Dayton Music Fest

The Fifth Annual Dayton Music Fest, a showcase of the Dayton Indie Rock scene, is this Saturday. I love the poster this year:

McUSA

Stephen Von Worley, at Weather Sealed, asks the question, "Just how far away can you get from our world of generic convenience?" How far can you get from a McDonald's restaurant?

So, he created a map:



He created "a visualization of the contiguous United States, colored by distance to the nearest domestic McDonald’s!" Not too surprising, the Golden Arches® are never far from the horizon.

The answer to the question, by the way, is in South Dakota.

Don't get me wrong. I'm no McDonald's hater. Every few weeks, I treat myself to my favorite breakfast fast-food sandwich, the Sausage Egg & Cheese McGriddle®. MMMMmmmm sweet savory greasy goodness. However, when looking at the map at full resolution, it is hard to not think of the fat globules clogging my arteries:



Via The Map Room

The Onion: Andorra Not In Africa

Nation Of Andorra Not In Africa, Shocked U.S. State Dept. Reports

Meanwhile:


Breaking News: Series Of Concentric Circles Emanating From Glowing Red Dot

Maps of the Peace Corps

"Maps of the Peace Corps" is a showcase of maps made by Peace Corps Volunteers from five decades of volunteer service around the world.

Two of the hand drawn maps from the collection:



Location: Quimbaya, Colombia
Volunteer: Larry Larrichio
Decade: 1960s



Location: Koyena, Mali
Volunteer: Judy Mead
Decade: 1990s

Just Can't Stop Talkin' `Bout Secesh!

Unhappy people around the world and in the United States just can't stop talking about secession. As long as they keep providing interesting maps and illustrations, I'll keep covering them here.

Two from last month:

What would California look like broken in three? Or a Republic of New England? With the federal government reaching for ever more power, redrawing the map is enticing, says Paul Starobin.

"Divided We Stand", by Paul Starobin, Wall Street Journal.

In the American end times, our government will take one of two forms. One possibility is that federalism will give way to an all-powerful central government... The other option is decentralization—in the absence of a unifying national interest, the United States of America will fragment and be supplanted by regional governance.

"Who's most likely to secede?" by Josh Levin, Slate.

#470

Little Miami Scenic Trail - The Last Bit

So, I neglected to mention here that last weekend Mrs. Cartophiliac and I completed the last leg of the Little Miami Scenic Bicycle Trail, Morrow to the Trail Head near Newtown:



This was also our longest ride; around twenty-five miles. We used two automobiles, so we could leave one at the trail head. All together, I suspect we spent more time in the car than on the trail...

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Highlights (and low-lights) of the trail:

• Drove past Kings Island Amusement Park (no roller coasters this time).
• Stopped for lunch at an Art Festival in Loveland
• Delicious Curry Humus Wrap from the Veg Head
• Run in with Speedy McBikepants, very rude bicyclist who was pissed off because I didn't give him the right of way, when he had a stop sign. Why is it, the more expensive your bike and gear, the more obnoxious they are?

We will probably stick a little closer to home for a while...

The End of "The World"

The Times is reporting that Dubai's The World Island Paradise is coming to an end.

For some reason, this has been one of the most popular posts on Cartophilia:



Via The Map Room and Gadling.

Dayton Real-Time Bus Schedule Map

A very clever use of Google Maps. A real-time bus route map for Dayton, Ohio:



The author, "dmcmanam", says on DaytonMostMetro:

If you want to know the Dayton RTA routes and view the location of the buses then check out the website I'm building -
http://geek-mafia.appspot.com/

It is based on Google Maps and shows the bus routes and schedules. At this point I'm looking for feedback about what features to add next and what people like and dislike about the site. Currently 5 routes are mapped and adding a route takes me a few hours to generate the GPS data such as location of the stops and to convert the timetable posted on the Dayton RTA website to the Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format my system uses.

