2008 UCF Wildcard Weekend

Last week I introduced the end-of-2008 NFL season United Countries of Football map:



I am Indianapolis Colts fan, and was disappointed that they lost on Saturday and will not go forward. I found I had an unusual basis for the teams I rooted for on Sunday. As you can see on the map above, I made some poor choices of colors. I gave the Minnesota Vikings and the Baltimore Ravens the same shade of purple, and I gave the San Diego Chargers and the Miami Dolphins similar shades of orange! What if the wrong teams win and their colors mix, or I have to change colors? Thanks to the Eagles and the Ravens, that is no longer a problem...



Now I have each team with a unique color. I am predicting a blue and blue Super Bowl this year, Tennessee Titans v. New York Giants... we'll see... I'm usually very wrong.

I should have taken map color advice from John Krygier's book, Making Maps.

2008 United Countries of Football

The NFL 2008 regular season has come to an end. Just as I did last season, I am playing around with the imaginary United Countries of Football.



What if the fans of each team formed their own country, and by the end of the season, Divisional Champions have "conquered" their foes? See the original post for more details.

Circa

Every good fantasy story must have its own fantasy map! Angela Steele is a Cartophilia fan and struggling author. She sent a map of her fantasy world, "Circa".

I wondered if you might be interested in seeing this map I drew as the basis for a series of stories based on a mythical, medieval world. I created the map to 'position' my ideas for two large warring nations – Aregus where kings and their sons rule and the opposite in Cerenth where queens are monarchs and, naturally, the crown is passed to daughters.

Their conflicts were not just male and female in opposition but also the desire to capture the disputed islands to the west and north.

My original idea for Circa was vaguely modeled on the yin/yang symbol, forming a rough circle round a central sea. This in turn has a relatively small central island that neither the king or queen rules. Laye itself gains its security as the home of this world's spirituality, and therefore the resident priests offer counsel and some degree of mediation to both sides.

The map deliberately lacks fine detail as I hoped it would convey the ruggedness of wild and mountainous lands in which life is hard, battles fierce and communications always stretched.

The cities and islands named all appeared in this series of tales and helped me focus on the geography of certain events and relationships. The book itself had the map at the beginning and contained 17 stories – all of which I have to say had a strong sexual theme as well as politics and action ranging from piracy to foot soldiers and archers – and was offered for sale via a self-publishing service but sales were disappointing and after a year and half I removed it from the sales lists.

However I am pleased with the 'world' and the basis for its conflicts, but should I return to Circa it will be as the basis for a novel perhaps expanding on one of the stories - and trying not to take sides in this continuous war which can never really be won.

Good luck with your writing. Stick with it. Successful fantasy novels usually have a well thought out back story and "universe". Perhaps when you next go back to Circa you can create something that will catch the interest of publishers and readers.

Safari - Disney Style

My friend, Nancy, went to Disney World and brought back this terrific map postcard! A map of the Kilimanjaro Safaris' Harambe Wildlife Reserve, part of the Disney Animal Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida:

Daily excursions from sunrise to sundown. You will encounter many of Africa's wild creatures on the journey of a lifetime! Elephants, the Big Cats, herds of Antelope, Giraffe, Hippos, Tommies, Bongo, white and black Rhinos just to name a few.

Harambe qualifies as one of those imaginary countries I write about from time to time. I haven't been to Disney's newest "land", however according to Wikipedia, the official backstory says that it was once part of a Dutch colony, but a peaceful revolution made Harambe self-governing in 1963. Perhaps it is somewhere near Nova Hibernia...

Alphistia Inflated

As a homage to Saul Steinberg, the man who created what is arguably the most famous New Yorker cover, Tony of Alphistia has created his own "inflated view":



The original:





© The Saul Steinberg Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Cover reproduced with permission of The New Yorker magazine. All rights reserved.
per Sheila Schwartz, Executive Director, The Saul Steinberg Foundation

The Mouse That Roared

The Mouse that Roared, a 1959 film starring Peter Sellers, based on the book by Leonard Wibberley, tells the story of the tiny, mostly forgotten country of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.



