The Art of Mapping

Benedikt Groß Mapmap (Vauxhall)

2012-01-22T03:45:00.000-08:00

Building on the experiments of Kevin Lynch and Thomas Saarinen, Royal College of Art student Benedikt Groß has developed an application in Processing that turns mental maps of places into Open Street Map maps, stretched according to experience.
Via Creative Applications Network

Truila Crime Map

2011-12-10T14:40:00.001-08:00

By Gus Chesnut
This map is produced by a real-estateagency in order to help someone make a better decision on what neighborhoodthey should live in. The company aims tohave a real time crime map of every neighborhood in the United States. Thecrime data is provided by three websites, CrimeReports.com, EveryBlock.com andSpotCrime.com. These websites work with police agencies, crime feeds and newsoutlets for data. Unfortunately, not all police agencies publish data in a timeefficient manner. Because no informationcan be completely real time the map will always be out of date. Also the real-estate company may be makingneighborhoods with more expensive houses look like more suitable places to livein order to make better profits. There is no way to be absolutely sure aboutthe data they are putting on their map.
http://www.trulia.com/crime/

Even though you can’t be positiveabout the information it is still a good map to look at when buying a house soyou can pick a good neighborhood to live in with a low level of crime.

New York Times Immigration Map 2009

2011-12-10T14:19:00.001-08:00

By Crosby Smith

In 2009, The New York Timescreated an online interactive immigration map of the United States from theyears 1880 to 2000. The map uses information taken from the US census bureauand shows the amount of immigrants throughout America, and the largestimmigrant group per county. The map has a slider that shows the various immigrantstatistics for each decade, so that the reader can see how the major ethnicgroups coming to America over the years has changed. The “number of residents”mode shows each of the immigration groups in an area using bubbles to representthe immigrants in specific areas or one specific immigration group (with aslide that adjusts bubble size to reduce clutter), as opposed to the “percentof population” mode, which gives a view of the largest immigration group ineach county in America, and shows the percentage of the immigrants relative tothe indigenous population using colors for each ethnicity with varyingintensity (dark for high percentages, and light for low percentages). Apossible reason for creating the map (other than that of simply providing informationon immigration patterns) is to showcase the fact that America is a nationfounded by immigrants, and that high immigration rates are nothing new.

Some problems arise with thismap, not surprising when it shows data all the way from 1880; not all thestates have immigration data available for each census. Also, issues arise fromusing the census data itself. Issues of response bias arise with giving out thecensus, for example, many current illegal Mexican immigrants may not take thecensus due to fears of being deported. Also, the census has had issues in thepast with translations into other languages, and has not always been able toadequately help foreigners with questions, who can’t speak English, taking thecensus. The final noteworthy problem that I found with the map is that in the“bubble” mode, even with the slider there are some immigration groups thatvastly outnumber others and hide the other groups from view (like Mexicanimmigrants in the 2000 census).

Overall, I found the map to be veryuseful, despite the problems presented with taking on the mammoth task ofmapping, and finding comprehensive immigration data of the United States. Themap gives a clear picture of how overall immigration rates have changed formajor immigration groups over the years from 1880 to 2000.http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html

Serengeti-Maasai Mara structural vegetation map

2011-12-10T14:08:00.001-08:00

By Tina-Louise Stokes

The Serengeti-Maasai Mara structuralvegetation map and the rainfall insert are graphic illustrations made using acompilation of information from pre-existing studies, newly collected groundtruth data, and satellite imagery. Thestudy, analysis and maps that were generated was a collaborative effort made bya group consisting of anthropologists, ecologists, and geographers from theUnited States, Canada, The Netherlands, and Belgium. The goal of the study was to create a wellresearched and ground verified study of plant material type and characteristics,and try to determine how or if factors such as rainfall and topography play aroll in the distribution of the vegetation. The vegetation map displays the outcome of the data that was fed intocomputer software programs such as ERDAS Imagine software.

Thevegetation map has a legend detailing the different types of vegetation foundin the Serengeti-Maasai Mara region which are designated in a variety ofcolours. The yellow lines on the mapsignify regions and sub-regions made in a previous study from the earlyseventies. The lines section off theland based on historical geology, geomorphology and climate, and these wereground truthed for the study. The orangelines delineate a protected area boundary which can be correlated in therainfall insert.

TheSerengeti-Maasai Mara region map is a little confusing when examined withoutthe accompanying written data of this study. The study indicates that both moisture and topography are significantvariables in the vegetation that lives in this area. The map is interesting inthat the rainfall insert indicates high rainfall in the northern and westernareas of the study area, yet this area seems to have less lush vegetation. Inthe southeast and southwest the map shows more lush vegetation, but therainfall map shows high rainfall in the southeast and low rainfall in thesouthwest. The contradictory imagesspark one’s curiosity about why that might be, but cannot be satiated withoutthe accompanying written study material. As topography makes a difference inhow the rainfall affects the plant material an indication of elevation acrossthe map would be helpful. On the map itis hard to tell where stream processes are occurring. A better indication ofthe surface hydrology might be a good visual aid. Many of the colours of the vegetation andeven water areas are so similar that it is difficult to ascertain thedifference between vegetation types and bodies of water. The written names onthe map are helpful to signify the area, but do not help to clarify thedistribution of the vegetation types. As a visual accompaniment to a writtenpaper the map is very useful. Unfortunately, because this map is not computerinteractive it is not very understandable as a stand alone map. The map wasgenerated in conjunction with software where one is able to extract all of thelayers of information separately and in detail, but sadly that information doesnot translate well to a two dimensional map.

Building Information Modeling

2011-12-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

When designing a building, an architect does not simply draft a plan by himself. He must consult with mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, carpenters, interior designers, contractors, and structural engineers (among many others) in order to build not only an aesthetically pleasing building, but a safe and usable building. However, the problem with involving many people in the workflow is that one change by one person can conflict with others. For example, if an electrical engineer revises his wiring plan and runs a conduit through the ceiling, it could conflict with another engineer's plans for the HVAC ducts by running through the same place.

Thanks to computer modelling, there are several solutions to this problem, generally all categorized under a term called "Building Information Modeling". Building Information Modeling, or BIM, is a new modelling method used in architecture in order to increase workflow efficiency by eliminating these conflicts and making vital information available to every team member. Several vendors offer BIM software, but the most common is AutoCAD's implementation.

As one can see in the attached image, BIM software shows all of the different components of a building in a central model. This building model is similar to older existing model files that an architect would create in CAD software, except it is propagated to all other team members. In essence, it allows everyone to see and edit the same model of the building in question. BIM software also incorporates other important features, such as live editing by multiple parties, and "smart" relocation of other elements. Live editing allows two team members, for example a mechanical and electrical engineer, to work on the model at the same time and see each other's actions, much like how a Google Document can show edits by other users. Relocation of other elements relieves the classic problem of conflicts; using the HVAC/conduit example, the software can automatically move the HVAC ducts intelligently to eliminate any conflicts.

Being modelling software, BIM has perfect "accuracy", but the burden of accuracy really falls on the users. The individual vertices and polygons shown by the software are absolute, but the model itself is created by the users. For example, an architect might specify stairs leading up to the main entrance, but in reality there must also be a ramp to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In fact, this high degree of accuracy can be detrimental, as it encourages reliance on the software. The same problem lies with many of the software's features. "Smart" relocation may actually not be that smart, and reconfigure the HVAC system to be too inefficient, a mistake that is completely possible given computers' tendency to make mistakes. The electrical engineer, having no knowledge of HVAC systems, would accept this erroneous change, inadvertently increasing costs during construction when the error arises and needs a costly fix.

Overall, however, BIM systems offer a very easy and efficient way to plan a building for construction. If the users bear in mind its many possible problems, they can use this "map" of the building to avoid costly and time-consuming problems during construction.

Commoncensus map project

2011-12-08T20:41:00.001-08:00

By Jozabad Sanchez

The CommonCensus Map Project is a project developed by Michael Baldwin who earned a bachelor's in political science from Yale. The idea was to take a census of the entire country in which individual households would describe where they live and would, in a sense, "redraw" the map of the US. The NFL Fan Areas Map is a branch off from this main goal. It relies on the zeal fans feel for their football team to determine the boundaries of areas all across the country. Fans that wanted to participate in the census simply visited the developer's website,www.commoncensus.org, entered their address, and voted for their favorite teams. 31,451 votes later, and the map shown is the result. The obvious trend is the fact that the fans are centered around the city the specific team calls home. What is surprising, however, is just how far the influence of some teams extends past the cities. For example, there are three different teams in Florida, but the Miami Dolphins dominate almost all of Florida. It shows how people don't necessarily follow the established boundaries, but instead develop their own based on personal opinions and lifestyles.

US Drought Map

2011-12-08T20:36:00.001-08:00

By Alex Khammivong

The presentation was given inregards to three thematic maps of U.S. drought locales pulled from the droughtmonitor website. While each map was authored by a different meteorologicalfigure, the drought monitoring program was sponsored by four interrelated andgovernment-affiliated national programs. The website is updated with a new map on Tuesday and Thursdaymornings.

