Seattle real estate, 100 years on

From Thatsaabguy:

Facebook is a wonderful thing. This morning, while reading up on the happenings in the world, I was presented with a post to this blog. In it, the writer described being given a 1912 Baist Real Estate Atlas of Seattle (anyone know what Baist is, anyway??) He then spent considerable time scanning them into hi-res PDF files, so that we can all enjoy some 100-year-old mappy history.


The full blog can be found here, featuring a whole slew of old-timey pictures of the streets of Seattle, among other neat things. Enjoy!

1000 Years Of Europe, 5 Minutes

From Thatsaabguy:

Holey moley. I just discovered the most astonishing video. It's on YouTube, and can be found here:



It comes from this fellow's account, which has some other interesting stuff in it (moreso if you understand Russian).

Very fascinating film!

#700

How To Offend The World In One Image

From Thatsaabguy:

This might come in handy for future travel planning...
(seriously, it's a joke, take it as such) :-)



Thanks to these guys!

Europe Map In Lego Kinda More Awesome Than Original

From Thatsaabguy:

Who doesn't love Lego? If you don't, you're some kind of commie freak or something. How about a gigantic floor map of Europe, made entirely of Lego?


Thanks to our friends at gizmondo.com, we can bask in the glory of almost 300k bricks laid out in a lovely topo map of the European continent. Even big cities get represented, like Brussels...


HT to Jim, thanks buddy!

#695

Instant Transporter

From Thatsaabguy:

ALERT: The link I'm about to reveal to you has been shown to cause loss of productivity, destruction of ample free time, and serious scorn from employers/spouses/schedules everywhere. You have been warned.

This is by far the best and most interesting use I've yet seen for Google Street View. Click on this linky link:

http://web.mit.edu/~jmcmicha/www/globegenie/

and be transported instantly anywhere in the world the Google photo trucks have thus far traveled. Odds are good you'll end up somewhere in the continental United States, as this is where the majority of Street View images have been taken so far, but all seven continents are represented.

It's hard to get an image of the page, so I'll leave it to your imagination...until you hit that link, that is, and find yourself on some lonesome road in the middle of nowhere. Repeatedly. For hours on end. Forgetting to bathe, go to work, or move rooted from your seat in fascination. Hey, don't say I didn't warn ya...

Which Way Does Your Door Swing?

From Thatsaabguy:

I'm going to start this blog off by saying that the viewpoints expressed herein are strictly mine, and in no way reflect the views of management - unless, of course, Cartophiliac agrees with me. I would also like to request that your comments and replies to this post remain civil at all times.

THAT outta get your attention.

Here it goes: the last few weeks/months/years have seen a massive upheaval of human rights discussions in our country, no longer centered on race but on sexual orientation. Many states now allow gay and lesbian couples to marry - a practice that I completely support and for the life of me cannot understand why anyone in their right mind would not. (If you're suggesting that gay marriage somehow destroys straight marriage, then why not try to abolish divorce??) And what's with the sudden rash of gay-bashing and bullying in our high schools?

The online dating site OK Cupid recently conducted a survey of over 4 million members, and came up with some hard, fast numbers "so that people might make better choices about what they say, think, and do." These numbers go a LONG way towards debunking the fear-mongering screaming about homosexuality - gay people are not interested in straights, are not promiscuous, are slightly more intelligent overall, and much more.

Where's this relate to maps, you say? How about right here:

I'm just going to let those colors speak for themselves. No, wait - here's a 2008 electoral map, that might well clear some of this up:



Full disclosure: I am not gay, nor do I have any hidden political agenda outside simple Common Sense. I live in the Seattle area, and the culture shock after moving here from southwest Ohio was immense. Nowhere have I ever lived (outside Norway) have folks been so accepting and supportive of "alternate lifestyles". Our cousins north of the border are even more so, and this map may well explain why.

I'll just let those colors speak for themselves. You, however, really should read the full survey results, posted right here. They are fascinating in every possible way, and should provide ready fuel to anyone forced to combat a bigot in a duel of wits, facts and numbers (not that these things ever helped win said arguments, of course...)

