Who Dat Nation?
Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for conquering the United Countries of Football



Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Stamps, postcards, advertising, coffee mugs, shirts, and other ephemera. I love maps, and maps as an element of design.
"I think that the constant study of maps is apt to disturb men’s reasoning powers" -- Lord Salisbury
Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for conquering the United Countries of Football



Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Tired of little states being over-represented in the Senate? Do you wish that all states had equal electoral vote power in national elections? Neil Freeman at Fake is the New Real has a solution. Redraw all fifty states so that they have relatively equal populations:

Labels: electoral maps, united states
Conference Championships this weekend in the United Countries of Football.

Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Divisional Playoffs this weekend in the United Countries of Football.

Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Transit Map Theme Week continues here at Cartophilia.
The representational diagram style of the London Underground map has become the worldwide standard for maps of rail systems. Why not highway systems? Several variations of the United States highway system presented as a simplified diagram have turned up lately.



Labels: highways, transit maps, united states
Last week I introduced the end-of-2009 NFL season United Countries of Football map.

Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Happy New Year, Carto-fans!
Last year, Thomas H. Benton gave this same advice in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Most undergraduates don't realize that there is a shrinking percentage of positions in the humanities that offer job security, benefits, and a livable salary (though it is generally much lower than salaries in other fields requiring as many years of training). They don't know that you probably will have to accept living almost anywhere, and that you must also go through a six-year probationary period at the end of which you may be fired for any number of reasons and find yourself exiled from the profession. They seem to think becoming a humanities professor is a reliable prospect — a more responsible and secure choice than, say, attempting to make it as a freelance writer, or an actor, or a professional athlete — and, as a result, they don't make any fallback plans until it is too late.Cartophiliac Jr. often speaks of getting a PhD in his chosen field in the Humanities. I hope he also works on his burger grill and deep-fry skills...
Labels: united states
The NFL 2009 regular season has come to an end. For the third year, I am playing around with the imaginary United Countries of Football.

Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Public Option Please advocates for a publicly-funded health insurance program to come out of the current health care reform debate in the United States. The winner of their recent promotional art contest has been announced:

Amy Martin of Los Angeles, created her striking image of red and blue blood vessels coursing through a map of the United States when she was home sick with the flu, and a few weeks later, organizers said, lost her job and health insurance. “A healthy United States is dependent on healthy American citizens — which is why I presented America as a vulnerable living system.” She’ll spend her $1,000 winnings on insurance premiums, they said.Via Kelso's Corner
Labels: politics, united states
According to Ebay:
Every minute, every second, every nanosecond — someone's taking advantage of eBay to find that special item they love. Others use eBay to sell great stuff. It's a match made in shopping heaven.

Labels: christmas, united states
The New York Times has a series of maps showing search terms being used Wednesday at Allrecipes.com, providing clues to what dishes are being served around the nation today:

Labels: united states
Unable to get any traction in the courts, AT&T has taken to the airwaves to fight Verizon Wireless: Map vs. Map.

Labels: united states, video
This is CartophiliaLabels: cartophilia, clothing, europe, korea, united states
For several weeks, the Verizon Wireless commercial mocking AT&T for their coverage has caught my eye:

Labels: united states, video
For those of you who were suitably impressed by Al Franken's Stupid Human Trick... Good news! It gets even better!

Labels: alaska, hawaii, united states
Stephen Von Worley, at Weather Sealed, asks the question, "Just how far away can you get from our world of generic convenience?" How far can you get from a McDonald's restaurant?


Labels: food, united states
Unhappy people around the world and in the United States just can't stop talking about secession. As long as they keep providing interesting maps and illustrations, I'll keep covering them here.

What would California look like broken in three? Or a Republic of New England? With the federal government reaching for ever more power, redrawing the map is enticing, says Paul Starobin."Divided We Stand", by Paul Starobin, Wall Street Journal.

In the American end times, our government will take one of two forms. One possibility is that federalism will give way to an all-powerful central government... The other option is decentralization—in the absence of a unifying national interest, the United States of America will fragment and be supplanted by regional governance."Who's most likely to secede?" by Josh Levin, Slate.
Labels: secession, united states
What if all the states decided to try living in another part of the country?