In the opening segment of the film, the narrator is trying to find the tiny country. Measuring no more than five miles (8 km) long and three miles (5 km) wide, the Duchy and lies in a fold in the Northern Alps, adjacent to France and Switzerland.



In order to resolve a budget deficit, the government of Duchess Gloriana XIII decides to declare war on the United States. They expect to lose of course, but expect their defeat to be followed by millions of dollars in foreign aid.



When the declaration of war is ignored, they send an invasion force to New York.



The filmmakers intersperse the scenes of this journey with map animations of their misadventures at sea. I just had some fun clipping these stills out of the video.



Without rehashing the entire plot, instead of losing, as ordered, the expiditionary force wins the war! Hilarity ensues. While not a map, this scene late in the film also caught my fancy. Regular readers of this blog know of my love for boardgames, so I was tickled by this scene where diplomats from Britain, France, the USSR and the United States, while waiting to cross the border, kill time by playing a boardgame:



The Mouse That Roared is an amusing little farce that showcases Peter Sellers understated comedic talent. Recommended.

Northern Antarctica

Another entry from Michael5000's Forgotten Lands:

Republic of Northern Antarctica

Capital: New Bristol
Population: 34,881 (1998)
Area: borders undefined
Independence: 1982
Economy: Based on tourism, supplemented by modest mineral exports and seasonal commercial fishing. Visiting scientific missions are a significant source of revenue. Heavily dependant on imports for manufactured goods and foodstuffs.
Per Capita Income: US$52,080
Literacy Rate: 100%

When Disraeli made his famous remark that "the Frenchman yearns for glory as the Northern Antarctican yearns for summer," he revealed as much about the latter nationality as the former. While the long, dark, and of course extremely cold winters make life on "the Underside" challenging, natives can look forward to the relatively mild summer, with its influx of tourists from all over the world and its frequent days of 24-hour sunshine.



Northern Antarctica has the unusual distinction of being the only country to span all 24 time zones – although a few of these are home only to two or three isolated settlers. Eighty-seven percent of Northern Antarcticans live in the country's four "cities" – of which the largest, Queen Maud, has a population of only 9400. None of the cities are connected to each other by road, due to the difficulty of building and maintaining highways in the harsh local environment. AntarticAir, the national airline, is the cities' primary connection to each other and to the outside world. It is the country's largest employer.

Few issues are more hotly debated among Northern Antarcticans than petroleum exploration. Exploiting Antarctic oil reserves would undoubtedly lead to much growth and economic development, but many fear that such rapid growth would destroy the existing Northern Antarctic way of life.

Flag: Three horizontal stripes of light blue, deep blue, and white. The design is pictographic, representing the typical view seen daily by the North Antarctican: ice in the foreground, the polar sea stretching to the horizon, and the pale Antarctic sky overhead.

National Anthem: "Land of Long Winters."

Roswell, Texas

Roswell, Texas, (by L. Neil Smith, Rex F. May, Scott Bieser, and Jen Zach) is a graphic novel that takes place in an "alternate universe" where Texas remained an independent republic after The Alamo. Fast-forward to 1947 and President Charles A. Lindbergh has dispatched some Texas Rangers (law enforcement officers, not baseball players) to Roswell, in West Texas, to investigate a reported crash of a flying saucer!

However, other countries are interested in getting there first. President Walter Disney of California and his Nazi allies, as well as the United States and the Franco-Mexican Empire are all interested in what can be found at the crash site.

For graphic novel and/or alt history fans, it is an amusing, fast-paced frolic. The story is full of actual historical figures as main characters or just a cameo appearance, including John Wayne, Lawrence of Albania (Arabia), Frank Sinatra, Lyndon B. Johnson and The Pope.

Only little tidbits of the "why and how" of this alternate timeline are revealed in the story, but I was first intriged by the map of the Federated States of Texas on the back cover (hightlighted below). The borders of this Republic of Texas are much larger than the State of Texas today, or even the territory of Texas that was wrested from Mexico in 1836 and 1848.

