Mapping Harry Potter

How good are the Harry Potter books? So good that many people have drawn maps of Hogwarts based on the descriptions in the book – and they are wonderfully, surprisingly similar. Steve Vander Ark has created a scarily extensive (and I mean, yikes!) website of all-things-Harry Potter (so much so that JK Rowling sued him) with an Atlas of Hogwarts. It shows different peoples' maps of Hogwarts. Check it out, and if you dare, wander over to the other 700 pages of Harryphenalia. Seriously, yikes!

ZipScribble

Asks a Mr. Robert Kosara: “What would happen if you were to connect all the ZIP codes in the US in ascending order? Is there a system behind the assignment of ZIP codes? Are they organized in a grid? The result is surprising and much more interesting than expected.” Here’s his answer.

I Missed My Calling

The first time I said it, it was ridiculous. The second time, I was being facetious. Now, I’m beginning to wonder.

I should have been a curator.

Check out Gary Vikan’s blog post about Maps: Finding Our Place in the World. He is the very well known, very well educated, very well spoken director at the Walters Art Museum. There are about a gazillion incredible, famous, important, way cool maps in the exhibit that he could have written about. Let’s see, we got the Leo Belgicus lion map…. Napoleon’s march… the mammoth Coronelli Celestial globes…the first map ever made…. but noooooooooo! – he picks the same map that I said (to you) a few days ago was one of my favorites.

It’s now my favorite.

Hey Dr. Vikan, I have an MS degree! (Map Smarts). I received my PhD (Plotting Hard Directions). I studied at the Sorbonne (if by Sorbonne, you mean “so, you’re boning up on maps?”) If you need an extra curator, give me a shout.

Mapping Mount Vernon - The Good, The Bad and... The No Comment

It is a gorgeous day in Baltimore and I used it as an opportunity to kill two birds (orioles, naturally) with one stone. I whipped out the Literary Mount Vernon Map, created by the Maryland Humanities Council for the Baltimore Festival of Maps, which I picked up last weekend, and started off on my walking tour. Naturally, I couldn’t ignore the infamous and forever to be famous gold chain link fence surrounding the Mount Vernon Parks.

First, Literary Mount Vernon. As I’ve said before, who knew?!... that F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tupac Shakur lived practically across the street from each other (not at the same time mind you, but still very cool). All of the ‘characters’ of Mount Vernon look like little bobble-heads! If you want to check it out for yourself, you can pick up a map at the Humanities Council or download one from their website.

And then…the Fence. No comment.

On Repeat

You know how a song gets stuck in your head and you can’t stop singing it to yourself? Well, I’ve got 100 images stuck in my head. I can’t stop thinking about Maps: Finding Our Place in the World at the Walters Art Musuem.

I’m trying to pick my favorite piece in the exhibit. So far (for the moment, temporarily, for now) I’ve narrowed it down to two.

Geological map of England 1815-17

“The Map that Changed the World”, as it is often called, is very, very cool. It is the first geological map of England and it helped to correctly date the earth for the first time (not that there’s anything wrong with using the Bible as your guide, mind you). Plus – it is huge – 6’x 9’!

Map of London on Glove for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Yes, I know the glove map is everywhere. It’s been a little over used to promote the exhibit - blah, blah, blah. Nonetheless it is very cool to actually see it in person. It was created for the first Worlds Fair in 1815. A lady visitor could wear it on her left hand and point out her destination with her right. A fashion accessory AND a map - what more could a girl ask for?

A new look at U.S.

I’m not sure which is cooler – the map showing the influence of major cities or the neat magnifying function.

Finding My Place in the World

So I think I’ve finally had time to digest all the mappy-ness I was exposed to this weekend. Not only did I get to listen to Kianga’s tour, I was privileged enough to see Maps: Finding Our Place in the World at the Walters on Friday night. (It was the Member’s Preview and my connection at the Walters scored me admission – I felt like I got the “royal” treatment.)

After all the anticipation and waiting, I was afraid the exhibit wouldn't live up to my expectations. But it did. The exhibit totally blew my mind. Looking at the maps online is cool. Seeing them first-hand, all up close and personal is very, very cool.

One of the really interesting things is the scale – the John Smith map of Virginia is smaller than I thought, while Smith’s “map that changed the world” is really quite large.

Being around so many maps, large and small, that are so important and full of history helped me better understand where my place in the world is.

There were so many maps – from Tolkien to Leonardos (yes multiple!). The whole thing made me a little dizzy. I wasn’t sure if I should spend my time looking at the HUGE Coronelli Celestial globes or gazing into the heavens of the Hubble images. It was total map overload, so much in fact that I think I will have to go back and see it again. I mean what if I missed something!