Come on, people - can't we all just get along??

The United States of Drunk Driving

From Thatsaabguy:

One of my favorite non-map-related daily websites is Jalopnik, a haven for automotive crazies like myself. A recent story from Insure.com listed the cities witht he highest percentages of drunk drivers in their juristictions. The numbers may surprise you:

Find the original article here.

Border Hunting

From Thatsaabguy:

Yes, I love maps. But what I love even MORE is border hunting, and highpointing. I'll get to the latter in a future post, but first, let's talk about borders. Every country, city, county, parish, state, municipality and township has them. To some they are just lines on a map. To others, like Jan Krogh, and Jesper Nielsen, they are a passion.

Golfing between Finland and Sweden - one hell of a lie

Consider: Jan Krogh's GeoSite and Jesper's Borderbase.

Here you can find lists, links, photos and descriptions of weird border crossings, exclaves and enclaves, divided towns, tri-point markers from all over the world, a collection of passport stamps that brought a tear to my well-traveled eye, links to all manner of additional reading...the works. Jesper hails from my adoptive hometown of Harstad, Norway, so we're kinda like long-lost twins who've never met. Except I'm far better looking.

The tri-point map of Poland, Belorussia and Ukraine

As a border freak myself, I have gone to the farthest-flung points of the earth in order to "bag" another marker or border. See for yourself our summer 2008 expedition to FINORU, otherwise known as the tri-point between Finland, Norway and Russia. We also drove to, quite literally, the End Of The Road in Norway, where one must either turn back or find a way to drive north over the Barents Sea (our earlier attempt at the FINOSE tripoint having been thwarted by ice on the lake. In July. Oh, and zombies. Long story.) Fortunately, we also live quite near the US-Canada border, so every time we head north is like a slice of border-hunter heaven.

Looking due east along the 49th Parallel, with White Rock BC to the left and Blaine WA to the right

If you see what you like and wish to join the rest of the border freaks, feel free to join us on our Yahoo email group called BorderPoint, and tell us about your interesting border stories, or just listen in - you never know WHAT you might learn!

Apparently, Santa Was Not Consulted

From Thatsaabguy:

One of the biggest geographical battles of recent memory has revolved around the oil-rich, polar-bear-infested, ice-melting home of Kris Kringle, the Arctic Ocean (and, more specifically, who gets to call dibs on the potential oil and gas deposits located therein). Every country with even the slightest possibility of a claim to the top of the globe has come out swinging, in some cases even planting flags on the seabed in the hopes of claiming "finders keepers".

Some countries, like Canada and Russia, have very legitimate claims to the Pole - they do, indeed, own the vast majority of coastline surrounding the Arctic Ocean. Other countries, such as Denmark/Greenland, Norway and the United States, can lay claim to some small portion of the disputed area in one form or another. There's also the argument of Law of the Sea, which only allows each country a 200 nautical mile claim outwards from their coastlines, which leaves vast swaths of the Arctic technically unclaimable.

This week, the normally docile Canadian Parliament got all uppity with Russia, and insisted that their claim to the Lomonosov Range - an underwater mountain range that physically connects the roofs of these two countries - is more valid than that of their Eastern (Northern? Over-The-Top?) counterparts.

With all the melting ice, opening sea passages and continually annoyed polar bears, it's hard to say who will emerge victorious in this kerfluffle, but one thing is certain - we have some shiny maps to consider. Here's Canada's somewhat optimistic outlook:


And another from Russia's also rose-colored viewpoint:
Here's a juicy, confusing map that makes the whole situation clear as mud:



(Link to the original Durham University paper on the whole mess)

Another one from the BBC that clears things up a tiny little bit:

One thing is for certain in all this: a whole lot of people in a whole lot of countries are going to be getting coal in their stockings this holiday season:



The North Pole on Cartophilia

North VS South

From Thatsaabguy:

One of my favorite webcomics is XKCD, a delightful mix of computer, gaming and observational insanity that never fails to leave me in stitches. Yeah, so some of the jokes are obscure and a bit tech-slanted...even more reason to love it so!

