When I visited Rome last summer I picked up a free, hand-drawn map of the city. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much, but when I started navigating using the small map, I was astounded at the detail it contained in each hand-drawn line. To be finding my way around the ancient city using only someone’s fine penmanship was like stepping back into the bygone era of hand-made cartography. Today we have Google Maps. It’s a tool which blows away any hand-created map as far as accuracy and search-ability, but something is certainly lost in the aesthetic beauty and ability to roll out a large city on the table before you. These fine maps of London from Wellingtons Travel, bring back the maps of old and do it with useful style. [Read more...]
Map of Earth Made Of 1238 Gemstones & 250,000+ Pieces of Stained Glass Lit By 6912 LEDs
Using a novel technique called ‘Grand Artimmosa’ that he created himself, English-Chinese artist Chris Chamberlain has created one of the most incredible artworks I have ever seen. The pictures and video below do not begin to do justice for what seeing it in person must be like and I wish I could hop a plane to London just to see Jewel of the Universe in all its glory. Chamberlain’s Chinese name, Jeurng Ying Fai, means “to illuminate England” and he is living up to this name through his art. The 260 carats of natural cut diamonds and nearly 1/3 of a million pieces of stained glass that make up Jewel of the Universe are illuminated from behind with 6,912 LED lights to represent the world from a “God-like perspective of looking down from space.” [Read more...]
On the Map: Synchronizing Faces with Cartography
Ed Fairburn takes connect the dots to a whole new level with maps and a writing utensil. The artist uses a pen or pencil, connecting streets, rivers, and highways with cross hash marks and shading, to reveal faces within the topography of the map. He studies the physical features of the terrain and the facial features of his subjects and attempts to bring both together in synchronicity by seeking out their related patterns. His cartographic images have been exhibited at the Cowbridge Music Festival and used for charity work in the Zambia Project. [Read more...]
500 Year Old Map of America Found Hidden in Book
Just in time for Independence Day, one of the first European maps to recognize the continental mass known today as North and South America was discovered tucked between the pages of an old geometry book in the Munich University Library. The map, which is over 500 years old, was created by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller using data from Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages to “The New World” from 1501-1502, hence the designation “America”. Until now, the map had been lost sometime in the 19th century after being misfiled in the university library. Including this one, there are only 5 versions of the map that are known to exist and one of them sold for $1 million at an auction in 2005. [Read more...]
Mapping The San Francisco of Yesteryear
Built with almost no regard for the hills that dominate its landscape, San Francisco’s grid like street layout and near vertical roads are unique in the world of cities. The “City by the Bay” really started growing after the California gold rush started booming in the late 1840′s, so by the time the gorgeous map featured here was made in 1912, the city looked remarkably like it does today. What was missing were many of the attractions the city is now best known for: noticeably absent is Pier 39 and the very crooked section of Lombard Street. Also yet to be built: the Golden Gate Bridge. [Read more...]
A Home Made US Map Wins National Best in Show
It’s not often that a simple paper US wall map gets national attention. The omnipresent designs, with their colored state borders, cities and highways have been pinned or rolled on elementary school walls for the entire lives of those who inhabit the States today. Yet the map we bring you today has been garnering much praise for its well thought out design choices, winning the coveted “Best in Show” from the Cartography and Geographic Information Society and thus dethroning giant institutions like National Geographic, Central Intelligence Agency Cartography Center, and the U.S. Census Bureau who have won the award consistently in the past. [Read more...]