In little bits here and there throughout the story, the reader learns that in 1861, when the American Civil War started, Texas cut a deal with the United States. In exchange for Texan assitance putting down the rebellion, they were deeded most of Louisiana, Arkansas, and all or part of present day Missouri, Kanasas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

While the scenario is a bit implausible, it is necessary to create the shoot-from-the-hip culture that exists in this Texas of 1947 (and 1964). Every Texas stereotype is enlarged for comedic effect. For instance, in Texas, all citizens are required to carry a handgun. You must have a permit to be exempted from this law...

Published by Big Head Press, the comic was originally serialized on their website, and can still be found there in full color.

Fantasy Cartography

Fantasy Cartography is a blog that offers a collection of maps from various fantasy and science fiction books. Also included are "other goodies from literature, the Bible (not fiction), or television programs, movies, and video games."

Since January of this year, the (unnamed) blogger has pulled together hundreds of maps. While I did not make an exhaustive search, nearly every one of a half-dozen or so authors I checked were represented in the collection. Each entry is extensively tagged allowing the user to search any title in the author's series in order to find the relevant map.

Below is an excellent example of a map of the Young Kingdoms surrounding Melniboné, from Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné series of fantasy novels; authorized by the author.



My only quibble with the site is that many of the maps are not clearly marked to indicate if they are the "official" map (included in the book, or approved by the author) or "fan maps", drawn by fans based on their perception of the author's imaginary world.

Via The Map Room


#229

Zagria

Michael5000 has created a handy index to his Forgotten Lands.

Zagria
Capital: Brevogrod
Population: 6,734,232 (1995 Census)
Area: 38,860 km2
Literacy Rate: 98%
Independence: 1672
Per Capita GNP: $12,030
National Anthem: “To Zagria we Pledge”

Economy: Zagria is an agricultural exporter, especially of grains, apples, grapes, and cheese. A coal/steel based heavy industrial sector suffers from aging and obsolete factories and facilities and from international competition. Oil fields underlying the southern plains of Svisla province provide Zagria’s most important source of foreign exchange.



Zagria is an anomaly in Eastern Europe. In this region of the Earth, as in no other, countries represent the territorial aspirations of cultures. The Poles have their Poland, the Slovaks their Slovakia, the Magyars their Hungary, and the half-dozen former Yugoslavs their half-dozen former Yugoslav republics. Yet within this mosaic of nation-states sits heterogeneous Zagria. Polyglot (Hungarian, Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian), religiously inclusive (Catholic, Orthodox, Islamic, and, surprisingly, Lutheran), Zagria is easily as culturally diverse as any other similarly sized piece of land on Earth.

For all of this, many observers find Zagrian society is disappointingly prosaic. Its many ethnic groups have neither walled themselves off into discrete enclaves, nor exhibited an unusual degree of mingling or intermarriage. There is little sense of animosity or contention between the people of this land, but neither is there any widespread sense of patriotism or national unity (Menillini, The New Nationalism).



Since independence, Zagria has gone through prime ministers at a rate of more than one per year, with parliamentary coalitions in constant flux and no political party able to maintain a stable majority. Post-communist economic stagnation and a widespread culture of corruption and bribery have created fertile grounds for a shadow oligarchy of ostentatious gangster-businessmen and their well-dressed thugs. To the average Zagrian of any culture, such things have long since ceased to excite much anger. “In Zagria,” wrote Brevograd’s great novelist Gnadyy Zvorić, “public life is as constant as weather, and as fruitfully cursed.”

Flag: Based on the shields of the medieval dukes of Zagria, the flag is a simple black diagonal through a field of dark green.

UPDATED 2008-08-28



#219

Brave n00b World

Who says there are no new lands to discover and explore?

At Interesting 2008, James Wallis, geophysicist and game design consultant, presented some findings from his recent research:

I have spent the last few months on sabbatical, visiting a persistent fantasy world known as ‘Of Warcraft’. During this time I have made some preliminary observations about the nature of the world, which I am going to publish here in a series of short papers. It is my hope that this work may lead to further examination of this curious habitat, and the foundation of the academic field of Azerothian Studies, with a nice chair and honorarium for myself, &tc. &tc.

