Because new time commitments and potential conflict of interest issues prevent me from maintaining this blog to the full extent that I would like, I regretfully must cease writing posts. Loyal subscribers and regular visitors will have noted a decline in the quality and the quantity of posts since I began my new job about 1 month ago. Any member of the Canadian Cartographic Association that is interested and willing to pick up the pieces and continue this blog is more than welcome to. Contact me directly at pheersink at gmail.com.

Even in Internet terms this blog has not been around that long: 18 months from start to finish. It was enjoyable writing and maintaining the blog and I am truly sorry to let it go. However, I take consolation in the fact that there are many worthwhile blogs out there; check out some of the links on the right side of the page.

Again, thanks for you feedback and comments. Some day, I'm sure, you’ll hear from me again.

Paul Heersink

0 comments

An update to the weekly movements. Another 1,200 kilometres, mostly taken up in commuting to and from work.

I earned that, no matter how hard I tried, I inevitably ended up taking many of the same roads, especially around home. See the map below (brighter lines indicate a higher frequency of travel along that route):

0 comments

Geogratis, a staple of small site of small scale free gospatial Canadian data, has recently had a facelift. The data layers are now searchable by product and keyword or can be browsed via alphabetical list. All of this make its easier to search its data holdings. Also as part of the makeover is the addition of some new data - maps from the Glacier Atlas, for instance. However, there doesn’t seem to be a listing of what’s new. Data is still free but an email address is now required before downloading.

0 comments

Strange Maps is a blog that focuses on odd maps, many that look on the world with redrawn boundaries or strange ideas. Some have been posted about in this blog already (the redrawn map of the Middle East, for instance); others I haven’t seen before, including Imperial Texas, Greater Albania or what Europe might have looked like (in French eyes) if the Germans had won the war. Also included is on example of an island shared by Finland and Sweden with a very odd boundary. Worth keeping an eye on.

By way of Great Map.

0 comments

Ron Blakely’s amazing paleogeographic maps, mentioned in a previous post, have migrated, not surprisingly, to Google Earth. With GE latest version supporting animation, it only makes sense to use it as a vehicle to display changes in the earth’s surface. GE community member Valery Hronusov has ported the images into a downloadable GE file. This does much to make the ladforms in paleogeography more understandable.

By way of Google Earth Blog.

3 comments

The CCA President’s Prize recognizes excellence in student map design and production and is open to all post-secondary students who have completed and produced a cartographic project in the preceding school year. The 2007 President’s Prize Competition will consist of two prizes of $100, one for entries from college-level or CEGEP students, and one for entries from university-level undergraduate students in the following category:

1. A quantitative thematic map on any subject. A quantitative thematic map, also called a special-purpose, single-topic, or statistical map, displays the spatial and structural characteristics of numerical data and usually presents a graphic theme about a single subject. The International Cartographic Association (ICA) defines the thematic map this way: “A map designed to demonstrate particular features or concepts. In conventional use this term excludes topographic maps” (Dent 1999, 8).

Entry Guidelines:

The cartographic project will consist of a single map. There are no restrictions on size but the project must have been completed and produced during the school year preceding the competition. Each entry must be accompanied by a clear and succinct statement of design objectives that will weigh heavily in the judges’ decision.

Entries will be judged on the basis of creativity and overall effectiveness in communication as well as excellence in compilation, design, and layout.

Entries for 2007 are invited from all Canadian post-secondary students. All entries should be accompanied by an official entry form found on the website of the CCA (www.cca-acc.org), and must be submitted no later than May 15, 2007 to the following address:

CCA President’s Prize
c/o Dr. Clifford H. Wood
P.O. Box 225
Ilderton, Ontario N0M 2A0
Canada

Le Prix du Président de l’ACC reconnaît l’excellence dans la conception et la production cartographiques par des étudiants. Tous les étudiants du niveau postsecondaire qui ont terminé et produit un projet cartographique au cours de l’année scolaire précédente sont admissibles. Le concours pour le Prix du Président 2007 décernera deux prix de 100$, un pour les soumissions de niveau collégial et un pour celles d’étudiants du premier cycle universitaire, dans la catégorie suivante :

Carte thématique quantitative de n’importe quel sujet. Une carte thématique quantitative, aussi appelée carte à sujet unique ou carte statistique, montre les caractéristiques spatiales et structurales de données numériques et présente habituellement un thème graphique d’un sujet unique. L’Association cartographique internationale (ACI) définie une carte thématique comme suit: «Une carte conçue pour démontrer des détails cartographiques ou concepts particuliers. Selon l’usage conventionnel ce terme exclut les cartes topographiques» (Dent 1999, 8).

