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The Map Room
@maproomblog.com
A blog by @jonathancrowe.net about maps in all their forms, on and off since 2003. maproomblog.com
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Mastodon: mapstodon.space/@maproomblog
Support via Patreon: patreon.com/jonathancrowe
In the 1890s, Thomas Ward created maps of the city of Wellington, New Zealand that are the subject of a new book by Elizabeth Cox, Mr Ward’s Map, and this article in New Zealand Geographic… More
The Man Who Drew Wellington
In the 1890s, Thomas Ward created maps of the city of Wellington, New Zealand that are the subject of a new book by Elizabeth Cox, Mr Ward’s Map, and this article in New Zealand Geographic… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 23, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Above & Below: Cartography Beyond Terrain, an exhibition at Stanford Library’s David Rumsey Map Center that launched in conjunction with this year’s Ruderman Conference, “explores how cartography depicts the depths of the Earth, the ocean… More
Above & Below: Cartography Beyond Terrain
Above & Below: Cartography Beyond Terrain, an exhibition at Stanford Library’s David Rumsey Map Center that launched in conjunction with this year’s Ruderman Conference, “explores how cartography depicts the depths of the Earth, the ocean… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
Do you like #maps? The Independent Map Artists (mapartists.org) has hit a big milestone and now has 50(!) members, all interested in helping with your holiday shopping. Hundreds of maps & mappy goods, straight from small businesses.

Connecting creators & customers is hard; please consider sharing.
November 22, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
By request, here's a thread of books that I think make excellent gifts this holiday season (obviously they're cartographically inclined, you know me)

1. Best anthology
"All Over the Map" by Betsy Mason and Greg Miller
A gorgeous, full color history of maps mind-bending maps from around the world.
November 21, 2025 at 7:35 PM
This week on The Map Room:

How Imaging Quasars Improved GPS Accuracy
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/how-...

Boston at 1:40 Scale
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/bost...

NACIS 2025 on YouTube
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/naci...

Maps from a North Korean Encyclopedia
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/maps...
November 21, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Miguel García Álvarez got his hands on a copy of the CD-ROM edition of the Great Korean Encyclopedia, a North Korean production replete with maps that reflect the regime’s narrative (Korea as one country) and… More
Maps from a North Korean Encyclopedia
Miguel García Álvarez got his hands on a copy of the CD-ROM edition of the Great Korean Encyclopedia, a North Korean production replete with maps that reflect the regime’s narrative (Korea as one country) and… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Videos from the 2025 NACIS annual meeting, which took place last month in Louisville, Kentucky, have just been posted to YouTube: here’s a link to the playlist.
NACIS 2025 on YouTube
Videos from the 2025 NACIS annual meeting, which took place last month in Louisville, Kentucky, have just been posted to YouTube: here’s a link to the playlist.
www.maproomblog.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
An official atlas of North Korea

A North Korean atlas that shows the world from the perspective of one of the most isolated countries on the planet.

www.cartographerstale.com/p/an-officia...
An official atlas of North Korea
A North Korean atlas that shows the world from the perspective of one of the most isolated countries on the planet.
www.cartographerstale.com
November 16, 2025 at 7:54 PM
The City of Boston’s planning department has a room with a 1:40 scale model of downtown Boston and surrounding neighbourhoods. The Leventhal Center’s Facebook page has a few more photos.
Boston in 1:40 Scale
The City of Boston’s planning department has a room with a 1:40 scale model of downtown Boston and surrounding neighbourhoods. The Leventhal Center’s Facebook page has a few more photos.
www.maproomblog.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:29 PM
What do distant quasars have to do with improving GPS accuracy? A 2019 article from the NASA Technology Transfer Program explains: “In the 1960s, NASA used a network of radio telescopes and a technique called… More
How Imaging Quasars Improved GPS Accuracy
What do distant quasars have to do with improving GPS accuracy? A 2019 article from the NASA Technology Transfer Program explains: “In the 1960s, NASA used a network of radio telescopes and a technique called… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
This week on The Map Room:

StateFace
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/stat...