Among his findings, he as determined that the size of "Of Warcraft" is approximately 113 square kilometers; roughly the size of Newcastle. Additional findings discuss the size of "Of Warcraft" as a planetoid, as well as physics and time relativity issues.

Clearly, more reasearch is called for. View the full lecture below or here.



Thanks to Hunter for the link.


#209

New Bretton

[Another entry from Michael5000's Forgotten Lands with maps by Cartophiliac.]

New Bretton
Capital: Ipswich
Population: 12,493 (2001 Census)

Economy: Fish, Optical Equipment

When Newfoundland voted to join the Canadian Federation in 1949, the local vote on the fishing island of New Bretton was strongly against union. One week later, the island’s local government invoked an unusual provision in its original royal charter – dated 1678 – guaranteeing it the right to "dissociate from any colonie, or other lands of ye king, or any conjoining to these at will". Initially dismissed as an anachronism, the clause was ultimately found legally binding by the Newfoundland courts. New Bretton thus became one of the world’s smallest independent entities.



Although they rely on Great Britain for defense and representation in world bodies, New Brettons are a fiercely nationalistic people. “Never call a New Bretton a Canadian,” goes the local joke – “and the bigger he is, the more important that you don’t.” Though to the outsider there might seem to be little cultural distinction between New Bretton and the Atlantic provinces around it, to the natives there is much substance in small differences.

New Bretton is spared many of the Northwest Atlantic region’s economic woes due to the presence of New Bretton Scientific, a leading world manufacturer of precision optical equipment. Occupying a bluff overlooking the capital and only real town, the company’s production facility employs one of every five New Brettons, many in highly skilled and well-paid positions. Local entrepreneur Brian Redham founded the company in his basement in 1962, and is now thought to be comfortably among the world’s richest 100 people.

Flag: A red St. George’s cross is evidence of the English ancestry of most islanders. The white background of the English flag is replaced by blue, however, on New Bretton’s banner. No symbolism is attached to the blue; a typically pragmatic New Bretton once told the author that “they had to pick something besides white, else it would still be the flag of England.”

[Cartophiliac's Note:] While preparing to map this forgotten land, I discovered yet another interesting tidbit of information. It is commonly known that the nation of Canada is covered by six different time zones, ranging from Pacific (UTC-8) to Atlantic (UTC-4) and Newfoundland Standard (UTC-3:30). However, in typical New Brettonish style, the inhabitants have stubbornly refused to acknowledge the "standard time" of their neighbors, and instead insist upon the use of New Bretton Lunar Time (ranging from UTC-3:15 to UTC-3:45) based on a complicated system controlled in part by the phase of the moon. Many New Brettons, not employed by New Bretton Scientific, are engaged as public clock resetters. A daily task.


Congratulations to New Bretton for the distinction of being the 200th post on Cartophilia!

Gokura

[The next entry from Michael5000's Forgotten Lands with maps by Cartophiliac.]

Gokura
Capital: Gokura
Population: 542,486 (2000 census)

Economy: Shipping, finance, and light industry dominate an internationally oriented economy. Agricultural production is exclusively for local production. Gokura prints no money of its own; the local merchants and cashiers are willing and uncannily able to accept, calculate a rate for, and make change in virtually any significant world currency.



If the impossibly rugged and remote island of New Guinea is to a certain extent a world of its own, then this prosperous little country occupying the lower valley of the Five Bats River is the least typical part of that world. Where Papua New Guinea is one of the least technologically developed countries on Earth, Gokura is a gleaming oasis of modernity. Where Papua New Guinea is loosely governed by a weak central government, in Gokura the state is deeply involved in the lives of its citizens. Papua New Guinea is overwhelmingly Christian and largely off the beaten track; Gokura is Muslim and, at nearly the eastern tip of the island, sits on a natural bottleneck for oceangoing traffic.