I believe that the drought maps’ primaryagenda is to bring about more concern within the regions specified as beingafflicted by a high severity drought. Consider that simply telling someone about a drought situation may not alwaysconvey with it a sense of urgency if they themselves cannot feel its effect. Presenting a country-wide diagram andcovering the troubled regions with a deep shade of red, however, can evoke amuch greater interest and concern from the viewer. The varieties of drought portrayed in the maps arehydrological and agricultural—what differentiates it from the typical weathermap is that it does not directly represent any meteorological droughts, whichpertains to lack of rainfall. While not entirely indicative, the legend at the bottom doesgo to certain lengths to portray the difference. In the first of the three small-multiple series of maps, takenat the beginning of September, the drought areas are labeled with either an “A”(agricultural), “H” (hydrological) or both. An agricultural drought it when moisture is scarce in theair and the environment is mostly dry; a hydrological drought is whenunderground water tables and other bodies of water are lower than what isconsidered usual. The specificterminology could confuse a general audience, so we can see in the map of thefollowing month that the wording in the legend had changed. “A”s became “S”s and “H”s became “L”s,representing short-term drought and long-term drought respectively, perhaps tobetter convey the symbols’ meanings.

A second legend is present thatrefers to the coloring used in the map regions. It is a scale of five colors progressing from a shade ofyellow to orange and red, signifying the drought severity present in thecorresponding areas. To capitalizeon this aspect even further, within the drought monitor website is a sort of“sub-legend” that specifies on what exactly each level of drought entails. Another visual aspect conveyed in thesecond legend is the use of bold, black lines outlining areas of drought todenote whether or not the conditions are contained or prone to affectneighboring non-drought experiencing locales. The usage of lines within this map can get confusing attimes, simply because of how many divides are being displayed. In addition to the bold containmentlines, there are also blue lines signifying rivers, grey lines outliningcounties, and thin black lines for state borders.

A current interpretation of themaps would be that both the Georgia and Texas regions are afflicted by anexceptionally high drought. A D4class of drought means there is large potential for wildfires, possible croploss, and a decrease in water supply. The Texas drought is also identified as a mix of being both short andlong term. What can only berealized after viewing the maps in sequence, however, is that it is aprogressive type of mapping where changes in conditions occur gradually; themore severe the drought, the longer it may take for it to recede. While no notable changes can be seengoing from September to October, it is evident in the November chart that,after approximately a month, the D4 drought has finally fallen to D3 or D2 insome areas.

Since the maps are ratherlarge-scale (although not so large as to excerpt county lines), the conditionsdepicted may not always be correct; there is even a disclaimer placed towardsthe bottom of the map that cites how the visualization only covers a broadenedscope and may not be accurate on a local level. Although it is a small multiple of maps, the author of eachmapping is different, meaning that their individual credibility and resourcesmay vary. What holds together themapping project’s credibility as a whole, however, is the presence of fourlogos in the corner, conveying to the reader that it is governmentendorsed. The credited agenciesare, ordering left to right, the US Department of Agriculture, the NationalDrought Mitigation Center, the US Department of Commerce, and the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Although it isn’t absolute reinforcement, the fact that the informationpresented might be traced back to numerous authoritative bodies does well tosecure and project a sense of reliability, depending on how one viewsgovernment.

One Minute Lecture Synopsis-"Where Do Volunteers Go?"

2011-11-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

By: Karen Corbin

open programs
closed programs

The "Where Do Volunteers Go?" map was created by The Peace Corps. This map shows where volunteers serving the Peace Corps are and where the past volunteers have been. The dark orange colors on the map represent programs that are open. Clicking on the countries that have open programs will give you more information about the program and the country. The information given is credible because it comes directly from the Peace Corps database. A good example of an open program is the one in South Africa. The vital statistics for South Africa are:

Population Average

46 million

Program Dates

1997-present

Number of Volunteers

183

Total Volunteers to Date

1,050

Program Sectors

Education, Health and HIV/AIDS

Languages Spoken

Afrikaans, isiNdebele, isiZulu, Sepedi, Setswana, siSwati, Northern Sotho, Venda, and XiTsongo

These statistics are good for people who want to know about the country where they'll be serving. They can get a glimpse of what they will be doing there. In some countries a video or pictures are provided to help the viewer get a visual understanding of the country. The countries that have closed programs only have information on when the program was open and the number of volunteers that served there. The countries that never had a program are white and considered unimportant for this map. The map is a Robinson projection. I believe they chose this projection because it emphasizes the countries where the most volunteers are (i.e. Africa, South America, and Asia). This map is easy to use and understand. For someone interested in knowing more about Peace Corps volunteering locations this is an excellent map to use.

Source:

"Where Do Volunteers Go?" Peace Corps, http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.wherepc

Noble & Bestley Ch4 mapping

2011-11-29T19:50:00.001-08:00

By Raquel Breternitz, Karen Soriano and Lauren Griffin

http://prezi.com/hg6hcyqij8ry/noble-bestley-ch-4/

Pearcy's 38 States

2011-11-29T18:27:00.000-08:00

This map purposed a very controversial version of the United States. The 38 states map was created by George Etzel Pearcy in 1973. Pearcy was a California State University Professor geography professor with apparently were different ideas about the United States.

He created this map using the redrawing of state lines by population dips, as in the lines being drawn where the population was significantly lower in order to make the population in each state more even for the most part. Also by doing this each state was to be more centered around major cities. Pearcy stated that this was needed since when the original state lines were drawn with the same criteria taken into consideration. The criteria he considered was population, cities and their locations, transportation lines, size of the states, and many more. Pearcy changed the sizes, shapes, and most obviousy the number of states. He made them more square for the most part and he also made major cities located close to the center of each of the states.

Pearcy wrote many books and had other works that he did throughout his career. He had multiple famous works during his time, but this map may be one of the most discussed and controversial. This map made the most news just because of its extremely different approach to how the United States should be split up. For the most part though, the map may have created a lot of controversy with both the way it depicted America and some of the names of the states, but it still was an interesting way of showing personal expression.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/17550

The Joy of Stats

2011-11-29T10:52:00.001-08:00

http://www.gapminder.org/videos/the-joy-of-stats/

Hans Rosling enthusiastically hosts an hour-long documentary on visualization & statistics produced by Wingspan Productions and broadcast by BBC, 2010.

Old Bakery Block

2011-11-29T08:02:00.001-08:00

Art of Mapping class contributions & photos now posted on the Old Bakery Block ideathon site!

http://www.oldbakeryideathon.org/did-you-know/

Submarines to Suburbs concept map

2011-11-23T11:52:00.001-08:00

Map of Henthorn, Cynthia. From Submarines to Suburbs: Selling a Better America 1939-1959, pp32-49 (Ohio University Press 2006) By James Sparks

Isle of Knowledge

2011-11-20T15:59:00.000-08:00

The Isle of Knowledge was a map designed by Marian Bantjes for a UK illustration
magazine Varoom on the theme of “Knowledge”.
Marian Bantjes is a typographer, writer, illustrator and designer. Bantjes is a member
of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).
The Isle of Knowledge is a beautiful map drawn by Marian Bantjes it is illustrated
as the “known” where beyond lie monsters. The map has several points of interest like the “Temple of Wisdom” and “Brain Town”. With in “Brain Town” there are even greater points
of interest such as “The Circle of Distraction”, “Procrastination Street”,
“Side Track”, “Road of Good Intentions”, and “The Boulevard of Dreams”.
It isquite interesting that “Side Track”, “Road of Good Intentions”, and “The Boulevard
of Dreams” are all roads that lead to dead ends. “The Circle of Distraction”
and “Procrastination Street” are two streets on the road that connect and end
up making an infinite amount of loops if one was in “Brain Town” on foot.
This map was unintentionally inspired by the children’s novel “The Phantom Toll
Booth”. This map is great because it reminds us that almost all great creative
works are just a knock off of other great ideas. This map was beautifully drawn
using both digital and hand drawn pieces.
Wesley Avila-Solis

XKCD

2011-11-15T23:14:00.001-08:00

Worldwide Green Turtle Nesting Sites 2011

2011-11-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

The map, Worldwide Green Turtle Nesting Sites 2011, was recently awarded grand prize at the International Conservation Mapping Competition by Esri, GIS software developer. The map was created by Andrew DiMatteo, cartographer, database manager of the State of the World’s Sea Turtles Project, and Associate in Research at Duke University. The map is a collaborative scientific effort. For seven years, hundreds of volunteers across the globe have collected data recording the placement and magnitude of Green Sea Turtle nesting sites.

Green Sea Turtles are a species endangered and in need of conservation. These massive yet gentle creatures measure up to five and a half feet and weigh up to 400 pounds. They hold a great importance in the upkeep of our oceans and world and are in need of help by humans, most of which have contributed to the turtles’ endangerment.

