Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · 1d

It was so much fun working on these fascinating brain maps for UCSF neuroscientists! Check it out:

Stamen Design @stamen.com · 1d

How is a brain like a mountain? Read "Brain Cartography: Mapping a place that everyone knows, but (almost) no one has ever been" here: stamen.com/brain-cartog...

A mysterious map of glowing dots and clouds, overlaid with the text "Knowing where something is isn’t the same as caring where something is..."

A mysterious map of a cloud of white dots receding into the distance, overlaid with the text "...but sometimes..."

A diagram of a human head showing that the previous images were all different visualizations of the brain. The diagram is overlaid with the text "...seeing is believing."

A montage of brain visualizations and charts, overlaid with the text "Learn more about mapping the human brain on the blog!"

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · 15d

This looks awesome:

"Join us for the first ever Bellingham Subdued Saunter! A self-paced nearly 20 mile walk exploring Bellingham." givebutter.com/subduedsaunter

#BellinghamWA

Subdued Saunter 2025

Bellingham's premier long-distance trekking event

givebutter.com

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · 15d

I just added one of these to #OpenStreetMap. Need to get these local tree experts involved in mapping! #BellinghamWA

Cascadia Daily News @cascadiadaily.com · 15d

The 78-foot-tall dawn redwood on the grounds of the Whatcom County Courthouse represents a slice of Bellingham hidden in plain sight. Its species was also nearly extinct at one point.

A walking tour of Bellingham's stately tree species | Cascadia Daily News

Whatcom County Courthouse's multi-bole dawn redwood provides a perfect starting point

www.cascadiadaily.com

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · 21d

Commentary from 25 county auditors in #WashingtonState: "Vote-at-home is the law in Washington — and it works"

washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/09/16/v...

#Elections #VoteByMail #uspol #USPolitics

Vote-at-home is the law in Washington — and it works • Washington State Standard

COMMENTARY | The U.S. Constitution grants states the authority to conduct federal elections, and Congress sets certain minimum standards. Here in Washington, our Legislature has determined that vote-a...

washingtonstatestandard.com

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · 22d

Happy National Voter Registration Day to those who celebrate

National Voter Registration Day @natlvoterregday.bsky.social · 22d

It’s #NationalVoterRegistrationDay! If you recently moved, changed your name, became a citizen, or haven't already registered to vote, today is a GREAT day to get #VoteReady.

Register to vote/check your #VoterRegistration status at bit.ly/2025nvrdreg

Reposted by Alan McConchie

Riker Googling @rikergoogling.bsky.social · 27d

gerrymandering in pre-warp cultures

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Reposted by Alan McConchie

The Pop vs Soda Page @popvssoda.com · 27d

#KPopDemonHunters #PopVsSoda

Grig "Punkie" Larson @griglars.bsky.social · 27d

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · 27d

This is a big deal! #RankedChoiceVoting & #ProportionalRepresentation are in the top 5 issues that local voters care about. Voters are fed up with dysfunctional government, and they know electoral reform can fix our democracy. Now will our local elected officials pay attention to what voters want?

Cascadia Daily News @cascadiadaily.com · Sep 5

To those of you who voted, thank you for participating in CDN's Citizens Agenda process. The "winning" questions will be submitted to candidates and their answers will be published in our Voter Guide on Oct. 17.

Citizens Agenda results: Housing, Bellingham waterfront, ranked-choice voting top concerns | Cascadia Daily News

These 5 questions will guide the agenda for CDN's General Election coverage

www.cascadiadaily.com

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Reposted by Alan McConchie

Andrew Middleton @mapcenter.com · Aug 25

One of my customers had so much fun visiting the Map Center that he came back a few days later with a camera. He made this magnificent short documentary about my store, about me, and why I bother to do any of it at all.

It's really lovely and I hope you watch it!
youtu.be/Dj9uKpk3Idk?...

The Map Center

YouTube video by You Are Here

youtu.be

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Aug 28

We managed to go 7 years since the last proposal to partition #California. I just updated #Wikipedia with a map of the latest Republican plan to split off inland California from the coastal counties. (And no, it's never going to happen).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partiti...

A screenshot of the Wikipedia page for "Partition and secession in California" showing seven maps of various proposals to split up California into multiple states. The most recent one is Republican state assembly member James Gallagher's proposal to split the inland counties of California off into a new state.

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Aug 26

OpenFreeMap uses unmodified OpenMapTiles schema tiles, so possibly OMT needs to be updated to parse feet correctly. But I can't tell where in their SQL schemas they are doing the parsing. In any case, just editing the data to be in meters is probably the safest, as you've done.

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Aug 21

Of course, we cartographers will never stop sharing this clip from the West Wing on occasions such as these:

"Why are we changing maps?"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLqC...

#CorrectTheMap

Why are we changing maps? (from The West Wing)

YouTube video by SaltLakeUsersGroup

www.youtube.com

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Aug 21

The newer Equal Earth Projection is a much better alternative to Mercator.

More about the #CorrectTheMap campaign is here: correctthemap.org and you can learn more about the #EqualEarthProjection here: equal-earth.com/equal-earth-...

Equal Earth Wall Map - Projection

A wall map in the Equal Earth projection showing countries of the world. The map is free of charge.

equal-earth.com

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Aug 21

Map projections in the news! And we cartographers are all relieved that it's not the Gall-Peters Projection again.