"Keller endows each of the 50 states with a unique personality and, as all of them develop a case of wanderlust, she presents geography lessons as clever quips exchanged across state lines."Not surprisingly, the states eventually decide they like it better in their "regular" spaces (Florida was too cold up north, and California found itself allergic to Wisconsin's cheese!)
Labels: books, united states
The Library of Congress has an online exhibit of a very important map from the American Civil War. In O Shenandoah, I Long to Map You, Jennifer Gavin describes the cartographic efforts of Jedediah Hotchkiss. His hand drawn maps, many drawn from horseback, were "extraordinary for their accuracy." These maps were an essential tool used by Gen. Robert E. Lee in his many military successes.



Labels: civil war, postcards, united states, virginia
Last week, I posted the very popular Ohio is a Piano wherein Andy Woodruff at Cartogrammar mentioned his Counties Visited Map. Andy has noted every county in the United States that he has visited during his travels. I also know that Michael5000 has been recording his counties. Not to be outdone, I created my own:



Labels: highways, united states
The U.S. is in the middle of a heat wave... we're feeling sort of grilled...

Just like a heatwaveHT to Matt
Burning in my heart
Can't keep from cryin'
It's tearing me apart
Labels: food, united states
The Little Man In the Map: With Clues To Remember All 50 States, by E. Andrew Martonyi, is an engagind little book with friendly illustrations that is designed to help school-age children learn the names and locations off all the states.Learning all 50 U.S. states is easy when you learn from The Little Man In the Map! Asked by their teacher to find clues for memorizing the states, students begin to see images: a hat, a shirt, a pair of boots formed by state boundaries. When they put some of them together, they're amazed to find the outline of a man standing in the middle of the map. |

Excited by their discovery, they draw a face and arms on him and create The Little Man In the Map, whom they nickname MIM. Their imaginations bring MIM alive, and with his help they discover the surprising roles all the states can play. Soon they can spot the elf, the playful dog, the spooky head, and all the others.

Labels: books, united states
Today I received several photos from a Carto-friend who must remain nameless. The first one I'll show you is the shower curtain from his bathroom. I'm showing this one first as your warning. The rest of the photos are probably safe-for-work... unless you work for a very prudish employer... We'll get back to shower curtains in a moment...

This Carto-friend sent me these photos of his fiancé in the best bikini bathing suit ever.





Labels: australia, clothing, cyprus, united states, world
Two videos today! Sorry about that. But when a funny video includes a map, Cartophiliac is there.

Labels: united states, video
In this same July/August 2009 issue of The Atlantic magazine I mentioned last week, I came across this advertisement from Allstate Insurance:

Labels: advertising, united states
I saw this cartoonish map on BuzzFeed the other day, but had not intended to blog about it:


Labels: inflated views, united states, world
Matt Maldre promises a new idea every weekday at spudart.org. Here's one of his ideas: What if we deleted all of the state boundaries and instead, let each county be a state?

Labels: united states
Teach your children geography while they eat their breakfast cereal with this map placemat:

Labels: united states
The Detroit News has created an interactive map that shows just how far reaching is the impact of the General Motors bankruptcy:

Labels: united states
When I started this blog, nearly two years ago, my intention was to highlight my own scattered collections of map memorabilia. In fact, I have scanned many map postcards from my collection, as well as shirts, mugs, Christmas ornaments, advertising, etc. However, the one thing I haven't covered yet, in spite of being the first thing mentioned in my masthead, is stamps. I have a small collection (compared to serious stamp collectors) of stamps featuring maps. Unfortunately, I have not got around to scanning them.


Labels: india, ireland, italy, mexico, netherlands, spain, stamps, united kingdom, united states
Does it suck to be in Kentucky?

This county-by-county map shows the percentages of residents who reported "frequent mental distress" (FMD)—defined as 14 or more days of emotional discomfort, including "stress, depression and problems with emotion," during the previous month. Three days of mental distress is considered average, the researchers say.The bad news is that Kentucky had the highest level of frequent mental distress. It doesn't look so good for West Virginia or Mississippi either, but they say life is good in Hawaii.
Labels: kentucky, united states
Exhibition, just missed at Timothy Taylor Gallery in New York, work by Ron Arad:


Labels: maps as art, united states
In Salon today: Stem cell division By Peter Dizikes. "The growing blue state-red state gap over this research shows that science has serious economic and political muscle in America today."Labels: politics, united states
We just can't stop talking about Texas Secession. [Secession, previously on Cartophilia.]