Gokura, converted by traders in missionaries in the 13th Century, represents the easternmost spread of traditional Islam. Held by the Portuguese during the colonial era, it was incorporated into Japan’s military empire in the 1930s, gaining independence after liberation by Australian troops during the Second World War. Though much smaller and of a lower profile than other Asian city-states, it has developed a similar prosperity over the last half-century through success in shipping, manufacturing, financial services, and technology. A rare high-profile moment was a 1998 cover story on “Asia’s Other Tiger” in the business magazine The Economist.

Gokura is a self-avowed Islamic state. Non-observance is tacitly tolerated, but public practice of faiths other than Islam is strictly prohibited. The city and its surrounding farms convey an impression of immaculate order, tidiness, and cleanliness. The government ascribes the extremely low crime rate to a faith-based public education system and strict enforcement of traditional Islamic law.

Flag: Intersecting green diagonals, trimmed with gold on official banners (but not on the less expensive flags seen on many schools and public buildings), against a black background. No official account of the flag’s design is known, but the green is assumed to have been chosen to represent Islam.

Nova Hibernia

Another of Michael5000's Forgotten Lands with maps by Cartophiliac.

Nova Hibernia
Capital: N'koutou (formerly St. Patrick, Karlsburg)
Population: 1,443,000 (2000 estimate)

Economy: Produces cashews, cotton, sugar, citrus, timber, and fish. Imports include machinery and equipment, metals, staple foodstuffs, and textiles. Subsistence agricultural is practiced by a significant portion of the population.

The country of Nova Hibernia came into being in 1882 as the colony of German Central Africa. Like most other territories that were created by the Treaty of Berlin, German Central Africa contained a heterogeneous population drawn from disparate peoples who shared no common language, culture, or history. The Germans established a port at Karlsberg, but in their 30 years of rule did not manage to extend practical authority past its hinterlands. Stripped from Germany along with its other colonial possessions after World War I, the now nameless colony existed for several years as a League of Nations Protectorate. After several years of the British and French blocking each other's moves to absorb the little territory, administration was finally handed over in 1924 as something of a gift to the fledgling Irish Free State.



Absorbed in their own lengthy struggle for full independence, the Irish devoted little attention to their "overseas empire." As a result, the Irish administration had an even lighter footstep than had the German. Although adopting some Western innovations, most inhabitants of the newly-renamed Nova Hibernia tended to continue to live and govern themselves according to well-established indigenous systems. When a provisional government set up by native schoolteacher Brian Ktombe petitioned for and was granted independence by the Irish Parliament in 1963, the event failed to make the front page of the Irish Times.

Since independence, Nova Hibernia has suffered two periods of military rule, once for three months in 1969 and again from 1978 to 1984. Ktombe's nephew, Brian Ktombe III, became president in 1985 in elections that restored democratic rule. Since that time, he has been re-elected every six years in elections that, by the standards of sub-Saharan Africa, have been relatively free and fairly contested.
Nova Hibernia is also unusual in Africa in that it never acquired a large international debt. Instead, the country's political elite have long pursued a policy of small-scale local development and grassroots education. Perhaps not coincidentally, Nova Hibernia enters the third millennium with one of the continent's highest standards of living.

Flag: Older colonial banners, like the capital city's name, were replaced at independence. The new design was clearly inspired by the flag of the United States, the country on which Nova Hibernia's federal system was modeled. The ten colored stripes represent the ten federal districts, and the blue field represents the common blood* of all Nova Hibernia's people. Some have speculated that the lack of green, orange, or white in the flag suggests a rejection of all things Irish by the newly independant colony.

*In local tradition, blue is the color of "living blood" (as it is seen in the vein). Red represents "dead blood," and is generally avoided in decoration.

Kim'chin do

Michael5000, one of my favorite bloggers, recently engaged in a creative project called Geography of the Forgotten Lands. I already knew he was interested in flag design, but it turns out he also likes to create imaginary countries! Michael has created descriptions, and flags of countries that are "part parody of reference-book prose, part commentary on world events, part pure geographical fantasy." I just think they are good fun.