Mapping the 2025 (and 2021) Canadian Election Results
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/mapp...

The Onion Doesn’t Miss
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/the-...

300,000 Kilometres of Roman Roads
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/3000...
November 14, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Itiner-e is a comprehensive digital atlas and dataset of the Roman Empire’s entire road network, based on fieldwork, existing maps, published data and remote sensing. It’s an attempt to provide more granular detail than past… More
300,000 Kilometres of Roman Roads
Itiner-e is a comprehensive digital atlas and dataset of the Roman Empire’s entire road network, based on fieldwork, existing maps, published data and remote sensing. It’s an attempt to provide more granular detail than past… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:39 PM
The Onion: “An alarming new educational survey has found more than 70% of Americans lack the basic geographic literacy to locate the country, region, or continent they are currently being deported to.”
The Onion Doesn’t Miss
The Onion: “An alarming new educational survey has found more than 70% of Americans lack the basic geographic literacy to locate the country, region, or continent they are currently being deported to.”
www.maproomblog.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
Study Finds Most Americans Can't Find Where They Are Being Deported On Map
November 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Jacob Weinbren has mapped the results of the 2025 Canadian federal election at the polling station level, along with the 2021 results so that we can see how the vote changed. Any project of this… More
Mapping the 2025 (and 2021) Canadian Election Results
Jacob Weinbren has mapped the results of the 2025 Canadian federal election at the polling station level, along with the 2021 results so that we can see how the vote changed. Any project of this… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:09 PM
StateFace is a font made up of tiny state shapes—all 50 U.S. states, plus D.C. and the lower 48 as a whole. M is Idaho, v is Wisconsin and so on. Seems like it’d be… More
StateFace
StateFace is a font made up of tiny state shapes—all 50 U.S. states, plus D.C. and the lower 48 as a whole. M is Idaho, v is Wisconsin and so on. Seems like it’d be… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
canada-election.pages.dev This is my election map of Canada by polling district - interested what you think!
Canadian Election Results 2021-2025
Interactive map showing Canadian federal election results and vote swing analysis between 2021 and 2025
canada-election.pages.dev
November 10, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
New to me so sharing -- for those of you who didn't know, there's a font available that gives you tiny US state shapes that can be used as design elements.

it's called State Face, a project by @propublica.org
propublica.github.io/stateface/

(thanks for sharing this, @propublica.org !)

#GISChat
StateFace
propublica.github.io
November 10, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
Discount bundles on allllll published 50 Maps books: 10% off if you buy one, 20% off if you buy two, 30% off if you buy three, 40% off if you buy four, and 50% off if you buy five. Stock up for the holidays!
November 11, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by The Map Room
Do I know any Indigenous folks who make maps? Got a request for a paid design/cartography job and it'd be rad if I could connect you with them.
November 8, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by The Map Room
Researchers used archaeological & historical records,topographic maps & satellite imagery to create Itiner-e,a new high-resolution digital dataset & map of the Roman Empire’s roads around 150 AD. It charts 185,896 miles (299,171 km) of roads across almost 1,544,409 square miles (4,000,000 square km)
The Roman Empire’s Entire Road Network Just Got Mapped, and It's Mind-Blowing
A new study identified over 68,000 more miles of ancient Roman roads than were previously known.
gizmodo.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
In our latest blog post, we share our philosophy of dark mode basemaps. What are dark maps good for, and why might you need one? How do you design a dark mode map that is both beautiful and functional? All this and more, now on the blog at stamen.com/stamens-dark...
November 7, 2025 at 5:38 PM
This week on The Map Room:

Ireland: Mapping the Island
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/irel...

More on Secret Maps
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/more...
November 7, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Doug Specht has a piece about the British Library’s exhibition Secret Maps in The Conversation. “The exhibition does not shy away from difficult topics. Maps tracing the infrastructure of apartheid, or those produced to facilitate… More
More on Secret Maps
Doug Specht has a piece about the British Library’s exhibition Secret Maps in The Conversation. “The exhibition does not shy away from difficult topics. Maps tracing the infrastructure of apartheid, or those produced to facilitate… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:08 PM