So long, and thanks for all the fish.
The Marauding Carto-nerd
by
2y ago
Thanks to everyone who has enjoyed my take on mappy things via this blog. But times move on, and I've not blogged here for nearly 2 years other than my end-of-year summaries. I'm therefore mothballing this blog and setting off on a new venture at cartoblography. Join me if you wish ..read more
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Favourite maps from 2020
The Marauding Carto-nerd
by
3y ago
So here I am once more, in the playground of the broken maps. One more entry in a diary self-penned. But wait, the last blog I wrote was my favourite maps of 2019 exactly a year ago. Have there been no #cartofail teaching moments this year? Have I just missed them all? There have been a few gems. But as I also noted last year they are getting fewer and farther between and I feel that generally the trend is still towards better maps in the wild. That and I just couldn't be bothered writing blogs as I was busy writing a book. I was even thinking of not compiling this annual list but a quick poll ..read more
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Favourite maps from 2019
The Marauding Carto-nerd
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4y ago
Maps that cross my path must be getting better. Since I started this blog as a way to critique what I perceived as poorly designed maps, the number of blog posts I write annually has decreased. That's not to say that there aren't still some awful maps out there. There are. But maybe the balance is getting better? Or I'm getting less choosy? Or, who knows? There's clearly still some major issues to address in the world of improving people's diet of maps. Persuading people that Web Mercator really isn't either the best choice, or even an uncontrollable default, still needs more work. So does th ..read more
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Trump's maps of dominance
The Marauding Carto-nerd
by
4y ago
Maps have been used for centuries as tools of power, plunder and possession, to control narratives and sway opinion. Historical atlases have frequently included a frontispiece that illustrated people touching the globe as a statement of their power, authority, and ownership. The subject has been written about extensively. Perhaps the classic text remains Professor Mark Monmonier's "How to Lie with Maps" which explains how geography and the themes we map can be modified and manipulated in various ways, sometimes innocently, sometimes for persuasion or propaganda. Professor Jerry Brotton's f ..read more
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Revisiting another new map
The Marauding Carto-nerd
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5y ago
I don't think it's possible to make a map in isolation of critique. You have to get eyes on your map and listen to people's comments, concerns and (if you're lucky) congratulations. And of course, the closer you are to a deadline the more pressured the situation, and the less likely you are to be able to give people time or to make changes based on feedback. And so it was when I hurridly finished up my re-imagined version of the London Underground map a few weeks ago. You can read about my original map and a how-to that explains the technical side of its construction. The map needed to be fin ..read more
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Academic parochialism
The Marauding Carto-nerd
by
5y ago
Last week I went to a schematic mapping workshop in Vienna, Austria. Schematic maps are some of my favourites and I'd used this opportunity to finally get round to developing my own ideas about a redesign of the London Tube Map. I'm by no means the first and won't be the last but after penning a discussion of what I characterised as the over-use, mis-use and abuse of Beck's original style from 1933 (The Cartographic Journal, 51, 4 pp343-359) it really was about time I put my money where my mouth was and had a go. The workshop provided a hard deadline and an impetus to make a map and throw it t ..read more
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Another new design for an old map
The Marauding Carto-nerd
by
5y ago
As many of you will know, I have a long-held fascination with the London Underground map and schematic maps in general. And for at least the last decade I have written and presented extensively on an assertion that while Beck’s ideas (though not necessarily new in and of themselves) have become the model for many transit networks, the Beck map also suffers from misuse, abuse and parody. I’ve even gone to the effort to catalog this collection as an interactive tube map of tube maps using a tube map which currently has over 300 entries (stations). In 2014 I wrote a paper with Professor William ..read more
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