The one piece missing from these delightful geographical fantasies are maps. So, from time to time I plan to draw map of these imaginary countries. Unfortunately, I am not very artistic, so if one of you artistically inclined cartophiles out there would like to draw a map with more detail (mountains, rivers, more cities, etc.) send them to me and I will be pleased to post them.


Kim’chin do
Capital: Namju
Population: 161,000 (2001 estimate)

Economy: Fishing, forestry, zinc, electronic goods.

If you look at the area northeast of Hokkaido on any world map, chances are you will see only open ocean. It is not entirely clear how an island as large as Kim'chindo came to be forgotten by the world's cartographers. As the site of major Soviet naval and air bases, it was regularly omitted from that country's maps for security purposes. While it is difficult to imagine the Western publishing companies taking their cue from the USSR, no other explanation has ever been put forward for the island nation's widespread omission from our maps and atlases.



The natives of Kim'chindo had tales of their ancestors arriving from the south on a city of rafts. Modern archaeologists have established only that a large migration arrived from the Korean penninsula, in the 12th Century A.D. A great capital of wood buildings was built on the southern tip of the island on a sophisticated plan of broad boulevards and great open plazas. This city, Kim'sol, was destroyed by a tidal wave in around 1620:

My city
floats out to sea
in jumbled sticks.
-- Ko Tae-Li, 17th Century

As much as half the island's population perished in the disaster.

In the modern era, the island was handed from empire to empire: the British (1710) were followed by the Dutch (1770), the Japanese (1906), and the Soviets (1945). Kim'chindo stumbled into independence after the breakup of the USSR with a small but polyglot population (34% Japanese, 32% Kim'chin Korean, 12% Russian, 12% Chinese, 10% European) and no tradition of self-government. A parliamentary system has been established and elections held, but the real power in Kim'chindo is held by the large corporations (mostly Japanese and Dutch) that have acquired its mills, mines, and factories. Nearly 40% of working citizens, a 2002 study found, are in the employ of a foreign corporation. Wages and investment in national infrastructure remain well below world averages.

Flag: The Kim'chin, like many Asian cultures, associated colors with direction. The modern flag, designed in 1993, is thus a sort of traditional map. Red, in the center, represents the people. Black is to the north, white to the south, yellow is to the west, and green to the east. Blue and purple were considered the colors of danger in classical Kim'chinsymbology, and are rarely seen in traditional decoration.

Kim'chin do description and flag by Michael5000.

Map of Misery

From the May 8, 2008, issue of The Economist, Map of misery: The house-price bust has a long way to go.

SOUNDING more like a cartographer than a central banker, Ben Bernanke this week showed off the Federal Reserve’s latest gizmo for tracking America’s property bust: maps that colour-code price declines, foreclosures and other gauges of housing distress for every county. His goal was to show that falling prices meant more foreclosures, and to urge lenders to write down the principal on troubled loans where the house is worth less than the value of the mortgage. His maps—where hotter colours imply more trouble—also make a starker point. The pain of America’s housing bust varies enormously by region. Hardest hit have been the “bubble states”—California, Nevada and Florida, and parts of the industrial Midwest. The biggest uncertainty hanging over the economy is how red will things get.

Read the rest of the article.

All I have to do is walk around the neighborhood and see the number of "For Sale" signs that have been up for months... Houses are not moving. Prices are dropping, and many people are hurting. Many folks who might need to sell their home cannot do so without taking a loss.

Maybe they shouldn't have bought that house they couldn't afford in the first place... Maybe it might have occured to them, before they bought their house, that if property values have jumped 300% in the last five years, they might, just maybe fall again... But I also know folks who need to sell their home, because of job relocation, etc... and they cannot get out. Ms. Cartophiliac and I have often spoken of relocating... I think we'll just stay pat for now.

Where to go when surrounded by the Map of Misery? Why not take a vacation for the mind? Visit The Funny Times:



The Funny Times is a The Funny Times is a monthly tabloid newspaper for humor - funny jokes, political cartoons, news and columns.