Green Sea Turtles have many ecological benefits. Turtles are one of very few animals that consume sea grass. As the turtles eat the grass, it allows the grass to grow consistently across the sea floor, rather than staying in one place and growing longer. Seabeds provide shelter and breeding grounds for many different types of fish. Without these habitats, many fish may become endangered and eventually extinct. The turtles also play a major role in the well being of our beaches and dunes. These sandy areas receive little nutrients. However, the turtles lay their eggs on the dunes and beaches. The un-hatched nests and left over eggshells provide an excellent source of nutrients for these areas. Without the turtles, the dune areas would experience increased erosion. The Green Sea Turtles play a major role in the water and on the land. Humans use both of these areas. Therefore, if the Green Sea Turtle were to become extinct, this would greatly change the way that humans live. These turtles have the broadest distribution of nesting sites compared to all other sea turtles. It is important that we take care of these creatures in order to ensure the safety of our world.

This incredible map has created an increased awareness of the massive distribution of the Green Sea Turtles. The forty subset maps create a dizzying affect designed to surprise the audience with the abundance of nesting sites around the world and the importance of being aware of this. With this increased awareness, humans are experiencing a change in attitude towards the importance of conserving other creatures in order to conserve our world. With the creation of this map, Green Sea Turtles have gone from a “resource to be exploited” to respected “ecosystem engineers, and indicators of ocean health and processes” (Where the Turtles Are).

"Facts About Sea Turtles." Sea Turtle Facts and Information. Accessed November

14, 2011. Last modified 2009. http://www.seaturtle-world.org.

"Where the Turtles Are: Award-Winning Map Reveals Nesting Sites of World's Green

Turtles." Conservation International. Accessed November 14, 2011. Last

modified June 7, 2011. http://www.conservation.org.

"Why Care About Sea Turtles?" Sea Turtle Conservancy. Accessed November 14,

2011. Last modified 2011. http://www.conserveturtles.org.http://www.conservation.org/newsroom/pressreleases/PublishingImages/green%20turtle%20map.jpg

One Minute Lecture Synopsis- Chris Sloan

2011-11-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Internet Mapping Project

There is a certain fascination among society about the internet and the ever-growing impact it has on our lives. It seems that every day more of our world moves out of the spectrum of physical existence and into the ethereal land of the web. For something that is such an integral part of modern society, the internet is not very well understood.

A number of people have tried to rectify this perceived flaw by making complex visualizations of the Internet, using special software to interpret enormous amounts of data. In general, these maps provide very little insight to the Internet, except perhaps to impress upon the viewer just how vast and incomprehensible it really is. But, as Kevin Kelly points out, "Everyday we navigate through this ethereal realm for hours on end and return alive. We must have some map in our head." In order to understand just how people made sense of the chaos of cyberspace, Kelly gave out sheets of paper with the simple instruction, "Please draw a map of the internet, as you see it. Indicate your 'home'."

Perhaps unknowingly, Kevin Kelly designed a study on people's sense of the internet that closely echoed Kevin Lynch's efforts to evaluate the so-called "imageability" of the internet. Applying this same standard to the cognitive maps of the internet, one might observe that, unsurprisingly, the imageability of the internet is very poor, in the same ballpark as Jersey City. A Buenos Aires professor who made her own assessment of the maps concluded that only 31% of respondents represented the fully interconnected nature of the internet, perhaps because most people view the internet through the lens of their own use, rather than objectively. A large proportion of the pictures, such as this one display a view of the internet that is overwhelmingly chaotic and disorganized.

But, deeper analysis reveals trends in the photos that parallel Lynch's findings cataloged in "The Image of the City", namely the emergence of paths, districts, nodes, and to some degree, edges and landmarks. Paths are the easiest to find, and indeed most of the maps display the notion of path in the form of links between websites. Generally, paths are represented as a black line or arrow and they are as much a part of the maps' structure as the websites themselves. From paths the logical connection is to move to nodes, which are very prominent in the cognitive internet maps. The majority depicted either their browser or search engine as a central node, from which all paths emanated. Occasionally other sites, particularly social networks and file sharing sites, would also appear as nodes.

A significant number of respondents classified various websites into districts based on a common topic, use, or in one case, time of access. The concepts of edge and landmark are significantly less clearly displayed. A few maps reference the existence of the vast cyberworld beyond their usual online activities, and one uses the phrase "Here be dragons", an allusion to an old cartographic practice of portraying dragons or other mythical creatures beyond the reaches of the known world. These nether regions are essentially areas of the internet on the far side of an edge, an undefined mental barrier that separates the comfortable from the unfamiliar. Landmarks on the other hand are not directly displayed in any of the mappings but could be embodied by keywords used to navigate through search engines and/or address bars contained within the browser.

The Internet Mapping Project reveals a great deal more about the internet than just general perceptions of the internet's structure. A number of contemporary issues surface across the 120 pages of "folk maps of the internet". Some are practical issues, such as privacy and the tendency of the internet to be a huge time-waster that "reels in" innocent users. Others are more ethical, such as the exclusive nature of the internet, especially given that it is coming to replace so many aspects of real life. One person voices the idealistic (and quite likely sarcastic) idea that the internet brings the world together to live in harmony.

Ultimately it is tough to draw a single conclusion from among the many varied maps that were submitted. They provide a great deal of insight on a great number of subjects, making it very difficult to capture their essence in any lecture or essay. They were originally intended to reveal our concept of a vast, intangible world, but more than that they are snapshots of a great many individuals response to that world. It is important to remember that they were gathered from a fairly select group of people, namely those who for one reason or another were on Kevin Kelly's blog since 2009, and as such are not representative of the whole population, or even of all internet users. As such they are a biased sample of the world, but their real strength is in revealing all the individual biases that went in to making them.

Ball State University - Critical GIS workshops

2011-10-17T20:58:00.001-07:00

See also Matthew Wilson's critical GIS bibliography

Bing Augmented Reality Maps

2011-10-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

World of Change Global Temperature Change Map

2011-10-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

1960-1969

2000-2009

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/decadaltemp.php

In 2010 The Global Temperatures World of Change Map was
created by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), a
well-established scientific institution. NASA has become famous for its many
shuttle programs that have taken both people as well as robots far into the
solar system we live in; but as of this year NASA has announced that it will no
longer be operating its shuttle program. This comes as the current fleet of
shuttles is being put into their scheduled retirement for safety reasons, and
funds to continue building a new shuttle fleet were not secured as NASA’s
budget was cut from the federal government for this fiscal year. NASA has made
clear that is has no intention to stop preforming scientific research, but on
the contrary will continue doing even more research, just in different fields.
One of which is the study of Global Temperature, in order to establish trends
so we can predict how are world will be in the future.
The exact reason NASA decided to do this project is unclear,
but what is clear is that this was a decision made with close collaboration
between NASA’s top administrators as well as President Obama (as are all of NASA’s
projects). One can assume that as the Global Warming Debate (the debate weather
humans or the earth itself is causing the global temperature rise) continues to
gain attention, a scientific institution with large amounts of resources would
be interested in putting some hard scientific facts behind this debate. Through
NASA’s fleet of satellites they can accurately measure global temperatures and project
them to a map with through the same satellites, though studying the earth is
nothing new to NASA; satellites have been used to measure how much radiation
has penetrated the earth’s oceans since 1967.
There is not direct connection to NASA and any special interest
environmental groups, the reason for NASA to create this map can only be
assumed to inform both the public as well as the scientific community about the
global temperature changes since 1880.
The funding NASA receives is strictly from the federal government that
is paid for from tax dollars, so there was no influence from other bias groups
in making this map as NASA kept a strictly nonpartisan view of the
controversial topic.
The measuring of the temperature was performed by a system
of satellites, meteorological stations, as well as calculations through NASA’s
computers in system called Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). NASA’s Satellite-observed
nightlights (inferred lights) are used to identify meteorological stations
located in darkness and adjust to temperature trends of urban and semi-urban
stations for non-climatic factors, verifying that urban effects on analyzed
global change are small. In regions where there are little to no weather
stations, the satellites can use a both a measurement of microwaves that are emitted
and NASA can calculate the temperature manually from that as well as taking a
measurement of know sea temperatures to accurately predict the temperature in
areas like the North Pole. The temperature readings are measured on a monthly
scale (on the 10th of every month) which removes the effect of the
seasonal temperatures by averaging the year’s temperatures as opposed to just a
couple months. The measurements are also averaged into a group of 10 years to
account for occasional irregularities such as El Nino and La Nina that alter a
region’s weather for a year.
These temperature readings were put on to a Mollweide
projection to both emphasize the dramatic temperature increase in the North
Pole region, as well as to avoid distorting continent size which concerns
people more than an increase in temperature somewhere off in the Pacific Ocean.
Also this map allows users to scroll through the years back to 1880 (because
before that there were not global weather stations) in order to compare the
previously small up and down trend of temperatures, to the dramatic rise in
global temperature that has occurred today. Many people after first viewing
this map and noticing that there has been less than a two degree temperature
increase since 1880 and will be quick to write these findings off as useless
because we are used to daily temperature changes of sometimes thirty degrees;
but these are not daily, these readings are a decade of average temperatures.
As the reading at the bottoms says, it only took a drop of two degrees to cause
the Little Ice Age in Europe and only a drop in five degrees to cause the most
recent full blown Ice Age.
As these findings point out, that we are heading down a path
of dramatic temperature change if we continue the way we are going. NASA use of
red in the coloring of huge temperature increases subconsciously makes us take
that as more of a threat then a great cooling change, but NASA did this just to
stay consistent with the normal colors used in describing hot and cold
temperatures. This map effectively portrays the current global temperature
fluctuation from the base year of 1960 in order for us to effectively
understand where we are today, in so we can plan what to do with our world
tomorrow.

