Jun

01st 2008

Grand Tour of Rome

Filed Under Cartography, Europe | Leave a Comment

University of Oregon recently announced the unveiling of “Grand Tour of Rome”, an interactive mapping web site that takes the visitor back to 18th century Rome.  The project is the culmination of a two-year grant from the Getty Foundation:

“Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi’s Grand Tour of Rome” presents an innovative geographic database and Web site that brings to life the work of two 18th century masters of Rome’s urban and architectural treasures: Giambattista Nolli (1701-1756), who published the first accurate map of Rome (La Pianta Grande di Roma, 1748); and his contemporary, Giuseppe Vasi (1710-1782), whose comprehensive views of the city and its monuments from 1747-1761, can be precisely located and explored by using the Nolli map as a reference.

Visit:

Apr

05th 2008

Inflated Views

Filed Under Cartography, United States | Leave a Comment

The Cartophilia blog has some interesting maps showing the inflated views of selected states around the United States.  All of the maps show the inflated views of each states self-importance.  Each map shows a distorted view of the rest of the United States with the subject state shown larger than life.

Dec

13th 2007

Neighborhood Posters

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The way different artists view their environments is always fascinating.  ORK Posters was started by Jenny Beorkrem, a graphic designer who was looking for a neighborhood Chicago poster but couldn’t find any that appealed to her.  Using a modern typesetting, ORK Posters visualize neighborhoods in Chicago, Brooklyn, Manhattan, San Francisco and Boston through the use of type of varying sizes fitted like a puzzle into the shape of the area.  

sanfran.png

Dec

04th 2007

500 Year Old Map Naming America on Display

Filed Under Cartography, United States | 1 Comment

The oldest map using the name America will go on permanent display on December 13th at the Library of Congress.  The Library acquired the 1507 Waldseemüller Map of the World map for $10 million (purchase completed in 2003).  In addition to being the first map to use the annotation “America”, it is also significant for being the first map to show both the Western hemisphere and the Pacific Ocean as separate.  The map was printed on twelve separate sheets from wood blocks and assembled, has a dimension of more than 4 1/2 feet by 8 feet.

1507map.jpg

Oct

31st 2007

Maps of War

Filed Under Cartography, Current Events, World | Leave a Comment

As can be discerned from its title, the Maps of War site features dynamic maps on the subjects of war, occupation and other turbulent times around the world. All maps have link and embed code as well as a download section to access flash and powerpoints. In addition to the hosted maps, the site features an extensive library tracking war related maps around the Internet on such current conflicts as Iraq, the Middle East and Darfur.


Oct

19th 2007

East Sea still not widely used on maps

Filed Under Asia, Cartography | Leave a Comment

Matt from the About Geography site recently reintroduced the question of “should geographers and cartographers change the name of the Sea of Japan to the East Sea in deference to Korean sensibilities?”  Since 2002, Korea has been campaigning to officially change the name from Sea of Japan to the East Sea.  The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) originally called for requiring both names be used on maps in 2002, citing a 1974 resolution that calls for use of all relevant names in cases of conflict.  The IHO stepped out of the debate when it became too contentious and has since urged Japan and Korea to come to a consensus on their own.  The Korea Times is reporting that a recent review of 295 maps printed by 45 countries shows that most maps still do not use East Sea.  208 maps only used Sea of Japan to describe the area with another 73 maps using both East Sea and Sea of Japan.  Only three percent (nine maps) use only East Sea and the remaining 5 maps don’t label the sea at all. 

300px-sea_of_japan_map.png

Jul

10th 2007

Visualization of Air Traffic Patterns

Filed Under Cartography | Leave a Comment

Aaron Koblin has some fascinating visualizations of commercial air traffic patterns over the United States.  A digital media artist, Aaron Koblin used air-traffic data from the Federal Aviation Administration to show flight patterns over a 24 hour period over the United States and Canada.  The resulting movie is surreal, with bursts of white lines flashing against a blackened background. 

flight.jpg

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