Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andy Woodruff

@awoodruff.bsky.social

2.5K followers 220 following 180 posts

cartographer of things https://andywoodruff.com/

andywoodruff.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Nov 12

If we all live on this site now, are (re)introductions in order?

I make all sorts of maps. Web maps, faux-antique maps, trail maps, feathery terrain maps, typographic maps, time zone maps, Boston maps, eclipse maps, a basketball...

Highlights here from the past 20(!) or so years: andywoodruff.com

Collage of 15 images of maps made by Andy Woodruff: a flowing terrain map, a basketball globe, web map basemap for FlightAware, hand-drawn antique style map, map of the 2024 solar eclipse, map of the White Mountains in National Parks style, map of sea level rise flood risk in 19th/20th century "urban atlas" style, maps from the 2023 30 day map challenge, more flowing terrain maps, maps about daylight saving time, an interactive public health dashboard, typographic city map, neighborhoods map of Boston, map showing what's across the ocean from coastal points, and an interactive map of the same

1 4 37

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Andrew Middleton @mapcenter.com · 2d

If you're in the Boston area and you want to see some cool maps and learn about why we shouldn't always trust them, join me for my library talk "How Maps Lie" this friday! newtonfreelibrary.libcal.com/event/14866807

The Map Center Presents: How Maps Lie

Join Andrew Middleton of The Map Center in Pawtucket, RI for a fun and informative talk on how maps tell all sorts of stories. Learn how historical and contemporary maps are...

newtonfreelibrary.libcal.com

13 28

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah I guess they’ve gotten meaner since I lived in the neighborhood. Worst I ever experienced was a turkey walking too slowly in front of me on the sidewalk when snow was piled like 3 feet on both sides and I couldn’t go around. Not violent, but certainly inconsiderate!

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 2d

I’m sorry to say this one is toned down quite a bit from the last time I mapped it.

Map of turkey sightings in the Boston area. “Boston beware! The turkey menace is all around you!”

2 5

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 7d

Me 363 days of the year: heck yeah, no dentist appointment today!

Me 2 days of the year: ugh

1 4

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Andrew Middleton @mapcenter.com · 9d

Catch my next library talk on October 10 at the Newton Free Library in Newton MA
newtonfreelibrary.libcal.com/event/14866807

The Map Center Presents: How Maps Lie

Join Andrew Middleton of The Map Center in Pawtucket, RI for a fun and informative talk on how maps tell all sorts of stories. Learn how historical and contemporary maps are...

newtonfreelibrary.libcal.com

1 7 24

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 9d

Aw nuts, this sounds great and would be quite convenient if I weren’t heading out of town that weekend! Wish I could send it to the old maptime list, but I lost it. 😖

(In lieu of seeing you close to home or still pretty close to home in RI, see you in Kentucky not long after, right?)

1 1

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Daniel Huffman @pinakographos.bsky.social · 15d

New poster! Hachure illustrations of the highest Cascade Range volcanoes. This one took a lot of experimentation to get the layout right. If you or someone you know loves this area, check it out. www.etsy.com/listing/4373...

A black and white illustration titled "Cascade Range Volcanoes," showing a 3 by 3 layout of the nine tallest peaks in the range. The art is done in a hachure sketch style.

A detail image of the illustration of Mount Rainier

A detail image from the poster of Mounts Hood and Jefferson.

1 7 31

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Belt Publishing @beltpublishing.bsky.social · 27d

New author interview live! This one's with Nick Swartsell and Andy Woodruff, the editor and cartographer of Belt's forthcoming Cincinnati in 50 Maps. @awoodruff.bsky.social beltpublishing.com/pages/conver...

Conversation with Andy Woodruff and Nick Swartsell

Belt talks to Andy Woodruff, cartographer, and Nick Swartsell, editor of Cincinnati in 50 Maps Nick, you edited this book, and Andy, you created the maps. Tell me about the process of collaborating ...

beltpublishing.com

1 1 1

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 29d

Gotcha, thanks!

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 29d

(Mostly because I'm publishing a map related to this soon, and want to make sure I've got it right!)