Labels: alternate history, secession, united states
Just came across this article illustration from the New York Times of April 18: Obamanomics: Redefining Capitalism After the Fall by Richard W. Stevenson.

Labels: united states
A couple weeks ago, we explored maps about the U.S. power grid, and related energy topics. This week, National Public Radio is running a series of stories on our aging power distribution system. Their website includes an interactive map:

The nation’s electricity grid is facing a crisis -- it’s outdated and unprepared for increasing demand and a future that includes more renewable sources of energy. A new digital smart grid is part of the picture envisioned by advocates, as is building new electricity infrastructure.The maps and articles include data on sources of power, location of power plants, and the potential for solar and wind power generation.
Labels: united states
The Name Mapper at the Baby Name Wizard tracks names of babies born in the United States, as reported by the Social Security Administration (SSA), then places them on a map or a timeline indicating its popularity by state from 1960 through 2007:

Labels: united states
Last week, during all the hoopla surrounding Tax Day and Tea Parties, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, suggested that Texas just might have to secede if they are not happy about taxes.


Labels: mexico, politics, secession, texas, united states
This is from an April 1 post on the Very Small Array blog:

Labels: alternate history, united states
More serendipitous cartography.



Electricity is generated as it is used. There is very little ability to store electricity. Because of this instantaneous nature, the electric power system must constantly be adjusted to ensure that the generation of power matches the consumption of power. On continental U.S. power grids, roughly 150 Control Area Operators serve this function by using computerized control centers to dispatch generators as needed.Folks that are interested in finding ways to enhance electrical power generation in this country, without additional greenhouse gasses, are looking for alternatives. Coincidentally, an old friend of mine told me that he has completed a Master's Degree in Alternative Energy. He is primarily interested in wind power. We've had interesting discussions on generation and distribution of wind power. One of the problems is that many of the best locations for wind power generation are far from the most populated areas:



Labels: australia, games, global warming, united states
Advertisement on the back cover of this week's Entertainment Weekly:

Labels: clothing, united states
Oh, the fun we have finding things while looking for something else...

![]() | look like this? | ![]() |
So, who is this artist? I wondered. A bit of Googling revealed Nina Katchadourian as the culprit. Wait, I know that name... Of course! Last year I highlighted her piece of map art, Coastal Merger 
Labels: games, historical maps, italy, maps as art, politics, united states
Patrick Ottenhoff's political geography blog, The Electoral Map, was my favorite site this past year for electoral maps, county voting projections, and interesting commentary.
Labels: blogs, electoral maps, politics, united states
The Back of the Napkin Blog points out that Southwest Airlines is the only airline to publish their route map on a cocktail napkin:


Labels: united states
Today, U.S. college basketball is in the middle of the "Sweet Sixteen" round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. I'm not really much of a BBall fan, but I'll usually watch a little bit of the tourney.

Labels: sports, united states
What was the fictional locale of your favorite TV sitcom? New York City? Milwaukee? Reno? Cocoa Beach?


Labels: new york city, united states
Big Car at the Murphy Art Center, Indianapolis, Indiana.
The red parts are where there was either multiple tribes that turned over land to the US at different times, or where the US claimed land but then tribes signed a treaty later finally actually releasing it. The yellow is just land that has not been turned over to the US yet or has been turned over and then back as in reservations. The blue is the US. For some reason I can't get it to upload in HD, it looks really nice when it does because the pieces move a lot. They are cowboys and Indians. Not sure if that is clear from the smaller youtube video. I pulled all the data from these out of the library of congress report in the year 1897. There is a lot of detail that is missed due to the resolution of plastic toys :) They represent a lot of area each.
Labels: maps as art, united states, video
I can always count on Salon.com to provide illustrations making clever use of maps.Labels: united states
Thanks to the Steelers for winning the Super Bowl. I get to use my Pennsylvania/USA graphic afterall:



Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, pennsylvania, sports, united states
Serendipitous map fun today.


