Subscribe:
RSS feed
Geography. Environment. Urbanism. And other stuff.
Browsing All Posts filed under »maps«
Is a map always the best way to display geographic data?
As you might have guessed, the short answer is, not always. Like all data visualization questions, the answer to this one depends almost entirely on what it is that you’re trying to show. As an example, take this map I created of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It gives us a pretty unambiguous picture of two things: […]
If Steve Jobs were still alive, he’d be spinning in his grave
September 20, 2012
I won’t go so far as to say that I’d be lost without the ability to instantly get accurate maps on my smartphone – I am a geographer, after all – but I will say that it sure can make traveling easier. It certainly did for me last week, when I drove up to Washington, […]
New map: linguistic isolation in New Bedford, Massachusetts
September 19, 2012
Sometimes, the biggest challenge in mapmaking is figuring out how to display two different variables at the same time, without turning the map into an unreadable mess. For a few weeks now, I’d been struggling with a way to do exactly that. I wanted to make a map of New Bedford, Massachusetts (where I spent […]
A million stops? Next time, I’m taking the Express …
August 17, 2012
Whether you like Google or loathe them, you have to admit that they don’t often do things halfway. Google has been steadily adding transit information to the maps they serve since 2005. Recently they’ve hit a landmark of sorts – Google Maps now has schedule information for over one million public transit stops around the […]
Both sides get it wrong
July 5, 2012
You may have read something about how, according to Census data from 2011, cities in the US are growing at a faster rate than the suburbs. Kaid Benfield‘s post on the subject is pretty representative of what popped up on dozens of urbanist blogs. But hold on a minute. According to a number of other […]
New map: Race and sprawl, Detroit edition*
May 24, 2012
*Potentially the first in a series of posts mapping race and sprawl in American cities A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece about Detroit and how I found it to be ironic that the very thing that built the city in the first place – the car – is now slowly choking the […]
Detroit depopulation map, revisited
April 27, 2012
Because I had a bit of time on my hands yesterday, I decided to quickly put together another map of the changes in population density in metro Detroit. But this time, instead of looking at absolute density changes like I did in the original map, I thought I would see if I got a different […]
New map: the depopulation of Detroit, 1970-2010
April 18, 2012
I’ve had a bit of an obsession with Detroit over the past few years. It’s perfectly natural. Not only was I born there (well, in the suburbs, anyway), but the city is a fascinating natural laboratory for me as a geographer. All sorts of things are happening in Detroit that don’t seem to be happening […]
Maps and context
March 24, 2012
Maps are, first and foremost, a means of communication. When we create a map, we’re trying to communicate ideas and concepts that have to do with spatial relationships. Area. Direction. Distance. We can use words to express these same ideas, but a map is a more efficient and effective way to do it. I’ve been […]
The power of Google Maps
March 8, 2012
Last year I used Google Maps as an online alternative to traditional GIS software for a project I consulted on at the University of South Florida. It was my first stab at using Google Maps for something serious, and I came away impressed. It’s definitely not a complete GIS solution on its own, but then […]
Your host
October 29, 2012
0