2011-10-10T22:47:00.000-07:00

This World Map of Social Networks (http://www.vincos.it/world-map-of-social-networks/)was created by Vincenzo Cosenzo. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s in Innovation Management, he works in Italy for Microsoft as part of the marketing and public relations branch since 2007. In his free time, he also owns and operates the blog VincosBlog, displaying his thoughts, answering questions, and expressing his views and interpretations to the public. It was upon this blog that he posted the collection of maps labeled World Maps of Social Networks which displays the most used social networking site used in a given country from June 2009 to June 2011 by color coding each social network site and filling the entire country in accordingly. According to the author, all the information represented on the map came from Alexa and Google Trends for Websites which are both web traffic data analyzers that graphically display the recent web data relevant to any user input search inquiry (http://trends.google.com/trends?hl=en).

The map utilizes a Mollweide projection to display the information in the map. The Mollweide projection tries to preserve the actual area size of each country, but in the process on doing so, it distorts the shape of countries so the general form of each country is lost. Though, for the purpose of this map, trying to capture the relative size of each country could be the goal of Cosenzo as it could create a sense of how many users are in each country (a possible cartographic lie in upon itself), and by juxtaposing each individual map over time, the overall effect seems to not only show the global distribution of virtual social networking but also the interconnectivity of the world brought together by the internet. Yet even with the possible intended agenda of showing the global togetherness, the map also hides many hidden agendas both intentional and unintentional.

One message the map seems to portray is that each country only utilizes one social networking site, mainly Facebook. The absence of other networks seems natural as displayed on the map, but with more background information gathering, Cosenzo tells the reader that while the information in the map is only the most used social network, there are many rising social network sites like Twitter. Another message the map seems to say is that without the connectivity to the internet, a country is obsolete. When Cosenzo colored the map, he left the empty countries a similar color the background color. Whether he meant to or not, this choice of color makes the countries not represented in his map disappear from existence.

One fault of the map as part of his research evolves from the human labor intensive aspect of his research. Because Cosenzo must find the relevant information for a vast number of countries, he only covers 134 countries of the around 236 countries in the world. Some countries are omitted because the amount of data flowing through the country is negligible relative to the other countries or in some cases, there is no data flowing through the country because internet has not been rooted in the country as shown in some of the African countries. This cut of data is shown in the maps through the void left in their wake as the countries seem to just vanish off the face of the planet.

Another issue with the map is that the entire country is colored in for the representation of the social network in the country. This gives a false sense of population as it makes it seem like the entire country is wired and using the social network, but in many countries, most noticeably Russia, the actual population only resides in a small part of the country. So the representation of population usage of social network sites is badly misrepresented in the map; yet to properly explain the message of the map and/or out of lack of want to find where the population uses the internet, Cosenzo chose to do a full color of the country.

But as a map displaying the changes over time of social networking, Cosenzo concisely shows how different networks have died out over time, how new ones have come rise, how old ones have taken over, and how the world is slowly coming together as one.

Submarine Cable Map

2011-10-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

The Submarine Cable Map is an interactive map of the submarine telecommunications cables that carry most of the high bandwidth internet traffic around the world. It was created by TeleGeography, a data collection and visualization firm under PriMetrica, Inc. a company headquartered in Carlsbad, California with offices in D.C., the U.K., and Singapore. TeleGeography collected the data as part of its global bandwidth research which dates back to 2002 and is updated on a regular basis. TeleGeography sells the data on which the map is built, but the code for creating the map is available freely on GitHub.

Map presentation
Lines on the map are representative of fiber optic submarine cables that either have already been laid, are in the process of being laid, or are planned for laying in the future. Each color corresponds to a different cable system, such as the SEA-ME-WE3 which connects South East Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe. Cables which are not yet complete are given a purple-gray color similar to the color of the continents. Other than that feature, there is no meaning to the colors; they merely differentiate the cables. Cable positions are not exactly displayed in the map, but are "stylized to improve readability." Similarly, the positions of landing points, the buildings which cables lead to on land, are not mapped to their exact coordinate positions, but indicate approximately where the cable lands.^[1] Clicking on any of the lines on the map will display the information for the corresponding cable system in the legend to the right. A click anywhere else on the map will display a list of all recorded submarine cables with each item in the list being a link to the info for the cable system. The info for a cable includes its name, Ready For Service (RFS) date, owners, landing points, cable length, and homepage when available.

Comparison & Criticism

A similar map has been created by Greg Mahlknecht, an enthusiast. As opposed to TeleGeography's map, Greg's Cable Map was composed from data collected from Wikipedia articles and cable system web pages. Although the accuracy of the data in Mahlknecht's map is questionable, from the standpoint of an independent researcher he appears to be the more open source. Mahlknecht is upfront about the methods he used in collecting his data, and he provides his raw data files for free on the web site (TeleGeography charges upwards of $10,000 for a subscription to their data). The accuracy of TeleGeography's map seems credible, but is only assured by the company. It states that

If we compare the maps visually, the TeleGeography map is more aesthetically pleasing, looks more professional and authoritative. The simplified cable lines exude a sense of orderliness both in the system itself and in TeleGeography's command of the data that represents it. Malhknecht's map looks more cluttered and gives off an appropriately amateurish feel. Mahlknecht draws lines with the intention of preserving geographical accuracy, but as a consequence they map tends to be harder to read and to differentiate the different cables in areas with lots of parallel cables like the Mediterranean, even at zoom levels where they are readable on the TeleGeography map. Furthermore, there are no markings for landing points on Mahlknecht's map.

There are data on which the two maps disagree as well. Many of the landing points are different, in that case usually differing by some miles between the two. Some cable systems missing from the TeleGeography map are present in Greg's Cable Map (e.g. CANTAT 3 in service since 1994). The criteria for inclusion in the TeleGeography map are not clear.

TeleGeography's Submarine Cable Map is an informative resource, but a careless reading of it could lead a person astray about the actual placement and nature of submarine cables. The reader can estimate how accurate the map is by reading the associated information page, but no indications of accuracy are immediately visible on the map. The readability of the map is saved both by simplification and by the ability to isolate cable systems interactively; however, that simplification can distort the mental picture of submarine cables as well as leave bits of information out altogether (e.g., no mention of cable depth or cable bandwidth).

^[1]http://www.telegeography.com/telecom-resources/telegeography-infographics/submarine-cable-map/

Metro Wine Map of France

2011-10-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Metro Wine Map of France was created by David Gissen, anarchitectural historian and an associate professor of architecture and visualstudies at the California College of the Arts. It was published in 2011. OnSeptember 26 of the same year it was posted on http://bigthink.com/ on a blog called "Strange Maps: An Atlas ofCartographic Curiosities" created by Frank Jacobs. On his blog Jacobs saysthat, "traditional wine cartographyresembles a map of rampant feudalism," and that this, "defect is brilliantlyresolved by this map." Traditionally detailed wine maps use different colors torepresent the wine regions of a country. Then within each region even morecolors are used to represent the different appellations. In addition, theyusually show rivers, major cities, and elevation levels. With so many differentcolors and sections, and such a great amount of information, these maps caneasily become confusing. Therefore, Gissen used Harry Beck's LondonUnderground Map as a model in order to simplify the display of information andmake a clearer map. The coloredlines represent ten of the major wine regions in France and the smaller linesthat branch of from these lines have the names of the different appellationswithin each region. White dots represent important cities or towns, and thegray and white structures symbolize architectural landmarks. Grape varietiesare listed in lowercase gray text, and white grape varieties are in italics.The light blue lines represent rivers, and the darker gray areas representmajor physical features that affect elevation. Although this map may be lesscomplex and cluttered, it is confusing because it uses the design of a metromap. Usually the major lines of a metro map are used to represent paths.Therefore they imply that there is a connection and movement between thedifferent appellations of each region. However,this map is not supposed to be used to navigate between different appellationsbut to show the different appellations within each region and their approximategeographic relationship to one another. These relationships between appellations are are not precise because the metro map design distorts the actual location of the appellations. Since this map was made to show theapproximate geographic relations of different wine regions and appellations themetro map is not an appropriate design because it is used for transportationpurposes.

This map is soldby Deborah and Steve DeLong on www.delongwine.com for $24.95. This website sellsinformational tools about wine exploration in Italy, France, California, Spain,Portugal, and Long Island. I think the purpose of the Metro Wine Map of France was to display general information about the different wine regions of Franceand their many appellations in a way that was easy to understand, especiallyfor people who do not have much knowledge about wine or experience with winemaps. However, the design's implications of movement between appellations andthe map's resemblance to a metro map ultimately make it confusing and strangeto the reader. Even if the map was not confusing, a person actually travellingthrough the various wine regions of France would probably want to have a mapthat is more geographically precise since the metro map format distorts theactual location of different appellations.