Labels: canada, clothing, mexico, t-shirts, texas, united states, video
FiveThirtyEight.com offers a nice cartogram of the new congress:


Labels: electoral maps, oklahoma, politics, united states
I have to confess that I am disappointed with this particular match-up the the Super Bowl:

My disappointment has nothing to do with the Steelers or Cardinals. I was just hoping for an All-Pennsylvania Super Bowl. I even made this cool map to commemorate it. If not that, then perhaps a Mason-Dixon Super Bowl between the Baltimore Ravens and one of the Pensylvania teams... Or I would have been happy with a Ravens vs. Cardinals or Eagles... for the first ever All-Bird Super Bowl. But no... we've got the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Arizona Cardinals. Where's the hook? Where's the gimmick?Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, pennsylvania, sports, united states
The January February Issue of The Atlantic Magazine uses a map of the United States to provide quantifiable changes between 2000 and 2008.

Labels: magazines, united states
Down to four NFL teams left.

Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Emily Wick has posted her linocuts and paintings on her "Two Eyeballs Galleries", including the beautifully cartographic The Fifty States and Their Mottos,a composite of 50 individual linocuts:

From the artist's statement:I began making linoleum prints in 2003 and began studying classical realism under master painter David Hardy in 2006. I like to carve lino blocks while I am relaxing. I enjoy painting so I can slow down and learn this ancient magical trade of optical illusions. Seeing Things Differently to see a new world is my purpose: both imagination AND reality are important ingredients.In addition, Emily Wick is a filmmaker and blogs about food!
Labels: maps as art, michigan, united states
Last week I introduced the end-of-2008 NFL season United Countries of Football map:


Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Today's Wall Street Journal has an article about a Russian professor that is getting a lot of attention because of his prediction that the current economic crisis will lead to a break-up of the United States in the year 2010.

He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.Goodness! That is quite a prediction. I suppose I should mock this, but then they laughed when the collapse of the Soviet Union was predicted...
California will form the nucleus of what he calls "The Californian Republic," and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of "The Texas Republic," a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an "Atlantic America" that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls "The Central North American Republic." Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.
Labels: united states
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.

Labels: hand drawn maps, imaginary countries, sports, united states
Often I have highlighted a map that provides an "inflated view" of its subject. In other words, making it appear larger (and by inference, more important).I was born in California, moved to the east coast for college, went back to the west coast for graduate school, and now live on the east coast again. This map reflects my bicoastal experience of this country.From a purely technical point of view, I am impressed with the way she carefully matched up coastlines and highways to create a seamless merger. I wish I could get a closer look.
Labels: blogs, maps as art, united states
For the last week or so, the blogosphere has been abuzz over the unveiling of the LIFE photo archive hosted by Google. You can now search Google Images to retrieve photos and other images from 1750 to the present. Many of the classic LIFE photos are now searcheable by keyword.
Map of the US w.Martini glasses either empty or filled w. varied portions of black liquid representing the amount of air particulates in the state on which they rest As a result of the US Dept. of Health's "Air Pollution Measurements fr. 1957-1961.I guess if you were going to drink the polluted air, the best place to be was in the Rocky Mountains, and stay away from
Location: US
Date taken: November 1963
Labels: united states
Paticipants of the Facebook and MySpace social networking sites may already be familiar with this type of interactive "Where I've Been" map. Douwe Osinga offers this Create your own visited map of The United States that you can plug into your own blog or website:
Labels: united states
Rex Parker, crossword puzzle solver and vintage paperback book collector, sent to me this photo of a map on a Nike shoe:

Also, while searching for map shoe information, I was reminded of this amusing, yet environmentally tragic story the cargo ship full of Nike products that accidentally dumped in the North Pacific back in 1999. Shoes and other flotsam were washing up on British Columbian beaches for years.Labels: british columbia, clothing, new york city, united states
The presidential electoral season brought so many interesting variations of the electoral map, I have resisted the urge to post them all here. So, as a goodbye to the 2008 election, I'll just post these two.


Labels: electoral maps, united states, world
Last week I wrote about How the States Got Their Shapes. It turns out that the fifty states we know and love were not the only states that we might have seen... Over the course of our history, many other states have been proposed, only to be shot down or ignored.


Labels: books, california, kentucky, oregon, tennessee, united states
Mark Newman has already come out with his 2008 Election Cartograms. (Last year I highlighted his 2004 Election Cartograms.)



