Home of the Brave

U.S. state names are replaced with countries that have similar GDPs.

Lions (To Be) Seen at the Walters Art Museum

Yes, once again, I could have been a museum curator. No more than an hour after my last post, I got an email from someone who saw it, telling me that the map with the lion is going to be in the Walters Art Museum Maps exhibit in a few weeks. He also sent me this from MapForum.com:

“The most famous of all cartographic curiosities is the 'Leo Belgicus', in which the Seventeen Provinces of the low Countries were depicted in the form of a lion. This type was first introduced by Michael Eitzinger (Aitzinger or van Aitzing) in 1583. The idea may have suggested to him by the presence of a lion in the arms of most of the Seventeen Provinces. Whatever his inspiration, the genre proved very popular, and a number of later publishers produced their own versions, some even introducing their own sub-type. One such group was the 'Leo Hollandicus', where the Seven United Provinces were depicted as a lion. Claes Jansz. Visscher was the first to publish such a map, as shown here. Visscher seems to have first published the map before 1625, the year in which the dedicatee Prince Maurice died. A second example was published dated 1633, while the third state was published in 1648, when the Spanish confirmed Dutch independence.”

And a big shout out to my anonymous buddy for letting me know. Don’t be a stranger.

Lions and Tigers and Bears

Oh, my.

Gotta Run

Yes, I am a couch potato. But once in a while, something jogs my memory and I get something in my craw(l) to trot out the old running shoes for a quick sprint around the block. Here is a cool site that helps me change it up. Just type in your zip code to see what your friends and neighbors are doing while you’re doing nothing but sitting at your computer in your sweats, reading this, eating cookies, and petting the cat.

Great Baltimore Fire (plus a couple of weeks)

I am soooooo sorry. I thought that I had posted this weeks ago. You Baltimoreans will understand my distress at being late…

We here in Charm City, the City That Reads, and the Greatest City in America grew up hearing about the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. Every February 7th, there are tours, exhibits, TV stories, and articles commemorating the day – well, actually the two days of the fire. Here is a way cool chronology of what happened. Nice map, neat photos – and video from 1904! A big shout out to the Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage (part of the Pratt Library, I guess) for putting this together.

Into the Fray

You may have noticed that I have stayed away from trashing Miss South Carolina Teen’s brush with map-dome. It just seemed a little too easy and not very majestic. But, with apologies to Caitlin Upton, I couldn’t resist.

(And just so you know what kind of serious princess I really am… congratulations to the lovely Lauren Elizabeth Lytle who became the new Miss SC Teen this past November. An Honor Roll student, no less.)

Chain of Fools (Including Me)

So what’s the proper blogtiquette – do I post cool maps from the blog where I found them:
http://pretavoyager.blogspot.com
/2008/02/living-cities.html

or from the site where that blogger found them:
http://swissmiss.typepad.com/weblog/2008
/01/living-patterns.html

or from the site where THAT blogger saw them:
http://designnotes.info/?p=1242

Whatever. Still pretty cool.

It’s a Small World

I spend waaaay to much time zooming in Google maps to see how close I can get. I’ve seen my car parked in front of my apartment, and my parents’ cars, and the lounge chairs at the neighborhood pool… Don’t tell anyone, but I sometimes type in any old zip code to see where I end up – I’ve gawked at everything from million dollar houses with humongous pools next to golf courses to some pretty sketchy trailer parks. It’s pretty interesting to see how the other half lives, no matter what half you happen to be.

Back in the day (if the day was in 1895), the map of the famous Chicago settlement Hull House served the same purpose. It showed the locations of 18 immigrant groups crowded into 12 blocks. This colorful, geometric spectacle is going to be on display at the Walters Art Museum’s map exhibition in March. (Keep the map on your screen for a while; people will think you’re playing Tetris.)

Body Worlds, a Map of Me

Way cool. Way way way cool. And a little creepy.

I succumbed to all the hoopla and went to see the Body Words exhibit at the Maryland Science Center. Soooooo cool. I just stood there, staring at the networks of veins and vessels, connections and contacts, muscles and membranes. There are about 10 full-size bodies, lots and lots of slices and sections… just so cool. Go.

Art = Science = Map = Way Cool

Check out Gary Vikan’s OpEd article in Sunday’s Baltimore Sun.
He’s the director of the Walters Art Museum, and he offers his take on the images as “art.” And you already know what I think of the images as “map.” Just so we’re clear.

Help Wanted

I like this map. I’m not really sure what it means or how to read it (yeah, I know, Pepsi owns Fritos and LVMH owns all the clothing labels I can’t afford, but beyond that…) If you can help me out, then help me out.

Another Tip of the Tiara

Excuse my naïve giddity but this is getting fun. The more I explore, the better it gets. Unfortunately, I am spending an unexpected amount of time checking out the way cool blogs and sites that people are sending me. (Sorry Mom. I’ll call soon. Promise.) So… another tip of the tiara to you map crazy bloggers who are making me lose sleep – and loving it.

Ok, so he’s not really a mapper blogger feller but I like how he uses maps and overlays to prove his points. Baltimore Innerspace

I know I’ve said this before, but very very cool. No doubt I will post more from here: Great Map.

On the Stage

Naturally I was compelled by the title. And then I read the description that it was “offbeat” and “evocative.” So I’m off to see “Off the Map” on the stage at the Fell’s Point Corner Theater.

I See London…

Maybe I should have been a museum curator. My 1/28 posting about subway maps…? How was I to know that probably the most famous transportation map EVER is going to be at the maps exhibition at the Walters? Now I know.

One of the way-cool maps in the Maps: Finding Our Place in the World exhibit is an original, poster-sized map of the London Underground from 1933. This map is a big deal because it is the first simple, schematic, graphic representation using straight lines and consistent angles rather than actual scale and direction.

So we get this:

rather than this: