Sunday, November 30, 2003
Warblogosphere
Speaking of the blogosphere, Anil’s caustic comment in his links sideblog says it all about this putative map of the blogosphere: “warbloggers’ world includes only themselves.” Echo chamber indeed.
Moscow Metro
Just in case you were thinking that the London Underground was the only subway system getting any attention in the blogosphere, The Cartoonist links to the map of the Moscow Metro. In Russian, but it looks official.
Ancient Maps of Jerusalem
Iconomy is posting again. Huzzah! Because one of her new links is to a site titled Ancient Maps of Jerusalem.
Saturday, November 29, 2003
Guantanamo Bay
Plep links to Eyeballing the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, which provides aerial photographs and maps (including nautical maps) of the U.S.’s base in Cuba. Now, this page is part of a larger site that makes a point of shining light on sensitive places, be it military bases, nuclear facilities or the homes of politicians, in a sort of who-watches-the-watchers idiom. Controversial, especially if you were, say, working for the FBI. Whatever; I prefer just to enjoy the maps on a more naïve level.
3D London Underground
The Web is unwilling to leave the London Underground alone. Here’s an attempt at rendering it in 3D. (Via MetaFilter)
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
The Vinland Map
I personally think it’s a fake, but here’s a thorough and even-handed site about the controversy surrounding the Vinland Map: an apparently 15th-century map of the world that includes the North American coastline but predates Columbus (via Plep).
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
The Mother of All Recall Mapping Projects
Mapping Votes by County does marvellous stuff with the results of the California special recall election last month. (See previous entry on recall vote maps. Via Matt; thanks also to Silus.)
National Public Toilet Map
Now this is something I could have used while exploring the streets of Lyon with my legs crossed half the damn time. Australia has a National Public Toilet Map. Which, I kid you not, is part of the Australian government’s National Continence Management Strategy. In addition to tourists looking for a place to tinkle in a strange land, “[p]eople living with incontinence or their carers can plan toilet locations for short or long trips and people with disabilities can identify toilets with disability access.” I’m trying my best to suppress the giggles, because this is useful. (Thanks, Huw.)
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Biosphere 3D
Wow. “This page has links to the Biosphere 3D movies created by Julia Johnson and Stephen Reynolds, mostly using maps from the Atlas of the Biosphere (http://atlas.sage.wisc.edu/). These maps were draped on globes along with world topography (from the Etopo5 database) in Bryce 5. The list below has links to QuickTime movies of different factors, such as precipitation, annual temperature, and croplands.” (Thanks to Huw for sending this link.)
Saturday, November 15, 2003
More Map Errors — on the CBC Lobby Floor
The Ottawa Citizen continues to make hay about publicly displayed maps that are, shall we say, more artistic than accurate. Now they note that the map of Canada on the lobby floor of the new CBC building has a few interesting features, namely that it makes Vancouver Island a peninsula, shears off everything in B.C. south of the 49th parallel, eliminates the Queen Charlotte Islands, and, um, annexes Alaska.
If you ask me, this is a tempest in a teapot. Next they’ll be pointing out that Bob and Doug McKenzie’s Great White North (album: Amazon, iTunes) map leaves off the entire U.S. eastern seaboard.
(The Citizen is moving to a pay site; no guarantees as to how long that article will be freely available.)
Thursday, November 13, 2003
The Four-Colour Theorem
The four-colour theorem states that in order to have a map in which no two countries that touch use the same colour, you only need to have a minimum of four colours.
Now I first encountered this theorem in high school — heard it from a friend who was much more mathematically adept than I — and, being a very non-mathematical sort, I immediately drew maps to see if it was true. Of course it was, but I had to see it for myself.
(This is all moot if you have reasons to have a certain territory a certain colour that overrides the rule to have adjacent territories different colours: British colonies labelled pink, for example; or non-contiguous territories separated by water or land — think Michigan in the former case, or Bophutatswana in the latter. It’s a geometric proof, not a style guide for cartography.)
Further reading: Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved by Robin Wilson.
(via Owen at Here Be Dragons)
Political Fundraising Maps
The Money Map is a series of U.S. maps that show, by county, 3-digit Zip code or state, where a presidential candidate’s funds are coming from, and also whether more funds are being raised by Democrats or Republicans in a given county, Zip code or state. Interesting stuff. (via Kottke’s Remaindered Links)
Aboriginal Mapping Network
I’m overdue in linking to John Emerson’s post about the Aboriginal Mapping Network, which adds to our understanding by linking to several detailed pages about the AMN.
London Wi-Fi Map
A map of Wi-Fi hotspots (440 KB JPEG) — 802.11b access points for wireless Internet access — in central London. (via Boing Boing)
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Ancestry Maps
The 1990 ancestry maps show the ethnic origins of residents of Minnesota (per township) and the U.S. in general (per county). Provided by the State of Minnesota, they prove what we long suspected: Minnesota is full of Norwegians, Swedes and other assorted Teutons. Lutherans, Lutherans everywhere. (via MetaFilter)
Flash-based Planetarium
An excellent, way-cool Flash-based interactive celestial map (via MetaFilter).
Orthophotography in Nigeria
I read this passage in Ken Wiwa’s column today in The Globe and Mail:
The other day I read in the paper that the Nigerian government has been advised to introduce orthophoto mapping (images from scanned photographs taken from aircraft or from satellites and then geometrically corrected). Orthophotography is now so precise it can be used to map everything from the foundation of houses under construction to water resources and waste management.
When I explained to my cousin the implications of such maps, he scoffed at the idea that any technology could ever capture or even begin to describe the intricate movements and nocturnal activities in a Nigerian town.
A quick scan through Google News only turned up this story from the Nigerian paper This Day, which is probably not what Wiwa was referring to.
But looking up “orthophotography” yields more interesting results. Here’s an explanation from the Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office and another from the Illinois State Geological Survey.
The Map Room is a blog about maps by 