They Draw & Travel Map Contest

From paintandink:

Map of Singapore by Admira Pustika

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!

Chapel Hill Map by Alice Feagan

Map of Bruges, Belgium by Madi Andronic

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!

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).

Caught Mapping

Caught Mapping - 1940

This Jam Handy film teaches us how road maps are drawn, field-checked and printed.



Part of the Prelinger Archives, this film is also available from Archive.com when its working...


Thanks to Laura for the link

Making Maps: A Visual Guide to Map Design for GIS

As noted, I am not a cartographer, nor a geographer. In fact I have drawn very few maps since Quastolia... However, I appreciate well designed maps, and John Krygier and Denis Wood have produced a useful guide for amateurs, professionals and students: Making Maps: A Visual Guide to Map Design for GIS.

Before they even get into the mechanics of how to make a map, the first chapters focus on what is a map and why they are powerful tools?

• Why are you making a map?
  
• Your intentions shape the form of the map.
  
• Determine the data appropriate for your map.
  
• Determine the tools you will use.

Next they provide useful information and tips on layout, symbolization and use of fonts and color. Instead of writing about maps, and working some illustrations around their text, they focus on images of maps, with many examples, illuminated by their text.

I appreciated the many illustrated examples of not only good map design, but a few bad ones as well:



Many of the illustrations are entertaining as well as informative:



Krygier, an Associate Professor of Geography at Ohio Wesleyan University, continues to offer tips and advice on his blog, Making Maps: DIY Cartography. There he outlines his intent:

I designed the book like I would design a map. The audience? Cartography courses, maybe as a supplement, GIS courses, certainly as a supplement, and individuals who make maps (or like maps) but don’t have a background in cartography, and don’t want to be academic cartographers. Then what? Coherent concept, a hierarchy of content emphasizing what is important and excising the rest, creative design to grab attention and make a point, all so that the book works as well as possible for its readers.

Making Maps is an accessible introduction to the principles of mapmaking that will lead to creative and useful maps for most purposes.

And yet more map blogs

The longer I do this, the more I find other bloggers doing the same or similar things... centered around their love of maps.

Three more map related blogs I've come across lately. Both related to making and using maps:

Making Maps: DIY Cartography

This blog highlights resources that ... help you to make better maps. [T]his blog also provides examples of creative and provocative maps and material on map making and understanding, culled from contemporary and historical sources.

Google Maps Mania

An unofficial Google Maps blog tracking the websites, mashups and tools being influenced by Google Maps.

Map the Universe



The author is "a paper pushing drone located in a cublicle somewhere in Canada", interested in antique and collectible maps.