Mart Map 1 - Bowers

2011-09-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

Learning

In terms of Bower’s methodology on problem solving, Map 1 of Mart, Texas began by learning about the town and our research topic “Empty Buildings.” Our group started by discussing the possibilities of our topic and predicting what interesting details we might find in Mart. A promising idea was that we could discover accessible abandoned buildings and also objects and remnants that might inform us about the history of the buildings. The next step taken to learn about our topic was going to Mart and investigating the vacant buildings on the main “drag,” or Texas Avenue. We quickly discovered by speaking with a few locals that the buildings are not “vacant” but owned by business people in the town. Most of the “empty” spaces are used for storage, several are empty and locked, and there are a few vacant lots where buildings once stood. At this point it was decided that the locations of the buildings of interest to us needed to be recorded. In the library my group acquired a street map of Mart and we proceeded to plot all of the indefinitely closed storefronts on the main drag. While reviewing the gathered information, we became interested in the different levels of material piled into the vacant store spaces.

Identifying

Identifying the purpose of the information we gathered was our next step. The difficulty became deciding what about the empty buildings seemed most important or interesting. Turning our focus on the storage spaces, it was decided that our group should go back to Mart and gather more information on the amount of material in storage. Adding to the previously plotted street map of Mart, our group decided to measure the levels of material on a scale of one to five. Then, my colleagues and I began to sketch ideas to determine how the map should portray the levels of material in the spaces. We gravitated toward the idea that dark colors convey density and that basing the map off of the common street map, like the one used for our research, was the clearest way of describing the vacancy in Mart.

Generating

It was then decided that other than the main thoroughfare, the streets of Mart were unimportant to our message. Merely defining the buildings of interest and Texas Avenue would suffice. Several different combinations of colors and shapes to define buildings on the map were generated. The purpose was to convey the important buildings in town and what was being done with them. Experimenting with the orientation of the map proved that the clearest way to portray the buildings of Mart was in a plan view with Texas Avenue running at a diagonal through the town, similar to the view seen on the majority of maps. The color variations we worked with were based on our knowledge of the different densities colors can convey. We then assessed the success of the variations and came to a conclusion on the final design.

Implementing

The final map was a plan view of the town’s commercial buildings. The buildings deemed active were illustrated in a pale green color while the inactive buildings were portrayed in grayscale. A person could use this map to identify how the buildings in town are being used, if they are a working business, if the spaces are used for storage, and how much material is filling the space. Evaluation of this map revealed what our group missed in the “identifying” step of our process.

The purpose of a map is to convey a message. Through critique we came to the conclusion that it may be more valuable for the people of Mart to have a more dramatic visualization of the vacant businesses in town. By using no gradient on the “empty” buildings and excluding the smaller warehouse spaces from the map, the visual could be more effective in showing the people of Mart that the town’s economy desperately needs to be revitalized. Our final map portrayed what we had considered interesting about the buildings but through critique it was clarified that the maps could be used to reveal something significant about Mart to the people of Mart. Another map was created after critique to convey a new, more meaningful message to be shared through the “empty” buildings: that they cannot remain empty.

Works Cited

Bowers, John. "Problem Seeking and Solving." Introduction to Graphic Design Methodologies and Processes: Understanding Theory and Application. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Ix-Xix. Print.

Classroom seating habits

2011-09-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

interactive visualization created using d3 and jQuery showing the seating habits of a class of graduate students in the summer of 2011: http://www.skyrill.com/seatinghabits/

MIT's Senseable City Project

2011-09-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

Carlo Ratti at TED2011

The World According to Dubya

2011-09-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

By Alicia Bowling

The map “The World According to Dubya” was first seen in 2006, during George W. Bush’s second term as president of The United States. The map was posted on www.dailykos.com, which describes itself as a “Daily weblog with political analysis on US current events from a liberal perspective.” The artist is simply known as “grog” on the weblog, has a profile picture of Star Wars characters (the originals), and a quote explaining “I’m not writing to make conservatives happy. I want them to hate my opinions. I’m not interested in debating them. I want to stop them.” Grog uses the word humor in his post but spells it “humour”, leading the reader to assume that he is not from The United States. To be concise, this is a political cartoon map on a liberal, political weblog criticizing the perceived views of a conservative president of the U.S., drawn by a liberal who is not from the U.S. (or, to be fair, at least spells like he isn’t). With that limited amount of information, we already know that this map is incredibly biased.

Grog posted on his blog that he drew this map in response to an earlier map entitled “The World According to Reagan”, another U.S. President. David Horsey, a Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist, drew the earlier “Reagan” map in 1982. Horsey’s map is more organized put together, but has the same feel of the “Dubya” map. Horsey labels the USSR “Godless communists, liars and spies”, most of the Middle East “Our Oil”, The U.K. “Thatcherland (a subsidiary of Disneyland”, and Australia simply as “kangaroos”. America is represented as “California”, which contains Hollywood and Disneyland, solely, “Republicans and other Real Americans” in the middle of the country to the eastern seaboard, and the North East as “Democrats and Welfare Bums”. Mexico is known as “Mariachiland”. However, the “Reagan” map is not the only source of inspiration for Grog’s “Dubya” creation. A similar “Dubya” map has been circling around since 2004. Created by artist John Van Pelt, the “Map of the World as Seen by George Bush” can be purchased from websites on t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers and more. This map focuses more on America and represents the North Pole as “Santa” and the South Pole as “Ozone. Grog’s response to these two maps is very similar but more “up to date”, as he puts it on his blog. Some of the map is comical with renaming most of Texas to “My Ranch”, and Scandinavia as “cold”, but other parts of the map are controversial and perhaps mean spirited with Africa being composed of “Sahara Desert” and the rest “AIDS”. The bodies of water that are labeled are “Oilfields”, such as “Pacific Oilfield” and “Arab Oilfield”, referring to Bush’s seemingly incessant obsession with black gold. This time, Australia is downgraded to “Boring Landmass”, and Mexico is “Illegal Aliens”, alluding to the recent immigration issues in America. It is most important to note that these maps are satirical political cartoons. They are built, not on facts, but rather perceived opinions of the Presidents they mock. They all three have very clear agendas of debasing the validity and success of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, as well as their capabilities and competence. Obviously no one is going to use the map, “The World According to Dubya” to traverse the Atlantic Ocean, or Atlantic Oilfield as seen here. However, it really depicts the widely common public opinion that “Dubya” was a closed-minded president, ignorant to the real problems of the world. My favorite part of this map, however, is that it is the best example of the First Amendment I have seen in a long while.

Lance Green

2011-09-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Definition

The proposal to create a conceptual map of Mart, Texas was a broad topic; seemingly just as broad was the choice to develop a plan on how to convey the town’s empty, commercial space into the map. The overall aim of this project was to, in the long run, design a map that would educate the public of a history of the buildings in downtown Mart, focusing primarily on unoccupied spaces and what they were or have become. The map was to serve as a reminder of the substantial amount of buildings no longer serving the town, directed not only at the citizens of Mart but to those who happen to be wandering the back roads of Texas. This was to shape the outcome of the map and how it informs the viewers.

Divergence

On-site research involved the gathering of data by any means possible within an unfortunately limited time frame. The contextual side of our research consisted of obtaining a deeper history than what met the eye. Buildings, as well as foundations, were analyzed architecturally to determine the transformation of what they were, what they have been, and what they have become. Based on this research we were also able to obtain information as to where buildings had once been. Data was then gathered from locals to find out which buildings were actually empty as well as who claimed ownership of most of the allegedly bare spaces. This created a twist in our research. As a result of discovering that the buildings were not in fact empty but were serving as personal storage spaces for citizens of Mart, what started as a map detailing the empty commercial spaces had now evolved to vacancy levels of commercial spaces.

Transformation

Creating prototypes of the said map proved to be quite difficult. Ground rules were established in that the finished product would speak for itself, utilizing bold graphics and minimal text. Satellite images were obtained from Google Maps to ensure precise geographic locations and building sizes. An overlay was created in InDesign to place geometric shapes on top of the previously researched buildings; the colors of these were grayscale for the different levels of interior vacancy. Other potential colors and fill patterns were considered for providing a further history of each building. The critique of the prototype proved to be a successful way of conveying what had been researched. Upon re-evaluating the objectives, a more centralized idea was formed in order to produce a strict, less historically informative map.

Convergence

The purpose of the map was now focused on the varying levels of interior storage in the unused buildings. Levels were represented by black, gray, and white shapes, a soft green for buildings in use, and a light gray for foundations of previously existing buildings. The procedure for the placement of the buildings was the same as before, though in a more careful and tedious manner. The end decision to focus solely on the vacant and demolished buildings, the amount of used storage within them, and representing the active buildings allowed for a visually striking and socially aware map, formed with the intent of making viewers conscious of the excessive amount of publicly inactive buildings in Mart. Improvements and recommendations came in the form of creating a clearer definition between buildings of the same color, providing a better understanding of the amount of buildings researched.

Laura Cole

2011-09-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

With the task of discovering what people do in Mart, TX, a town none of us had ever visited, our group knew that our initial approach would have to be an interactive one. Roughly 2000 residents live in Mart compared to over 750,000 in Austin, so we were forced to leave behind our preconceived notions of everyday life and immerse ourselves instead in the small town’s rituals during our trip.