Here's one from a couple weeks back that not only contains a map, but a thought-provoking laugh as well:




Check it out every few days at XKCD.

#675

Texas Toast...?

From Thatsaabguy:

This week finds Yr. Obt. Svt. shilling shirts at Dragon*Con, a fantastic sci-fi convention that overtakes downtown Atlanta every Labor Day weekend. I've been a bit busy to hunt down any neat new mappy goodness - but that doesn't mean said goodness doesn't find ME on occasion.

To wit: I had to fly from Seattle to Dallas, there to drive a van full of product across the Deep South (wearing a Utilikilt, no less!) I had to spend the night in a Super 8 near DFW, and they offered your typical free cheap hotel breakfast, complete with make-your-own-waffle service.

You know you're in Texas when even your breakfast breadstuffs are shaped like the place:


Mmmmmm, tasty, tasty Texas.

#670

Wisconsin 1, Da Yoo Pee 0

From Thatsaabguy:

Yeah yeah, I know, it's Yet Another Michigan Post. But it's entirely too cool!

I love our friends at The Consumerist, who consistently entertain, shock and amuse me with their consumer-centric stories. This one it cool, for obvious reasons:



Apparently the Cheese State needed more room for dairy cows, so those pesky Great Lakes just HAD to go. Might as well annex The Rabbit while you're at it....

The Rap Map

From Thatsaabguy:

Under even the best of circumstances, I'm not a fan of hip-hop music. You'd never guess this by my ability to quote the movie "Friday" almost verbatim, nor my recent fascination with the Boondocks cartoon on Adult Swim...but pay no attention to the crazy man.


What we have here is The Rap Map, a lovingly compiled page that catalogues all manner of hip-hop locations in numerous American cities. These locations are sometimes historically important to the genre (such as Mos Def's Childhood Home and Eminem's alma mater, Osborn High School), sometimes mentioned in songs ("Glock-Glock" and a Home Depot parking lot), sometimes apropos of nothing at all (the Folsom Street Fair).

In almost every case, the descriptions given in these links are NSFW, but what did you expect from a catalogue of all things hip-hop? If nothing else, it's a cool use of Google Maps!

Don't worry, next time I'll post something slightly less shocking, I promise...

Welcome to Guest Blogger and The Ten Cent Maps

Today I would like to introduce Phil (posting as "Thatsaabguy", a long time carto-fan of Cartophilia. If you look at my posts over the last year, you will see that in many of them I gave a HT (hat tip) to Phil for pointing out to me this or that amusing or interesting little map thing. Since my frequency of posting has decreased lately, I thought it might spice things up if we included some input from other map lovers.

To start things off, here is a little story of his. Soon, he'll post his own stories about his map fetishes and geographic adventures.

Howdy folks! Thanks to Cartophiliac for allowing me access to his precious, I shall do my level best to not let him down! It’s weird – Cartophiliac and I SHOULD have met each other many times over, as we have mutual friends, play similar board games, both live or lived in Dayton, and both have an unhealthy map fetish. Thanks to the power of the interwebs, however, we’ve hooked up and will be bringing you double the mappy goodness!

Just to show you how deep is my obsession, here’s a true tale from this past weekend. I was garage-saleing with my wife (whose Mapkini has been featured in these very hallowed pages) and came across a small box labeled “MAPS 10¢”. When I naturally asked about them, the nice lady explained they were a collection of National Geographic maps from “I dunno, starting sometime in the 1960s is all I know. You can have the entire box for A DOLLAR.”

That’s right, one crisp American dollar.

I cannot begin to describe my squeals of joy. Upon further inspection, the box weighed a good 20 pounds, and was essentially a solid brick of mappy love. As you can see, it covers my dining room table to a thickness of about two inches. I haven’t catalogued them yet, but I’m half tempted to just wallpaper a room with them and get it over with.

#635