Critères d’inscription :

Les projets cartographiques consisteront d’une seule carte. Il n’y a pas de restriction quant à la taille de la carte mais il faut que le projet ait été terminé et produit au cours de l’année scolaire précédant le concours. Chaque soumission devra être accompagnée d’un énoncé court et clair sur les objectifs de la conception de la carte. Cet énoncé sera crucial pour la décision du jury.

Les soumissions seront jugées selon la créativité et la façon dont le message est présenté ainsi que l’excellence de la préparation, la conception et la présentation du projet.

Le Président de l’ACC invite tous les étudiants canadiens de niveau postsecondaire à soumettre leur projet cartographique. Toutes les soumissions doivent être accompagnées d’un formulaire officiel de participation, disponible sur le site Web de l’ACC (www.cca-acc.org), et faire parvenir le tout, au plus tard le 15 mai 2007, à l’adresse suivante :

Prix du Président de l’ACC
a/s Dr. Clifford H. Wood
Case postale 225
Ilderton (Ontario) N0M 2A0
Canada

0 comments

L’ACC a le plaisir d’annoncer du Prix Carto-Québec. Ce concours annuel, ouvert aux étudiants postsecondaire à travers le Canada, sera décerné pour le meilleur produit cartographique créé en français. Ce prix a été établi grâce à un don de l’ancienne Association Carto-Québec pour promouvoir et reconnaître l’excellence dans la conception des cartes. Le Prix Carto-Québec comprendra deux prix de 500$, l’un pour les soumissions de niveau collégial et l’autre pour le niveau du premier cycle universitaire.

Critères d’inscription :

Les projets cartographiques comprendront une carte ou une série de cartes formant un ensemble cohérent et pourront être soumis en version imprimée ou autre. Les soumissions électroniques, qu’elles comportent des applications SIG ou de l’Internet, ne doivent pas nécessiter de logiciel spécialisé pour les visualiser. Il n’y a aucune restriction concernant la taille ou le sujet de la carte, mais le projet doit avoir été fait au cours de l’année scolaire précédant le concours. Le projet doit être produit en français.

Les soumissions seront jugées selon la créativité et la façon dont le message est présenté, ainsi que l’excellence de la préparation, la conception et la présentation du projet.

Le Président de l’ACC invite tous les étudiants canadiens de niveau postsecondaire à soumettre leur projet cartographique. Toutes les soumissions doivent être accompagnées d’un formulaire officiel de participation, disponible sur le site Web de l’ACC (www.cca-acc.org), et faire parvenir le tout, au plus tard le 15 mai 2007, à l’adresse suivante :

Prix Carto-Québec
a/s Dr. Clifford H. Wood
P. O. Box 225
Ilderton, Ontario N0M 2A0
Canada

The CCA is pleased to announce the offering of the Carto-Québec Prize, a special annual competition for the best student-authored cartographic product created in French. The award has been established through a gift from the former Association Carto-Québec to promote and recognize excellence in map design. The competition is open to all post-secondary students in Canada who have completed and produced a cartographic project in the preceding school year. The Carto-Québec Prize will consist of two awards of $500, one for entries from college-level or CEGEP students, and one for entries from university-level undergraduate students.

Entry Guidelines:

Cartographic projects will consist of a map or a map series forming a coherent whole and may be submitted in any finished form (on paper or other medium). Entries submitted in electronic media, whether GIS or internet mapping applications, should not require specialized software for viewing. There are no restrictions on the size of the map project or subject but the project must have been completed and produced during the school year preceding the competition. All documents must be in French.

Entries will be judged on the basis of creativity and overall effectiveness in communication as well as excellence in compilation, design, and layout.

Entries for 2007 are invited from all Canadian post-secondary students. They should be accompanied by an official entry form, found on the website of the CCA (www.cca-acc.org), and must be submitted no later than 15 May, 2007 to:

Carto-Québec Prize
c/o Dr. Clifford H. Wood
P.O. Box 225
Ilderton, Ontario N0M 2A0
Canada

0 comments

The USGS, of course, has its own earthquake map - a map that tracks the latest earthquakes, their locations and magnitude, but the map has limited zoomability. Ask.com has a zoomable map of the world on which earthquake activity is displayed. Ask.com’s map is limited when compared to other maps provided by interactive mapping sites but does have a physical feature view, something the others don’t have. It appears that the issue of flooded land mentioned earlier in this blog has been cleared up.