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Observe/Exploratory Research

We were only in Mart for a short time, but were able to observe a small range of local activity, including walking, visiting the library, spending time at local restaurants, and working. Observation provided us with some useful first impressions of the community, but we felt that dialogue with locals should take precedence over our outsider’s perspective. We directly asked questions of residents of the town, surveying individuals of varying ages and backgrounds. Some of these individuals were strangers we approached on the street, some were business owners or employees, and others were contacts set up through the Mart Community Project. We asked people about their regular activities in town, whether organized or informal. Responses were recorded in a notebook at the time these impromptu interviews took place. Our approach was altered slightly depending on the person, and each interaction required an on-the-spot assessment of how best to speak with that individual. Less formality lent itself well to younger persons who seemed to relax when the situation was made casual, while a more formal approach gave us credibility and respect with our elders.

Reflect/Generative Research

Through this initial process we gained insight into local attitudes, and reflection on the data gathered helped us to settle on the subject our map would address. From our conversations with locals, a few ideas rose to the surface and drove our research forward. Firstly, many residents expressed that there isn’t much to do in Mart. Secondly, some people spoke about businesses that were no longer in operation that used to provide activities no longer available to current residents. Finally, others spoke for the desire for more available activities, especially to youth. With these conclusions drawn, we proposed the creation of an infographic rather than a traditional map. We wished to juxtapose the current activities performed in Mart, those done in the past (now lost, due to business failure or community change), and the desires of the town at large for the future. Our hope was that this comparison would bring issues associated with the community’s activities to light in a tasteful but frank manner.

Observe/Exploratory Research (part 2)

At this point, we knew that the information we gathered initially was not sufficient, and we once again turned to exploratory research. We decided to pose a short series of questions through phone interviews to gather new information. We decided upon this method because of our limited mobility and timeframe for the project. We believed it would also allow us to obtain information in a fairly random and efficient way. After getting ahold of a phonebook with local Mart numbers, we each performed calls asking for basic demographic data as well as the same few agreed-upon questions relating to our concept – one about past activities, one about present, and one about wishes for future activities. In the end, we interviewed twenty individuals in this way.

With our research method, we ran into a number of problems. Many phones were either unanswered or disconnected, the quality of the responses obtained varied greatly, and fewer people than we anticipated spoke much about past activities. Because of this, we pared down our original concept to include only the present activities and future wishes. In hindsight, too, our method seemed to be less random than we realized. We discovered that the range of people we spoke with was not representative of the population’s age distribution, as we usually ended up speaking with individuals more than fifty years of age. We noted all of these things as considerations for future ventures, but were still met with the task of creating a visualization based on the data we gathered, in spite of some of its shortcomings.

Make/Evaluative Research

In the end, we chose to quantify our qualitative data by categorizing it, sorting our responses, and organizing the information We presented a series of connections and general findings we drew from our research it through a legible, aesthetically pleasing infographic. In the same way that we presented a number of different connections and types of data, we also varied our visual approach. Though all of the elements share a general aesthetic continuity, our aim was to use different visual methods to fit the specific information presented while maintaining interest. Though the information presented seems at times simple or lighthearted in its presentation, the infographic still speaks to the values and attitudes of the community from within, which was one of our chief goals in representation. For instance, the majority of the people we interviewed enjoy football, church, and eating out, while they would most like to see improved industry and increased community activities. One of the initial attitudes we perceived from the community is also reflected. One graphic shows that 35% of individuals from the phone interviews initially responded that there was nothing to do in Mart when we asked them what they enjoyed doing around town.

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In the future, if we allotted ourselves more time, varied our methods of interviewing, and gathered additional data, I believe that we could uncover even more insightful connections about Mart and its residents. I would like to refine and discover for later projects various graphical solutions to best reinforce the information presented, but I believe the greatest strength of our process laid in our engagement with the community, and our willingness to participate in a dialogue with its residents. In the end, though our research wasn’t without flaw, our final product still managed to represent to some degree Mart’s community values, attitudes, activities, and desires in an easily digestible format.

Karen Soriano

2011-09-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

DES 320

Mapping Mart

The sleepy city of Mart, Texas has a sense of charm shown through grand, vintage-style typography and signage. However, this signage is somewhat worn-out and some of it has been covered. The history of Mart calls for the reinstatement of this type. In an attempt to typographically (and generally) revive Mart, John Bowers’ method of learning, identifying, generating and implementing is followed to create a mapping of the city’s type.

LEARNING:

The first step in the development of our map was learning; learning about the conditions, the city, the location(s), basically everything that could possibly help define the problem. Within this phase, the first priority was a visit to Mart to get a feel of the city. Upon arrival, Sue Davis, a gentle lady with an obvious love for her city welcomed us into the library, where glass displays encased a large part of the town’s history. After looking at old pictures, newspaper clippings, antique objects and even listening to a couple of stories, Mart’s small-town charm and spirit was starting to become tangible. Walking through the city brought even more ideas and primary information about the city’s typographic conditions.

IDENTIFYING:

Simply by walking around Mart, the purpose of our project was laid out for us: the old typography of the town was beautiful, but deeply unappreciated. The solid presence of an “old-town” style was very apparent, thus defining our aesthetic choices in mapping. Our purpose and goal thus became to bring out the beauty and charming appeal of Mart. We walked around Mart, mapped out the locations of each sign and took extensive notes about each place, the condition of the sign, and took many pictures.

GENERATING:

The concept of our map was developed at this stage, in which we started looking through all of our pictures. The goal was to encourage good typography and make the people of Mart proud of their town and to make them look a little more closely at their home through different eyes. The work was mapped out and after lots of brainstorming, it was decided that we could not simply pick a couple of pictures to show, as all of them contributed to the research. A plan of the final product was drafted, which would include a vintage-style, printed map of the locations of the signs, along with ten renderings done on Adobe Illustrator and a digital book that contained all of the pictures taken, the location of the signs on the map, the kind of signs they were (whether printed or hand-panted) and their physical condition. Work was divided among the group.

IMPLEMENTING:

The final product was a success. Guest critics Sean McCarthy and Lynn Osgood were very enthusiastic about the poster and book. Suggestions about the placement of the map were given out and included popular public places, like the post office and library. There was also a suggestion to print the online book, which was not done because of time constraints. The next step would be to show the people of Mart our map and book and see what their reaction is and if they have any suggestions about information that could be included.

The implementation of mapping whilst trying to revive Mart is an important process as it allows the user to see how each topic is represented in the town. Specifically for our topic, typography and signage, mapping was fundamental so that we could reflect our findings to the people of Mart. The process of mapping in Mart was “digging, finding and exposing on one hand and relating, connecting, and structuring on the other.”

Nicole De Palma

2011-09-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

Nicole De Palma/DES320 Paper 1

Definition

Our original aim was to map the empty buildings in the main area of Mart, Texas. Upon our first investigation, we expected to find vacant structures that had been cleared of all belongings, objects, and furniture that was once there for a functioning business. Our objective was to create a striking, visual ratio of the empty buildings to functioning businesses, while also showing history of the buildings and their prior purposes. Through this, we hoped to show the people of Mart the reality of their empty town, but their potential to fulfill these spaces and thus, stimulate the economy of their town.

Divergence

By talking to Sue, people at the functioning businesses, and those walking along Texas Avenue, we were able to gather information about who owned some of the buildings, and what, if anything, was in the buildings that we could not see into. We soon realized that only the same few people owned many of the spaces, both functioning and vacant. This meant only those select few were actually keeping Texas Avenue somewhat alive.

We also studied faded signs overhead and in windows and were able to tell what most places were prior to their closing. However, we were not as successful in gathering information on the original or past uses of the building.

Upon noticing vacant lots that sat between buildings, we began to look closer at the side of the walls. We discovered that towards the top of those walls there was a layer of plaster over the brick of the building that was still standing. From this, we conclude that a structure was once in between the two, but had been torn down.

In order to gather our basic data we went down Texas Avenue, McLennan, and E Limestone Ave while marking which buildings seemed to be vacant. When unsure, we would investigate closely by looking into the windows or buildings next to it. Surprisingly, many were not empty but rather a part of the business next door and used for such things as office space or storage. We excluded these from our recordings. This left us with a basic map divided between empty and active buildings.

Transformation

To begin our prototype, we took a snapshot of Mart, Texas, from birds-eye view in Google Map. Then in Illustrator, we blocked out a sample selection of buildings in order to keep an accurate map of the town. To differentiate one building from another we played with grayscale. After prototyping a section of Mart in this way, we deleted the Google Map to reveal the new map.

Agreeing that this would be visually pleasing, and easily readable, we decided to keep this main technique. However, in mapping this small section, we realize that we were not actually working with empty buildings, but rather, vacant spaces. This called for a way to convey the different vacancy levels within the map and thus sent us on our second trip to Mart. To keep readability simple, we rated the building’s vacancy level on a 1-3 scale (1= empty, 2= partially full, 3=full). We ran into three vacant lots and rather than excluding them, decided to make a separate indication for them since they were not standing buildings anymore.

