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A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

atlasobscura.com

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Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#31

Post by boomboomsubban »

rmeno12 wrote: post #28
bossyTeacher wrote: post #24

Interesting. I only know 2 models of geography that consider North America a continent, the rest treat America as a continent. I guess this is no different than people calling United States of America "America". I wonder what citizens of the countries in North or South America think about it. UPDATE: my comment got downvoted. I wonder why

Can you talk more about what models of geography you're referring to? In school in the US, I was always taught there were 7 continents, including the North and South Americas as 2 separate ones. As far as I remember, there was never even a mention of other models apart from maybe some historical understanding before lands had been fully explored by Europeans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number

I was never really taught a different model either, but the entire distinctions always felt strange. Moreso with Eurasia.

Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#32

Post by Mountain_Skies »

voidfunc wrote: post #7

Very cool piece of work. Little bit weird that Springfield gets to be the other illustrated city in Massachusetts when Worcester is the second biggest city in the entire region after Boston.

How close are they to other named places? Back in the 1990s my father was astonished to see his little hometown in Canada on a map of North America but it is in an area with few other settlements so even though it isn't a seat of any level of government, it's still the "major" population center for the area. Meanwhile around Toronto cities 50x larger didn't make the map.

Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#33

Post by Mountain_Skies »

constantly wrote: post #10
interloxia wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Simpsons is culturally more relevant for an Aussie, and I would assume a Kiwi, than whatever is not Boston.

There must be at least 40 Springfields in the USA. Given Massachusetts's early statehood, I wouldn't be surprised if Springfield, MA was the "first" Springfield in USA, but are you thinking the artist illustrated all the Springfields because of the Simpsons?

Suddenly I have an urge to make a Voronoi map of the US using each Springfield as the capital of its own state.

Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#34

Post by bossyTeacher »

rmeno12 wrote: post #28
bossyTeacher wrote: post #24

Interesting. I only know 2 models of geography that consider North America a continent, the rest treat America as a continent. I guess this is no different than people calling United States of America "America". I wonder what citizens of the countries in North or South America think about it. UPDATE: my comment got downvoted. I wonder why

Can you talk more about what models of geography you're referring to? In school in the US, I was always taught there were 7 continents, including the North and South Americas as 2 separate ones. As far as I remember, there was never even a mention of other models apart from maybe some historical understanding before lands had been fully explored by Europeans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number

This, like history, is one of those dogmatic aspects of state education where only one side get taught and implicitly assumed to be the only one. Geography books need one big asterisk in so many sections

Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#35

Post by ismokedoinks »

throwup238 wrote: post #2

I really like this article but I don't know why! > Melbourne-based Anton Thomas drew North America by hand Why North America instead of Australia, m8? Potential market size? That's so American :-) > a freelance cartographer What the hell is a freelance cartographer, what does he do, and who are his colleagues? Buster Bluth and a bunch of Earth observation satellites? That's one competitive market. > I was working as…

Same thing that any freelance graphic designer or drafter would do. I've made maps for landscape architects and law firms before, for instance.

Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#36

Post by bossyTeacher »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #31
rmeno12 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you talk more about what models of geography you're referring to? In school in the US, I was always taught there were 7 continents, including the North and South Americas as 2 separate ones. As far as I remember, there was never even a mention of other models apart from maybe some historical understanding before lands had been fully explored by Europeans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number I was never really taught a different model either, but the entire distinctions always felt strange. Moreso with Eurasia.

Different models are taught in different countries. Like with many things, if you never left your country, you are highly unlikely to find out.

Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#37

Post by devinjon »

God I love maps, real or otherwise. In fact, I recently re bought The Lord of the Rings for the cartography!

My favorite by a country mile, though, is the Japanese scroll map detailing (and I do mean detailing) the road to Kyoto:

https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/2022/07/the-road-to-kyoto/

Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#38

Post by Someone »

voidfunc wrote: post #7

Very cool piece of work. Little bit weird that Springfield gets to be the other illustrated city in Massachusetts when Worcester is the second biggest city in the entire region after Boston.

Just as deciding what roads to show on a map, deciding what labels to place and where on a map is a hard problem. There may not be sufficient room for it in the location where you want to place it. If so, do you move it ‘a bit’, maybe also move another label, which means having to move another, etc. or do you leave it out?

Worcester likely is too close to Boston to have room for it at the chosen level of detail.

For what it’s worth, when I zoom in on Massachusetts in Apple Maps (which seems to have finer grained zoom levels than OpenStreetMap.org or maps.Google.com), the order in which cities appear is

- Boston

- Springfield

- New Bedford

- Worcester

Re: A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)

#40

Post by samstave »

throwup238 wrote: post #2

I really like this article but I don't know why! > Melbourne-based Anton Thomas drew North America by hand Why North America instead of Australia, m8? Potential market size? That's so American :-) > a freelance cartographer What the hell is a freelance cartographer, what does he do, and who are his colleagues? Buster Bluth and a bunch of Earth observation satellites? That's one competitive market. > I was working as…

> a freelance cartographer

This guy doesn't fold to Big Map. Fjords his own path, climbs his own mountains and is not fenced into you're completely plain and flat plateau of mediocrity you call "cartography"

No, this man is a pioneer, finding excitement around every butte, jetty and isthmus!

He peaks when you valley, he glades when you marsh, and he is a fertile alluvial flood-plain to your cold, damp peat-marsh of a life. A bread-basket of agricultural abundance and agrarian love-making, the seat of civilization! to your barren Gobi desert of a life.

Carter the Cartographer!

Otherwise known as MAP MAN!

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