Saturday, July 23, 2011

More Carto Hot Hate

The only weather map you’ll need this summer:


HT to Kate

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Baby, It's Hot Outside

Much of the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing extremely hot temperatures this month. Naturally, this brings on talk of global warming, which also means lots of burning globe illustrations. After reading this article, Politicizing Extinction, I decided to see how many other "hot earth" images I could find.





Have you seen any other good ones?

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Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Connected States of America

From paintandink:


MIT's Senseable City Lab did a study on the connections demonstrated by cell phone calls in America, and although, at a glance, it looks like the study has some flaws (they only used data from their sponsor AT&T, for example, which would leave out communities without good AT&T coverage), the maps they created are pretty cool:


Also, even though it's kind of cheesy, I like the title "The Connected States of America."


Via FastCo Design (Fast Company's design blog).


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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Rubik's Earth

Ad found in a magazine this week:


Just think of the climate change issues as the puzzle moves you from one latitude to another.



Woe to anyone who lives close to the edge of a cube... "Hey! I parked my car here yesterday... now that street is gone!

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Friday, July 8, 2011

Welcome, South Sudan

Welcome to the family of nations, South Sudan. May you thrive in peace and prosperity.


"South Sudan has become the world's newest nation, the climax of a process made possible by the 2005 peace deal that ended a long and bloody civil war." -- BBC News.

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Inflated Stereotypes

The latest from Christoph Niemann: THE WORLD MAP OF USELESS STEREOTYPES


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Monday, July 4, 2011

Torchwood: Earth Go Boom!

Torchwood, the Dr. Who spinoff, is coming to America. Will it be good or bad for the series? I can't say. But it doesn't look too good for Planet Earth:


While I have been a Dr. Who fan, I never got into Torchwood much. But Captain Jack is back, so I may have to check this out.

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Sunday, July 3, 2011

They Draw & Travel Map Contest

From paintandink:


If you make maps yourself, you might be as excited as I am about this map-drawing contest at They Draw & Travel. And if you don't make maps, you can just revel in the maps that have already been submitted. Plenty of eye candy for map lovers!





I'm working on a map of Philadelphia. I'd hoped to do a couple of maps, one of Philadelphia, one of Los Angeles, and maybe one of Reno modified from the map I posted yesterday in my introductory post, but I procrastinated a bit in an effort to wrap up some other projects, so I'm not sure I'll have time to do more than one city. But I'm also feeling a burst of creative motivation that I haven't felt in a while (my husband and I have a son who just turned one, so we are running on a year of sleep deprivation), so at least I'm feeling excited about the Philadelphia map.

The grand prize is $1,000, and the contest will be judged by Lilla Rogers of the illustration agency Lilla Rogers Studio. There are quite a few caveats and requirements for submissions, and by submitting a map, you are agreeing to a non-exclusive licensing arrangement, so be sure to read all the fine print.

Happy Mapping!

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Saturday, July 2, 2011

Painting, Inking, Mapping, Daydreaming

Hi all! My name is Alison, aka paintandink, and your host, Cartophiliac, has graciously invited me to be one of the contributors to Cartophilia.

Like many of you, I imagine, I have loved maps as long as I can remember. I blame National Geographic. When I was a kid, I papered my bedroom ceiling with maps from National Geographic. I would lie on my bed, staring up at those maps for hours. I dreamed of going to faraway places and I also dreamed of making maps, of working for National Geographic. I hoarded maps. I pored over them. I started writing to consulates and travel bureaus, asking for more maps.

That quote in this blog's banner?

"I think that the constant study of maps is apt to disturb men’s reasoning powers" - Lord Salisbury

He's got a point. Maybe I should have gone outside more, but in my mind, I was having grand adventures. And I was lucky enough to have real adventures too. From which I brought back maps as souvenirs. When my dad took me to Ireland at 14, I brought back a poster of a hand-drawn map that I still have today.

It's wrinkled and banged-up.

I still obsess over traveling and maps and still collect maps, haphazardly - big maps, small maps, ripped-out-of-magazine maps - although my maps aren’t taped up on the ceiling these days. They’re sorely neglected, as a matter of fact. Rolled up. Folded in boxes. And I have a lot of maps from a road trip stuffed in a drawer. One of these days, I'll frame the good ones.

In the meantime, I'll tell you about those, and the other fun, weird, quirky, interesting maps I find.

I'm still bringing them back as souvenirs, too. This is a crime map of Edinburgh's Royal Mile. This one deserves its own post.

I did not become a National Geographic cartographer, but almost 20 years later, I have become a mapmaker. Using dip pens and India ink and watercolor, I’ve spent the last five years making treasure maps, fantasy maps, custom maps of real and imaginary places, abstract maps, and travel art.




I’m excited to be part of Cartophilia. Thank you, Jamie, for the invitation.

You can also find me at my own blog, The Explorer’s Notebook, and my artwork at the Interimaginational Institute for Fantastical Exploration and Cartography (that is, my Etsy shop).


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