Convergence

For our final map, we took a large screenshot of the main area of Mart, including Texas Avenue, McLennan, and E Limestone Ave. Then we blocked out every building on those streets. Referencing our previous maps and recorded data, we described the vacancy levels by designating the colors as follows: white with a thin black outline for empty, grey for partially full, and black for full. We used a light grey for the vacant lots because we wanted to distinguish that they were not technically buildings but still count for our purposes of not being an active area of the town. Green indicated a functioning building. Once the Google Map was deleted, these shapes turned created a map of their own, and still displayed the streets.

Once complete, we realized that our map was not as striking as we had thought it would be because the ratio of vacant spaces to active buildings did not appear to be as much of a problem as it actually is for Mart. To improve this, we think it will be more affective to make all vacant spaces black and leave all active spaces green. This way the grey and white spaces do not get lost but will visually increase the content so that Mart is able to see the impact that these usable, but not functioning spaces could have on their town.

2011-09-06T17:43:00.001-07:00

The map of Online Communities (2010) was created by xkcd's artist Randall Munroe. Munroe, a graduated from CNU with a degree in Physics, made this map as an attempt to display the internet as though it were a physical place. Doing so, he made careful decisions on the placements of the different online communities, arranging the various sites and communities into groups of continents, islands, seas, and so on. With this he was able to show the metaphysical connection different online communities have with each other. For instance Youtube, Twitter, and the numerous blogs sited are all lumped near the Sea of Opinions, a satirical statement that shows the common theme that these communities share. Or perhaps a more obvious relation made is his grouping of WoW (Word of Warcraft), Maple Story, and many other MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online game) into one island called MMO Isle.

This map is a more current redisign of his original Map of Online Communities, which was charted back in 2007.

Like the newer version, Munroe placed each item near other related points of interest. In this original map he even further classified things by including a altered compass rose, and placed things in the direction of which they are related. Both maps portray the internet as it was during that year. What's remarkable is how the presence of certain online communities have grown/shrunk. For instance AOL and Myspace were represented as being very large active communities in 2007, however they have shrunk tremendously since, and are much smaller on the 2010 map.

Munroe states in the 2010 map where he got his facts and statistics from, although he does admit that some of it was just up to his own guess work. However the purpose of this map was not to be the MOST accurate representation of the size and activity of these communities, but it does hope to lend a hand in putting the communities in perspective of one another.

Fukushima Fallout

2011-09-06T11:36:00.001-07:00

Simulation of the ground deposition of Caesium-137 following the Fukushima disaster. From CEREA, joint laboratory École des Ponts ParisTech and EdF R&D

For more information and an animated version, see http://cerea.enpc.fr/en/fukushima.html

Wildfires Map

2011-09-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Texas Forest Service Fire Activity Map from Texas A&M's Extension Disaster Education Network

http://ticc.tamu.edu/Response/FireActivity/

Time Lapse Unemployment Map

2011-08-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

Global Innovation Heat Map

2011-06-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/flash/innovation_clusters/

David McCandless TED Talk

2011-06-14T15:13:00.001-07:00

McCandless contributes a monthly big-think graphic to the Guardian's Data Blog, and makes viral graphics for his blog Information Is Beautiful.

The Manhatta Project

2011-05-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

More information at http://welikia.org/

Designing Information Spaces

2011-03-13T18:17:00.001-07:00

Almost live map of London Underground

2011-01-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

http://traintimes.org.uk/map/tube/

NPR - Alternative Cartography

2010-12-21T07:46:00.000-08:00

Bob Abramms of ODT maps, purveyors of the Peters Projection, on NPR.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wfcr/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1734535/WFCR.Local.Features/A.Lesson.in.Alternative.Cartography

We're all doomed!

2010-12-15T17:03:00.001-08:00

This is a visualization of "near earth objects" that was created by Zachary Valobis. The map is not terribly complicated and just shows the spatial relationship between Earth and various asteroids. There is even a table at the bottom which lists the asteroids based on how far they will dodge Earth. The table also shows the names of the asteroids and the dates they will pass by Earth. The map is informative and interesting, but slightly flawed. The rings on the map appear to be concentric, but the distances marked at the top of these rings are not represented in equal measurements. In addition to this, the representation of Earth is also off. The Earth represented on the map is only slightly larger than the largest asteroid shown (1036 Ganymed). In reality, Earth is much larger than this asteroid and would probably take up a huge space on the map. Other than these two flaws, the map shows a sizable amount of information effectively, and is pretty interesting and well drawn. It is definitely a visualization that is worth looking at!

What if the Largest Countries had the Biggest Populations

2010-12-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

This Map shows how the world would be if the largest countries had the biggest populations. It was created by a guy named JPalms found on a website entitled Reddit. http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/e5shq/so_i_wondered_what_if_the_largest_countries_had/. He created this map by comparing the data that he found on the bottom right hand corner of the map, which are list of the countries organized by their total area, and a list of the countries arranged by population. This map shows a different perspective of how the world would be with a few arrangements.

Mapping Tacoma, Washington

2010-12-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

This series of maps was created to show the effects and inundation that would happen if a catastrophic event such as an earthquake and tsunami would occur. The series of maps displays the Puget Sound area of Washington and the two faults along the sound; The Tacoma Fault and Seattle fault. The maps were produced by Tom Brocher and Tom Pratt; both big contributors from the USGS. The maps show wave heights that would be a result of the earthquake, and the areas that would recieve the most damamge. These maps have also been used to create evacuation routes out of the areas that would be affected first. The maps also used a certain mapping strategy called LiDAR. LiDAR incorporates three technologies such as lasers, GPS, and intertial navigation systems. This was completed to map the underwater ocean topography that shows fault characteristics.

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/pups.PDF/vent2981/vent2981.pdf

Map of Social Networks

2010-12-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

This map was created by Randall Munroe of the webcomic XKCD in the fall of 2010. The map gauges the relative size of online social networks based on usage, which was determined by a number of different factors including times logged on, number of hits, chats, etc. The map was most likely designed as a personal hobby, without any specific use serving as a cause for its creation.

Munroe does explicitly state on the map that information might not be entirely accurate, as several different types of data could not be compared with each other. In addition, the placement of the "countries" could be dubious, perhaps accenting some more than others.

This map could be used in an effort to study the growth and development of social networks over time, as its novel idea of usage rather than simply membership could have an impact on determining which sites are truly doing successful.

CAIDA Map of the Autonomous Systems on the Internet

2010-12-01T21:58:00.001-08:00

This graph shows a mapping of the internet as represented by links between Autonomous Systems on the Internet running IPv4 and IPv6. This allows a visual analysis to be made regarding the interconnectedness of the Internet as a whole, as well as the connections between regions of the world. The IPv6 side shows a much lower level of connections; most ASs simply don't run IPv6 (including UT). This is a problem because the pool of addresses in IPv4 is quickly approaching depletion. As of now, there are only 7 Class A allocations remaining in the central pool, representing 2% of the overall pool. It is predicted that these will be handed out to the regional authorities for general distribution within the next 90 days.

Link to image

Rising Currents exhibition at MoMA, March 24 - October 11, 2010

2010-12-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

MoMA and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center joined forces to address one of the most urgent challenges facing the nation’s largest city: sea-level rise resulting from global climate change.

From a Museum of Modern Art press release: In February 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a report presented by the New York City Panel on Climate Change, a component of the New York City’s PlaNYC 2030, which predicts higher
temperatures and rising sea levels for New York City. The preliminary findings of a significant study undertaken by the Latrobe Team, a multidisciplinary
Princeton University affiliated group funded by the Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and led by structural engineer Professor Guy Nordenson, specifically identified the need for an intervention in the New York/New Jersey region. The Latrobe Team’s final report, published in April 2009, emphasizes the need to explore the use of alternative soft infrastructures to reduce damage
from flooding and storm surge, rather than the nineteenth and twentieth centuries’ techniques of hard infrastructure, such as piped storm water drainage networks and massive storm surge barriers, which have been proven to be expensive, ecologically irresponsible, and often ineffective.

http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/rising-currents#description

Five multidisciplinary teams of New York-based architects, engineers, and landscape designers selected to participate in Rising Currents developed the proposals during the initiative‘s workshop phase at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, from November 2009 to January 2010. The exhibition of the teams' work opened at MoMA on March 24 2010.

Zone 0: A New Urban Ground
Adam Yarinsky and Stephen Cassell of Architecture Research Office (ARO) with Susannah Drake of dlandstudio
Lower Manhattan
Beginning in the 1600s, Dutch colonists, followed soon by the English, created docks to facilitate trade, fortifications to prevent attack, and sea walls to protect the growing city from its lifeline. While these structures gradually erased the island‘s marshy edges, the city‘s modern sea wall cannot withstand future sea levels and storm surges.
ARO and dlandstudio partnered to propose a vision for Lower Manhattan—combining soft and hard infrastructure solutions—nothing less than a new paradigm for city infrastructure. In their plan, downtown is ―greened with the introduction of salt- and freshwater wetlands, additional parklands, and streets reconceived as a kind of natural space. The history of urban modernization can be traced through streets, which perform key urban functions beyond surface transportation such as the circulation and disposal of wastewater. While earlier periods imagined the street as a constructed machine at odds with nature, in ARO and dlandstudio‘s proposal, lower Manhattan would be paved with a mesh of cast concrete and engineered soil- and salt-tolerant plants. This would not only result in greenways but an invisible city underbelly that acts as an absorptive sponge for rainwater. This new engineered organic system would be poised to react to daily tidal flows and occasional storm surges. New wetlands would act as an additional buffer against tides and return the natural dynamics of the island to view for the first time in centuries.