Then, of course, there’s the ubiquitous Google Maps mashup of earthquakes - here and here, for instance.

By way of the Resource Shelf.

1 comments

DeGraeve.com has an interesting and useful little tool - not a cartographic tool for one that cartographers might find useful when completing a map layout. The Color Palette Generator takes any photo on the web and provides two palettes - one dull, one vibrant - of Pantone colors that match the colors in the image provided.

By way of Cartotalk.

0 comments

Not much time to blog, in part because of a 80 minute commute on either end of my work day and a week of buying and selling real estate. Another 900 kilometres of travel (less than the first week but still far too much) and an updated map that looks like this:
Note the scale of the map has changed compared to last week’s entry. (See below - for some reason links to individual posts do not seem to be working.)

0 comments

Natural Resources Canada has reversed its earlier decision to suspend the printing of paper maps. According to GISuser and the CBC, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn had received a flood of letters protesting the decision to suspend the printing of the popular National Topographic Series maps.

Also check out the Map Room’s coverage.

0 comments

Tracking one’s movements using a GPS and mapping that for all the world to see is nothing new so this post really adds nothing to what has already been done. Those of you who have been following the blog will know that I have recent had a change in jobs, resulting in less time and energy for me to maintain this blog, among other things. The daily commute is about 110 kilometres each way. The map below (grid scale 5 kilometres) shows my movements for the past week (October 1 to 7) and already my commuting trail is already well worn. Also shown on the map are my movements around my hometown (in the upper right) and some movements around my workplace (in the lower left), including one day of real estate shopping. The bolder the colour, the more frequently the route travelled. Seven days, 1,443 kilometres. Doing my part (sadly) for global warming.
I plan on tracking my future movements, at least for the month. It should get a little more interesting than a daily commute. Travels to Chicago and Los Angeles are planned for later in the month. But we are all creatures of habit: the challenge would be take a different route to the office and back each day. In now time I would have many of the area’s road mapped (sort of a single handed effort to bring OpenStreetMaps to Canada.

0 comments

Enjoy England, the department tasked with promoting England as a tourist destination, has created a site called StorybookEngland that plots the locations of children’s books and stories on a map of England. When a story or book on the lsit is clicked on, the locations upon which the story is based (however loosely) appear on the map. Clicking on a location leads to a more detailed more where a number of further links lead to details about the story. There hotlinks direct users to tourist pages for the actual physical locations. Enough to make one think that England’s major export are good children’s stories. A paper copy of the map can also be ordered (but the link to the pdf version currently is unavailable).

By way of Cartotalk.

0 comments

Map Rectifier is a free online map geo-referencing tool produced by MetaCarta Labs. It is very simple to use. Users upload a map to be georeferenced, then add control points to the original map and a reference map. Georeferenced images can then be downloaded in tif format for use in other applications. MetaCarta Labs “offers experimental tools that are not yet commercially supported, so they may disappear without warning or perform erratically.” A number of georeferenced examples are available online.

By way of Geowanking. See also Fantom Planet and Tanto.

0 comments

The Center for International Earth Science Information Network has released an atlas entitled Where the Poor Are: An Atlas of Poverty. The atlas, available as a pdf download, covers a number of aspects of poverty including infnat mortality, hunger, poverty gaps and inequality and looks at these factors on both a global, regional and national scale, the latter being broken down by subnational jurisdictions to varying degrees of refinement. The maps are mostly choropleth maps. The atlas can also be requested in hard copy format.

From the atlas web page: “According to Marc Levy, Associate Director for Science Applications at CIESIN, these maps and data sets help broaden the understanding of the relationship between poverty and geography — beyond the more common urban-rural framework. ‘The revolutionary advances in poverty mapping have made it possible to be precise about things we used to only generalize about,’ says Levy. ‘Connections between poverty and climatic conditions, soil fertility, exposure to natural disasters, access to transportation networks, and other important drivers, are beginning to come into sharp relief.’”

Much of the data used in the creation of the atlas maps are also available in shapefile format.

By way of Declan Butler, Reporter

0 comments