Here are a few of my favourite maps from 2023. They’re in no particular order. They’re not a top ten. There are plenty more. I’ve likely not included any that you may prefer, and that’s fine because it’s just a list of stuff that caught my particular eye this last year. Rather than summarize what […]
The Elevated Snakes
You may or may not be aware that my favourite map is Harry Beck’s wonderful 1933 London Underground map. And I’m in equal measure not a fan of either the modern version, or the countless ways in which the subway map genre is used and mis-used. This often includes redesign of its style for no […]
America’s Doughnut Capital
The headline map of this wonderful article by Alyssa Fowers is what caught my eye and becomes this blog’s map of the week. It’s just an illustration rather than a set of gridded doughnut charts. The article has more purposeful maps within. They are well designed maps in their own right. But who doesn’t love […]
Tien Shan mountain range
While at the Mountain Cartography workshop in Colorado last week I got to see a raft of spectacular maps. Chief among them in my opinion was this spectacular map by Eric Knight. It depicts the Tien Shan mountain range of central Asia as a panorama meaning it’s almost planimetric towards the near view at the […]
Mass shootings in the US
A few years ago I made a map of mass shootings in the United States that I called Cloudy with a chance of death. You can go visit it if you like but as I suggested in the information panel “sadly, this map will likely be out of date sooner rather than later.” It was […]
Taylor Swift stage
In a week where I was about to make the National Geographic/Utrecht University World Water Map my Map of the Week I was distracted by a completely different map altogether. Twitter user @MrPerfectlyFine made a map of the location of Taylor Swift during her performance at the start of her new ‘Eras’ tour. It’s a […]
Christian Dior
I’m not particularly a follower of fashion, and as any cartographer will know we’re not a profession that supports a life of couture clothing. But I was interested in the announcement of Christian Dior’s Summer 2023 collection which features full print maps. To be specific, a fabric which apparently Dior designed in the 1950s called […]
Impact of banning abortion
As lawmakers in US states continue to make decisions on banning abortion clinics, Five Thirty Eight have published an excellent map on the impact closures have. It uses a bivariate choropleth map, with interactive overlays. Visit the site to see the original. First off, it’s a brave choice of map type because it’s not the […]
The White Mountains
This week, I was really taken by this beautiful map created in the style of a US National Park Service map by Andy Woodruff. I’ve followed Andy’s work for many years and his maps are always high on quality, as well as the thought he puts into the design process. I think this latest piece […]
Ukraine conflict one year on, in maps
It’s been one year since the invasion of Ukraine. in the early months I explored various ways of representing the displacement of refugees and invading forces through maps. The maps I made featured in a talk I gave at the 2022 British Cartographic Society conference entitled ‘Dogs, disease, and displacement’ The Ukraine maps feature from […]