy and Pain: On the surface (both literally and figuratively) Rebecca Krinke’s latest public art piece is simply a giant laser-cut map of Minneapolis and…
- Meditations on Maps
- It’s pretty abstract, but with interesting jolts of thoughtfulness: David Schneider’s … And Points Inbetween: Meditations on Maps. Via The Daily Dish….
- Hurricane Tracking Apps for iOS Devices
- Macworld has a roundup of hurricane tracking apps for the iPhone and iPad — after all, it’s not like there won’t be any more of them after Earl….
- New Zealand Earthquake
- The report on the recent earthquake in New Zealand includes an interactive map (Flash-only) of the felt reports submitted from around the country. Via Keir Clarke. Here are the USGS’s maps of that earthquake. Update, 9:10 AM: Google Maps…
- The Times-Picayune’s Interactive Oil Spill Map
- With the wellhead capped this is rapidly approaching old news, but it’s still worth admiring the cartographic virtues of the Times-Picayune’s interactive map of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with a timeline from April 20 to July 28. Via Andrew…
- Navteq Unveils Landmark-Based Navigation
- At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin today, Navteq announced a new form of voice navigation called Natural Guidance: NAVTEQ Natural Guidance leapfrogs today’s linear navigation instructions — e.g. “turn right in 50 meters on Kurfürstendamm” — by guiding…
- Hodder Wants Your Map ‘Doodles’
- Hodder Geography is running a map doodle competition: they want entrants to draw “your own map of your world, real or imagined,” scan it and send it in. Via Thierry Gregorius. Not the first hand-drawn map competition, not by a…
- The United States of Star Wars
- The United States of Star Wars assigns a planet from the Star Wars universe to each state (list here), which then illustrated appropriately. According to the creator, Rebecca Crane, “Planets were assigned based on partial terrain, landmarks that correlate…
- GPSMAP 62 and 78 Reviewed
- As I understand it, the Garmin GPSMAP 62 and 78 series, like their 60-series and 76-series predecessors, are essentially the same under the skin, except that the 76 series is for marine use (and floats). GPS Information reviews them both….
- The Globe and Mail on GIS and Productivity
- Today’s Globe and Mail included this article discussing how GIS helps business productivity, with an aside on the challenge of getting good data in Canada (exacerbated by the federal government’s recent decision to drop the long-form census). Via All Points…
- BBC Homes and Antiques on Map Collecting
- BBC Homes and Antiques has a piece on map collecting; unfortunately, like several other such articles I’ve read on the subject, it doesn’t really cohere and isn’t well-written at all. Via Jonathan Potter Ltd….