Labels: alaska, cartograms, electoral maps, politics, population, united states
Just as they did in 2004, NBC News turned the ice rink at Rockefeller Center into an electoral map:

Labels: electoral maps, united states

Labels: electoral maps, united states
According the the American Civil Liberties Union, nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within a "Constitution-Free Zone". The United States government has extended the "the border" to a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the "external boundary" of the United States. "As a result of this claimed authority, individuals who are far away from the border, American citizens traveling from one place in America to another, are being stopped and harassed in ways that our Constitution does not permit."

Labels: united states
How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein. I read this book several months ago, and have been meaning to mention it here....


Labels: books, connecticut, maryland, ohio, united states
With less than two weeks until the United States general election, cartophiles cannot help but be interested in electoral maps. Everywhere you turn every news source and blog is speculating on which way each state will go... red or blue. My favorite articles also use clever map graphics to illustrate their point.
Salon.com had two recent articles by Walter Shapiro, with "red or blue" paint illustrations.
Labels: electoral maps, indiana, united states
Where are the candidates spending their money on advertising?

Labels: electoral maps, united states
Time for another sampling of maps on magazine covers:
![]() | The Week September 19, 2008 Sarah Palin is having an impact on the election and nation... or is she tearing it apart? | |
| New Scientist September 6, 2008 Talk about your global warming... | ![]() | |
![]() | Tikkun July August 2008 What? Do you think new worlds grow on trees? | |
New Yorker | ![]() |
Labels: alaska, global warming, globes, magazines, politics, united states, world
Just as Ohio likes to style itself the "Mother of Presidents" (because, like Virginia, they lay claim to eight presidents that called Ohio home), Ohio historians also like to highlight the number of famous inventors from Ohio. The list of famous inventors from Ohio includes Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, and Charles Kettering.

Labels: ohio, united states
Can you name the 25 most populous US cities?

Labels: flags, population, united states
Back in April I posted about The Singles Map of the United States. The map looked at gender population demographics to determine which parts of the country contain more eligible bachelors or more single women.



Labels: united states
This news is a bit "last year"... but it is the first time I heard of it, and I like the graphic... From Amazon.com:

Labels: books, united states
College football has been under way for a week, and NFL football started on Thursday night. All is as it should be in the universe... except that sometimes, you cannot watch your game of choice... Which college or NFL game is going to be shown in your market?



Labels: sports, united states
Ken Jennings (yes, that Ken Jennings, the guy that holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy!) has a website and blog where he talks a bit about his life and his family, and a lot about games and puzzles and other things that he finds interesting.
Yesterday, he posted about finding a sticker album for his son. "He’s a bit of a nerd, and likes maps and stuff."Labels: blogs, games, united states
The American Human Development Project offers interactive maps for over 60 human development indicators including health, education, income, environment, housing and security. Data can be presented by state or congressional district, and can be exported as a printable PDF file. Below is an example of the education statistics; a map of congressional districts by the percentage of the population with less than a high school education:

Labels: population, united states
The Flowing Data blog created an animation showing the growth of Walmart. It starts slow and then spreads like wildfire...

Labels: blogs, united states
During a recent stay at a hotel, I noticed a poster for their summer promotion. Make three hotel stays at their hotels and get a $50 gas card. The advertising material is designed to look like some sort United States board game:

Labels: advertising, games, united states
My latest boardgame aquisition is Power Grid. As eurogames go, this one is middle-range in complexity. Success requires analysis and planning. I have played this game for several years, and a few weeks ago, I actually won for the first time! So I decided it was time I owned a copy.



However, many enterprising Power Grid fans have created their own maps, allowing them to play in Scandinavia:

Labels: belgium, connecticut, france, games, germany, luxembourg, netherlands, scandinavia, t-shirts, united states
The collection of Steve Davis, political memorabilia collector and County Court Baliff, is currently being exhibited at the Dayton Metro Library. “Politics on Display”, An exhibit of Ohio and Presidential campaign posters and more, June 16 – August 16, 2008.Davis has loaned the library over 50 political posters, as well as, assorted buttons and memorabilia of gubernatorial, presidential and senate races from as far back as the 1920’s to present day. This non-partisan display features both Republican and Democratic candidates including Richard Nixon, James Rhodes, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Robert Kennedy, Walter Mondale and his running-mate Geraldine Ferraro.Two items from the 1964 election have, of course, caught my eye: Both a Goldwater/Miller button, and a Johnson/Humphrey poster prove the patriotism of their candidates by using an image of the map of the United States (minus new states Alaska and Hawaii).