No matter what has you down:

• The War on Terror
• HMO Waiting Rooms
• Family Stress

...our cartoonists and columnists will fill you with inspiration instead of despair.

So, don't let yourself be lost in the Sea of Red Ink, broken down in Monotony, or stranded on the Road to Ruin... use this road map from The Funny Times.

Thanks to the Stumbling Tumblr for the miserable tip.

Map of Staines

Do you see maps wherever you go?

Just like some religious folks see Jesus or the Virgin Mary in their cheese sandwiches, I see maps in cloud formations, rug patterns and mud puddles... is there a scientific term for this psychosis?

Here is an example of a bored restaurant host finding a map in the coffee staines of their seating chart!



From the Hand Drawn Map Association, previously mentioned here.

Ten Nations of the United States

In an earlier post I discussed Joel Garreau's The Nine Nations of North America. In 1989, Garreau took a look at North America, erased all of the international, state and provincial borders and redrew the lines around regions that have common interests in culture, politics and and industry. This way of looking at regional interests, that transcend state and national boundaries, forever changed my understanding of those regions.

The folks at Beyond Red & Blue, a political blog, have updated this concept, using election data:

Beyond Red & Blue" was conceived about four years ago, in anticipation of the 2004 presidential election. The idea was to divide the United States into 10 regions of equal voting power, each with a distinct history and political bent... Keep in mind that for at least 60 years, no one has ever been elected president without carrying at least five of these regions.

The original article with the 2008 map was posted in September 2007, and last week offered more detail on What went into deciding the 10 regions. It is hard for me to think of myself in Western Ohio, and people living in Indiana or Illinois as having the same identity (Cumberland) as the folks in Appalachia, or that people in the San Joaquin Valley of California are part of the same voting block as North Dakota... But this approach to an electoral map is fascinating nonetheless.

Via The Electoral Map

An "A" for Quastolia

Earlier this year, I shared some maps from my "imaginary country", Quastolia. In addition, I re-created the flag of Quastolia, that has become my unofficial logo:

The other day, while browsing through my collection of Quastolian artifacts, I came across a school project about Quastolia! I remember this. It must have been my ninth-grade English class. I don't know what the assignment was... I'm sure the assignment was NOT to create an imaginary country, but my teacher OK'd a report about Quastolia for credit. I turned in a 19-page document that included:

• maps (of course)
• government structure
• voting process done online by computer (in 1975!)
• courts and judicial system
• military structure
• population
• monetary system
• major religions

The cover of the report was decorated with this flag:



What an archaeological find! I had forgotten that this was the original flag of Quastolia. The flag with the eight-pointed Star of Quas came later, after the royal restoration. Note the Tolkienesque alphabet used in the lettering at the three points of the triangle. They were the characters in our language for "A", "C" and "Q", for Aqceyquas... the land founded by Aq, Ceygol and Quas.

Needless to say, my teacher was impressed. She gave me an "A", with these comments:

What can I say! After 16 years of teaching, this is the first time I have ever read anything so creative and different. You gave it considerable thought. Would like you to explain this to class.

Scribbled below her comments was my answer: "No way!"

For someone who had tought school for 16 years, she showed very little understanding of adolescents. If I were to stand up in front of my class and explain to them all about the imaginary country in my back yard, populated by ants, I would be guaranteed to get my ass kicked outside the building after school...

Roxaboxen

Last week I told you about a sweet little book about a boy who invents his own imaginary country, Weslandia. Marilyn Terrell, of Intelligent Travel, posted a comment to tell me about a similar book: "It reminds me of the book "Roxaboxen" by Alice McLarren and illustrated beautifully by Barbara Cooney, about a group of children who make their own magical town out of boxes and stones. My kids used to love it when they were little, and I did too." I love it too! It reminds me of the hours and hours of imaginative play with my own childhood friends in the neighborhood.

A town of Roxaboxen began to grow, traced in lines of stone: Main Street first, edged with the whitest ones, and the houses.