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 29d

This is pretty inconsequential, but what page are you looking at, out of curiosity? It sounds like an incomplete count; these from the city and state agree on a 588-587 total, for example.
www.boston.gov/departments/...
electionstats.state.ma.us/elections/vi...

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 29d

It was, and is one of only two in the city carried by Trump, the other being neighboring precinct 9—which he won by a single vote.

1 2

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Sep 9

If you have a London person in your life, this looks very nice! (Unsurprisingly, coming from one of the best cartographers out there!)

Mike Hall @thisismikehall.com · Sep 9

🚨 One month to go till THE BOROUGHS OF LONDON by me and @mattfromlondon.bsky.social hits the shops!

Packed with maps and illustrations, learn about London's 32 boroughs, how they came to be, the fascinating places in each, and much more history and trivia besides. Preorder today!

ℹ️ bit.ly/BorosLdn

Cover art for The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown

A detail of a page from The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, showing a map of the County of London in 1901 and the former Metropolitan Boroughs

A detail of a page from The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, showing text and illustrations including an illustration of a dog

A detail of a page from The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, showing various colourful statistical maps of Greater London

1 3

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Sep 4

Cincinnati in 50 Maps, by Nick Swartsell and me, is off to the printer, so you can get your pre-orders in now for the December launch! beltpublishing.com/products/cin...

Get this, folks: I counted and there are 125 individual maps. That's 75 extra maps for free!

Cincinnati in 50 Maps

Edited by Nick Swartsell with cartography by Andy Woodruff Publication date: December 2, 2025 There are as many versions of Greater Cincinnati as there are residents of the region. That’s roughly tw...

beltpublishing.com

10 30

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 27

In the years I looked at, there simply weren’t many crashes at all during any narrow date range—so no discernible pattern by bridge. But decent point above that many (most?) incidents see someone stopping before crashing. @universalhub.com twitter archives might hold the best data on that!

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 27

Since Boston is sounding the “don’t drive a truck on Storrow” sirens this week, time to post this map again, now with a timeline.

As far as I can tell, either the messaging works or the idea of students smashing U-Hauls into overpasses is largely a myth. I couldn’t find any real spike in September.

Map showing number and locations of crashes involving vehicles striking overhead bridges or signs on Storrow Drive and Memorial Drive in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

4 20 50

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 25

Me at 7pm: wow, I made a vegan dinner that was actually pretty satisfying!

Me at 11pm:

Homer Simpson in his underwear at night about to eat a whole Thing of sliced cheese, saying “mmm, sixty-four slices of American cheese.”

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 21

Thanks! So far I’ve also just got some different patterns, not entirely unlike your first example… which, by the way, I also need to bug you about just to know/see more of the Boston maps you’re doing!

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 21

I’m pretty far down the path by now, but it would have been wise to seek wisdom from a monochrome master like you!

Still, I’d be interested in any brilliant examples you have of, essentially, categorical line symbols. (I can be more specific; this may be more of an email question.)

1 1

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 21

Not so different from my data-driven web mapping days, really. We’d always produce these mock-ups of lovely maps and nice lil charts you could fiddle with, and then the real data would come in with like 95% of counties or whatever having a value of 0.002 and the rest being 4,000,000,000.

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 21

Making what might be my first real, work-for-hire grayscale maps after all these years. Monochrome is a fun challenge for a pet project, but when it’s “distinctly symbolize these 7 routes and 90 points that are all on top of each other if you want your money” it’s just kind of… hard?

2 1 9

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Hayden Clarkin @thetransitguy.com · Aug 18

The rail map of Columbus, OH, a city of nearly one million people:

4 7 94

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 18

Nice! I really love the ability to randomize everything in QGIS patterns.

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Aug 12

XI. Thou shall not rest thy legs on the LORD’s landscaping

Photo of the ten commandments in front of a church, behind a low rock wall with pointed stones to prevent people from sitting.

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · Jul 4

True indeed. I continue to be im/depressed by how well the whole bit has aged over the years.