Labels: politics, united states
Robert David Sullivan, from Beyond Red & Blue wrote an op-ed piece last week for the Boston Globe.

Labels: electoral maps, united states
Where can you buy fireworks for the 4th of July? It is illegal in many states.

Labels: united states
In March of this year, Evan, twenty-three years old, left his home in Northern California and began his walk across the United States. Monday this week we had the pleasure of hosting him for a night here in Dayton, Ohio.


Labels: blogs, travel, united states, world
A selection of recent publications with maps on the cover:
If you look very closely, you can see that, yes indeed, there is a map! A "You Are Here" map of the park for the tourists.

“Subway Man”, by Roz Chast, graces the June 30 issue of The New Yorker. A stressed out commuter IS the transit map of Manhattan.Labels: books, global warming, globes, magazines, new york city, transit maps, united states
In 2004, my part of the country, and much of the east coast (New York to North Carolina and inland to Illinois and Michigan) was inundated by the Brood X of cicadas. These harmless insects spend most of their 17-year life cycle under ground, then emerge together to create a ruckus with their mating calls. They are loud. Some cicadas produce sounds up to 120 dB "at close range", among the loudest of all insect-produced sounds. Imagine millions of them in your trees for several weeks during the summer. It can be deafening.



Labels: united states
Who doesn't love maps? I recently discovered two more blogs focusing on interesting maps:


Labels: blogs, united states
While I was growing up in Michigan, the only word we used to describe a carbonated soft drink was "pop". When my older brother married a girl from the St. Louis area, I heard her refer to it as "soda", engendering funny looks. Both of these terms come from the older word, "soda pop". Later, as an adult, I briefly lived in the portion of Wisconsin where nearly everyone said "soda" (but then, they don't drink from a "water fountain"... they drink from a "bubbler"... go figure). Here in Ohio, it is mostly, "pop". Strangely enough, many folks in the South just say "coke"... even if they mean orange soda pop, or 7-Up... it doesn't matter. It's all "coke" or "co-cola" to them.

Labels: united states
I have often written about my boardgaming hobby and games with maps. Many of my favorite games have a railroad theme. Currently, my most favorite game is Railroad Tycoon, and its sequel, Rails of Europe. In this game players compete to build the best routes linking cities throughout the eastern United States. Points are earned by delivering goods. But invest wisely, or you could find yourself so heavily in debt, your liabilities outweigh your assets, and you'll end up losing victory points. The game mechanic for Railroad Tycoon: The Boardgame, is based on an earlier railroad boardgame, Age of Steam, and the game name and theme was licensed from Sid Meier's classic railroad computer game.



Labels: europe, games, united states
Two more examples of maps and globes in magazine cover design.
The current issue of Reason Magazine uses a globe.Labels: globes, magazines, united states
Monday, May 6, is Memorial Day in the United States. While many see it only as a three-day weekend that marks the beginning of summertime fun, it remains a day to commemorate the men and women who have died in military service to their country. Known originally as Decoration Day, the day has been commemorated annually since the end of the American Civil War.


Labels: historical maps, postcards, united states
Speaking of state capitols...
Labels: united states, video
When I first came across the website, Spud Art, the first thing I thought of was this mappish "spud art". But instead it is "the landfill of Matt Maldre's life, a 32-year-old Christian designer in Chicago."



Labels: united states
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.

No matter what has you down: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....our cartoonists and columnists will fill you with inspiration instead of despair.
- The War on Terror
- HMO Waiting Rooms
- Family Stress
Labels: imaginary countries, united states
This blog is about maps, not flags... but since I have digressed in that direction in the past, I will share this clever work.


This is how we thought of the concept Meet the World.
We started to research relevant, global, and current facts and, thus, came up with the idea to put new meanings to the colours of the flags. We used real data taken from the websites of Amnesty International and the UNO.
Labels: colombia, flags, united states
This weighty piece of geographic art is on display in the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University:

Labels: maps as art, united states
As reported in La Plaza, a Los Angeles Times blog about Latin America:


Labels: advertising, mexico, united states