Via Reuters: "African Union urges adoption of world map showing continent's true size"

www.reuters.com/world/africa...

#CorrectTheMap

African Union urges adoption of world map showing continent's true size

The African Union has backed a campaign to end the use by governments and international organisations of the 16th-century Mercator map of the world in favour of one that more accurately displays Africa's size.

www.reuters.com

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Aug 18

Hey #WhatcomCounty: fill out the poll for Cascadia Daily's "Citizens Agenda" and shape the questions they will ask of local candidates. In particular, I encourage you to pick #15 about Ranked Choice Voting and #36 about Gerrymandering, but there are a lot of other good topics too. #BellinghamWA

Cascadia Daily News @cascadiadaily.com · Aug 15

The 2025 election is mostly hyperlocal. It's all about nuts and bolts: county and city councils, school boards, hospital districts and local initiatives. You can participate in CDN's Citizens Agenda process by voting for the top-five questions you want us to ask candidates this election cycle.

Citizens Agenda | Cascadia Daily News

What is Citizens Agenda and how does it work? Cascadia Daily News will put election issues in the hands of readers every year, beginning with the primary se ...

www.cascadiadaily.com

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Aug 5

We finally wrote part 3 of Stamen's history of #OpenStreetMap (only four years after we wrote parts 1 and 2, lol). Enjoy a long read including many Stamen maps from over the past two decades, created by the amazing team of coworkers & alums I've had the pleasure of working with over the years.

Stamen Design @stamen.com · Aug 5

This month #OpenStreetMap turns 21!

To mark the occasion, we dug into our archives to finish part 3 of Stamen's personal history of OSM, covering the years 2016 to the present. Check it out on our blog, including links to part 1 and 2 of the series:

stamen.com/part-3-our-b...

A montage of maps overlaid with the text "Celebrating the 21st anniversary of OpenStreetMap with a new post"

A montage of maps overlaid with the text "looking back on Stamen and OpenStreetMap through the years"

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Aug 5

Great post! Love the "raw photo" metaphor for thinking about basemap color variations.

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Jul 29

Very much enjoying the #BlenderMaps in this scrollytelling piece from Reuters about the potential sale of public lands: www.reuters.com/graphics/USA... #cartography #maps #dataviz

www.reuters.com

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Reposted by Alan McConchie

Markus Johnson @markusja.bsky.social · Jul 24

Professional project work making it's debut!! You can now check out an interactive *generalized* zoning & land use map for almost all of Washington State.

It has data up to the end of 2024. So recent municipal middle housing code updates are not captured.

Still, a strong tool to check out!

Ian Crozier @crowshair.bsky.social · Jul 24

It turns out, there is! Introducing the Washington State Zoning Atlas, an interactive map and reference tool for zoning in nearly all 320 local government jurisdictions in Washington state.
www.commerce.wa.gov/commerce-lau...

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Reposted by Alan McConchie

FairVote @fairvote.bsky.social · Jul 24

Both parties are threatening to gerrymander their way to an advantage in Congress.

The Fair Representation Act would end gerrymandering wars with:

🔢 #RankedChoiceVoting
👫 Multi-member districts
✍️ New redistricting rules

Learn about the #FairRepAct ⬇️ fairvote.org/press/fair-r...

How to end the gerrymandering wars: FairVote celebrates reintroduction of the Fair Representation Act - FairVote

The Fair Representation Act would stop gerrymandering with ranked choice voting and multi-member districts, & make Congress work better.

fairvote.org

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Reposted by Alan McConchie

FairVote @fairvote.bsky.social · Jul 23

Shoutout to @beyer.house.gov and @raskin.house.gov for reintroducing this important bill!

Learn more about #RankedChoiceVoting, and ask Congress to support the #FairRepAct ⬇️
fairvoteaction.quorum.us/campaign/Fai...

Take Action: Ask Congress to Support the Fair Representation Act!

Stop gerrymandering, give voters more choice, and make Congress work for us

fairvoteaction.quorum.us

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Reposted by Alan McConchie

FairVote @fairvote.bsky.social · Jul 23

Our pick-one elections are the root of the problem:

➡️Voters feel forced to pick the “lesser of two evils”
➡️Politicians gerrymander district lines
➡️Tens of millions get no real representation
➡️Elected officials can’t work together

That’s where the #FairRepAct comes in.

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Reposted by Alan McConchie

FairVote @fairvote.bsky.social · Jul 23

A new bill in Congress would stop gerrymandering, and give voters more choice & more voice with #RankedChoiceVoting in US House & Senate elections.

Ask your members of Congress to support the Fair Representation Act at the link below, and read on to learn more. #FairRepAct 🧵

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Jul 22

Just came across this adorable video that clearly explains how the new multi-winner #RankedChoiceVoting system works in Portland, Oregon.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iZL...

How does Single Transferable Vote Work in Portland, Oregon?

YouTube video by Rose City Reform

www.youtube.com

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Alan McConchie @mappingmashups.net · Jul 16

Direct link to the "basemap tesseract" Galaxy Brain meme subdued.social/@alan/111818...

Alan McConchie (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image "basemaps are a tesseract" Not sure if I posted this before, but posting it again so I can find it by searching for "tesseract". #Tesseract #Hypercube #GalaxyBrain #basemap #basem...

subdued.social

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