Weslandia

I have written in previous posts about "imaginary countries" or "geofictional projects" such as Quastolia or Alphistia that started out in our back yards. In Weslandia, a children's picture story book written by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, we are introduced to Wesley, a boy who just doesn't seem to "fit in" with other children his age. So, as a summer project, he plants a garden that eventually blooms into his own little country in the back yard.

For Weslandia, Wesley has created his own language, foods, games, industry and cash crops. Soon he becomes the envy of all the other kids in the neighborhood. In my experience, any time I shared stories with my friends about Quastolia, all I got were queer looks... but good for Wesley!

The only thing lacking in this amusing children's tale is a good map! However, it is a clever story about a boy that creates his own country, and that deserves mention.

Quastolia - The Later Years

Quastolia - The Early Years
Quastolia - The Middle Years

Eventually, Bill and I found developing our "ant countries" within the existing geography of our hometowns to be too constricting. All we could do was redraw borders in between the existing lakes and rivers. Fortunately for us, a strange spatial-temporal rift descended upon Aqceyquas, and after the dust settled, we found ourselves in a new world.

A section of a map of the new world by Bill:


The surviving residents of Quastolia and Ceygolia began the careful exploration of our new world, cleverly called "Neworld". We also conveniently dropped the notion of ants and other insects as our citizens, and proceeded to world building like our favorite fantasy and science fiction writers.

Somewhere along the line, the reconstituted nation of Quastolia became known as the Protected United Kingdom of Quastolia, with its unfortunate acronym, "PUKQ". I assume my teenaged sense of humor found that amusing.

Two of my maps of the PUKQ:




Development of our "ant countries" continued on and off throughout high school and our first year of college, whenever we felt the urge to draw a map, or write a history or heroic saga. Later, when playing Dungeons & Dragons, it was very easy for me to create a new world for use as Dungeon Master.

Another of Bill's maps. He was always a better artist:

Dungeons & Dragons

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to spend a day boardgaming at The Arsenal Game Room in Indianapolis. The clever folks here have combined a game store with a café. Good food and good games. What more could you ask for?

While I was there I met Craig Johnson of Campaign Adventures. His company makes large (36x48 inches) laminated maps designed for use in Dungeons & Dragons adventure campaigns; on the surface or down below...





Gather your Elven Mage, Dwarf Fighter, and Halfling Thief minatures and begin the plunder...

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.

Giants Nation

Congratulations to the New York Football Giants, NFL Super Bowl Champions and conqueror of the United Countries of Football.



Giants 17

Patriots 14

Opening Atlantis

I just finished reading Opening Atlantis, the first book in Harry Turtledove's latest alternate history series. In this alternate time-line, a portion of the North American continent split off and drifted into the Atlantic Ocean, 85 millions years in the past. The small continent was never populated by humans, and much like Australia, the flora and fauna took a decidedly different evolutionary path. This book presents three episodes in the colonization of the small continent: the first settlement by Englishmen in 1462, a conflict with pirates in the 1600s, and the English-French war of the mid 1700s.

As with any sort of fantastic literature, there is little point in arguing the plausibility of the scenario... for instance, with this new continent so much closer to Europe, it is hard to imagine that it would have taken until the 15th century to discover it. Surely the Phoenicians, Romans or Vikings would have found it before then... So, the best thing is to accept the premise and enjoy the ride.

According to Uchronia: The Alternate History List, Turtledove has also written two additional novellas that take place in this universe. One of the stories takes place in the 1840s, when naturalist John Jay Aubudon travels to Atlantis for one last view of bird species nearing extinction. It is likely that these two novellas will serve as the basis for the projected second book in the series, The United States of Atlantis.

Quastolia - The Middle Years

In an earlier post I described the origins of Quastolia. Our "ant countries" started out in our back yards, but soon after that, Bill and I expanded the geography to include more than just our home neighborhoods. Both Quastolia and Ceygolia grew to encompass most of our small towns (Bill lived in the next town to the north of mine).