When I know that there is some local interest in a cool transportation website I'll add the features people request.

The DMM board should be very useful for me - I was born and raised in Dayton but spent the last 15 years elsewhere so I have few local contacts. I appreciate all feedback on the site, positive or negative. I am aware of 1 technical issue currently in the Mozilla browser the page does not always come up and you must repeatedly click "Refresh" until the map shows. No known issues in Safari or Chrome.

Just noted above, I have also had trouble loading this app in Firefox, so try IE or something else.

Cartocacoethes

Steve, the best maintenance man ever employed by my library, is currently repainting my department. The walls in this room have not been painted since the department was created, nearly twenty years ago. That dark red, dark blue and grey have always seemed a bit gloomy and we are being cheered by the fresh shades of blue and green on our walls. First, he works around the trim before attacking the larger areas with the roller... but wait! Is that a map of Ohio I see?



Cartocacoethes is a word coined to describe "a mania, uncontrollable urge, compulsion or itch to see maps everywhere." Yeah, that sounds like me.

I don't know if it is a real word. I cannot find it in the Oxford English Dictionary. The only reference I can find to it is on other map blogs, and has been discussed, at length, on Making Maps and Strange Maps. If someone has a citation to an actual medical dictionary reference to this word, please send it my way.

UPDATE:

jb krygier said...

Of course it is a real word, I know because I made it up. I was reading up on the Catalhoyuk map and working on an essay with Denis W. about the actual absence of maps prior to 1500 (very few and far between) and it dawned on me that most "prehistoric maps" are not really maps, and there is a mania among modern cartographic historians (and others) to cast our modern sense of mapping back into prehistory, to prove maps have always been with us. Anyhow, the Catal. map is a prime example of seeing maps where there are none, and it is not just a passive thing, but an active mania. So cacoethes made sense, and carto tagged onto it led to a word that sounded like it should exist, so there you are.

Gnomes of North America via Mexico!

Cartophilia, the love of maps, is universal and international.

Recently discovered: ¡Mapas, mapas! a Spanish language map blog by Fernando Augusto López Plascencia of Mexico.

What map has caught Fernando's eye? Gnomes of North America:



In particular, the Gnomes of Frankenmuth, Michigan. Frankenmuth is famous throughout Michigan for its year-round Christmas themed shopping and "family-style" chicken dinners. We used to go there every year when I was younger, but no one ever told me about the Gnomes...

I guess they are secret no more...

#465

Here Comes the Flood II

Using data from NASA, here is a Google map tool that allows you to speculate on possible consequences of global warming and rising sea levels.

Below is Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay area under an additional 10 meters of water.






Here Comes the Flood I

United Steaks of America

Last month, I posted a photo of a steak map of the United States. The photo was sent to me by a carto-friend, but I could not find the source or the artist...

This morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Huffington Post had set up a gallery of this "steak art" by photographer and "food artist" Dominic Episcopo: The United Steaks of America.



You can even vote on your favorite ribeye or sirloin state.

Late Late Show Russia

Craig Ferguson is my favorite late night talk show host. Not the least reason because he provides helpful, topical map graphics when discussing current events. Don't know where Russia is? Here you go:





Craig Ferguson previously on Cartophilia.

The Scrambled States of America

What if all the states decided to try living in another part of the country?

In The Scrambled States of America, Uncle Sam narrates a story written and illustrated by Laurie Keller.



From Publishers Weekly:

"Keller endows each of the 50 states with a unique personality and, as all of them develop a case of wanderlust, she presents geography lessons as clever quips exchanged across state lines."

Not surprisingly, the states eventually decide they like it better in their "regular" spaces (Florida was too cold up north, and California found itself allergic to Wisconsin's cheese!)

This story is also available as a video and card game. Later, the states got back together to put on a talent show.

Children's books previously on Cartophilia:
The Little Man in the Map
Roxaboxen
Weslandia
There's a Map on my Lap!