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Illuminated maps, low-pressure sodium style
To me the low-pressure sodium bulb, a monochromatic 589nm emitter, means an inviting L.A. gloom…a sidewalk paver held at 40deg by a fig root…january mist tumbling through a magnolia tree…when you’ve stood on that still-hot asphalt on a cool night and felt the breeze under those humming lamps, you’ll get it. I bought a retired… Continue reading
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Cartographic graduate education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2014-2017
Do not go to grad school unless you’re sick of having a job. If you want to learn how to make nice maps, you’re on your own. Graduate map education = writing dull PDFs about maps, not making nice maps. Well why’d you go, dummy? I emailed nat geo magazine in 2013 and asked “how… Continue reading
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The mapmaker’s terrible hand
Effacing features is a rush. The “critical cartographers” have one good point they bury in recondite academese: the mapmaker has absurd power. Nice town or flyspeck island community you got there. Where everyone you’ve ever cared about weaves a rich tapestry of comity and care. Just seeing the tiny smudge of roads on the map… Continue reading
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The best maps lie ahead
Luckily we just need millions of dollars and thousands of hours. TLDR I want to see another Turgot map before I die. I want my grandkids to cherish a map made in the 2030s. I want some of the most beautiful examples of western material culture to live on. I can’t do it alone. Would… Continue reading