Zone 1: Water Proving Ground
Team Leaders: Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki and David J. Lewis, LTL Architects
Liberty State Park
The zone including Liberty State Park, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is destined to all but disappear with rising sea levels. The team led by LTL architects envisioned a future for this area, largely created by massive landfill operations associated with the arrival of the railroad into the working port between 1860 and 1928. Faced with the challenge of a landscape defined by water, LTL imagined what would be required to occupy lands that are subject to the continual dynamics of the water, and change the profiles of a complex and serrated shoreline. Unlike more traditional defensive approaches like high sea walls that seek to sharpen and define the water‘s edge, the LTL led team aimed to increase the coastline by a factor of ten, to 45 miles, creating a wholly new landscape with a variety of possibilities for future urban life.
The underlying structure of the new site, with its acceptance of an ambiguity between sea and land, is a series of four raised "fingers" created by sculpting the existing landfill to create a series of "petri dishes" for both protected and productive areas. The new landscape that emerges is carefully reconnected to the New Jersey mainland to create park and productive areas that are a part of the region, as opposed to the current Liberty State Park, which is cut off by highway barriers and difficult to access.
LTL proposes a variety of uses for this hybrid land/seacape—from farming on land and in water (aquaculture), to recreation, to ecological research—which is interconnected by a system of land and water transportation. LTL offers a new kind of aqueous landscape more reminiscent of Venice than New York, for an area that could be swallowed up by the sea in coming decades. In 2100 this part of the New Jersey coastline (which includes Jersey City), could be exemplary of an approach to coastal occupation pertinent for millions of the world‘s citizens in the not-so-distant future.

Zone 2: Working Waterline
Team Leader: Matthew Baird, Matthew Baird Architects
Kill Van Kull and Bayonne
Matthew Baird and his team tackled a site with features ranging from the low lying lands of Bayonne—occupied primarily by an oil tank farm and military pier—to the residential areas of Staten Island along the Kill van Kull, largely on higher land. Their vision is at once global and local, for they realize that in response to climate change, shipping routes are opening in the Arctic that will potentially reshape the economy of the New York Harbor as much as higher sea levels will reshape the contours of the land. Their imaginative proposal is a new natural and new economic ecology for the city and region.

Baird and his team "curate" the landscape and its uses, creating a vast sinewy land berm to protect certain areas and provide an elevated path through the site for pedestrians and vehicles. At the same time, they have re-imagined the existing World War II-era piers and warehouses as a recycling facility. They imagine new uses for what, in the future, will be disused Bayonne oil tanks—creating biofuel fed by wastewater and using the facility to recycle the region‘s vast supply of discarded glass to create jacks that can be dumped onto the sea bed to create a new type of reef. This reef will serve as breakwaters and, over time, create new inhabitants for marsh grasses and marine life.
The project creates a new productive landscape on the site of a potential ecological disaster. If nothing were to be done here, the oil tank farm and its contaminants would be partially submerged by the end of the century. Baird sees no contradiction in our emerging world between new types of industry and parks. Currently, the former Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island is being developed into a major park. So too, in a region to the north, exists the potential for new energy production, industrial recycling of glass, and atop it all what the team calls a great "solar" highway for promenades. All of this is combined with opportunities for water sports—from kayaking among industrial artifacts of the twentieth century to swimming over the glass reefs of Bayonne.

Zone 3: New Aqueous City
Team Leaders: Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang, nARCHITECTS
Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, and Staten Island
The team led by nArchitects envisions a future for the largest and most varied of all the five zones examined in Rising Currents, comprising the heights on both sides of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and Fort Worth, Staten Island) and a low-lying area of Sunset Park, Brooklyn to the north. ―New Aqueous City‖ offers a new paradigm for a city that can control and absorb rising sea levels even as it accommodates an expected spike in population growth over the next century.
In counterpoint to an earlier generation‘s infrastructure embodied by the Verrazano Bridge, this project blurs the boundaries between land and sea, extending the city into the water. Habitable piers (with a new type of housing suspended above them) provide docking points for a new network of ferries connecting the region across the harbor. An archipelago of manmade islands connected by inflatable storm barriers encourages silt accumulation, fostering natural resilience against storm surges and reinforcing existing storm barriers south of the Narrows. At the same time, the water is extended into the city—particularly Sunset Park—which is punctuated by a network of infiltration basins, swales and culverts to absorb storm runoff, or function as a parks when dry.
Underlying a host of planning and design suggestions is the assumption of a selective role for government investment in transformative infrastructure. Bio-gas-powered ferry services and a new tramway supplement existing rapid transit. nArchitects proposes thus a dynamic infrastructure that works with nature rather than against it.

Zone 4: Oyster-Tecture
Team Leader: Kate Orff, SCAPE / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PLLC
Gowanus Canal, Red Hook, and Buttermilk Channel
The team led by landscape architect Kate Orff and SCAPE took on one of the most controversial zones of New York City, which encompasses the highly polluted Gowanus Canal (subject of numerous studies on decontamination and redevelopment), Governor‘s Island, and the waters in between. As the project was being completed, the Gowanus Canal was designated a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Engaging issues of water quality, rising tides, and community-based development, this team proposes to nurture the already active revitalization of a long lost natural oyster reef. They have proposed developing an armature in the shallow waters of the Bay Ridge Flats just south of Red Hook, Brooklyn, for growing native oysters and stimulating other marine life. The living reef is constructed from a field of piles and a web of ―fuzzy rope‖ that supports oyster growth. Harnessing the biotic processes of oysters, mussels and eelgrass, the reef cleans millions of gallons of harbor water, and by attenuating waves—both on an everyday basis and in the case of a storm surge—protects the adjacent shore line.
The team has reimagined the Gowanus Canal as a giant oyster nursery, where oysters could begin their natural work of reef creation (hence the title, Oyster-tecture). The hatchery will, in turn, seed the reef in Bay Ridge Flats. On the shore, a new, cleaner water-based community with Combined Sewer Overflow CSO gardens and local industry is planned where one day residents might savor homegrown oysters.

The McEmpire

2010-11-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

Artist and scientist Stephen Von Worley created two series of maps focusing on the presence of McDonald's in the continental United States. Von Worley did his National Science Foundation Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. He later conducted research at Washington University in St. Louis, served as a software engineer at Elan Computer Group, and became Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Freestyle Interactive.

Von Worley posed the question, "Just how far can you get from our world of generic convenience? And how would you figure that out?" To answer this question, he turned to the McDonald's franchise. Using GPS coordinates compiled from www.AggData.com, Von Worley plotted all 13,000 McDonald's in the continental US. The brightest areas are closest to McDonald's while the darker areas require a bit of a drive to satisfy your Big Mac craving. In 2010, Von Worley found the "McFarthest" spot to be in the Nevada desert, some 115 miles away from the nearest McDonald's.

The second of Von Worley's burger-themed maps takes into perspective the regional dominance of the 8 largest burger chains. The black areas of the country represent the strength of McDonald's. The 7 other burger chains each have their own colors, as indicated by the legend. Notably, Jack in the Box has a stronghold in Southern California and Sonic has Texas locked down. On Von Worley's blog, he does a poor job of explaining the methodology behind the creation of this map; it seems that the strength of each chain is based upon its density. McDonald's controls so much of the country because it has a pretty consistent density. On the other hand, Sonic dominates Texas due to its 900 locations in the state. His depiction of Sonic's presence is reminiscent of a spilled milkshake, which lends itself to the burger-themed map. In addition to an inclusion of a description of his methodology, Von Worley could improve this map by coloring the area outside the borders a color other than black, which symbolizes the dark and looming "McForce".

Additional information on Von Worley's imaginative creations can be found on his blog, www.datapointed.net

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2010-11-25T22:06:00.000-08:00

Two Typographic maps of Boston and Chicago were created by Axis Maps and published online on September 30, 2010. With offices in Hewitt, Texas, Axis Maps build custom, cartographic maps with interactive media to clients. They have received numerous awards, including the 1998 Award in Cartography: NDVI: Geography at Work by the National Geographic Society. The main contributors are Ben Sheesley, Ph. D. & M.S. from the University of Wisconsin and Andy Woodruff who has an M.S. in Cartography from the University of Wisconsin also. There is no legend because this map is emphasizing the downtown areas of Boston and Chicago through smooth lines of type font. The entire process took about 20 months and fonts used are News Gothic and Gentium for the Boston map and Myriad Pro and Cambria for the Chicago map. Bullets are used in order to make up for the empty spaces. Each of the words were laid out manually over an Open Street Map image, thus the final product was a result of laborious hours of work. Perhaps the main reason for the creation of this map is that Andy Woodruff had come up with a similar idea before and presented it to the people at Axis Maps. Andy states this in his blog post. He also states that they are a great buy- only $30 is repeated throughout with a reference at the end of the post saying, "BRB, waiting on the stoop for UPS to arrive with my typographic map posters." Future map posters hope to include San Francisco, New York (Manhattan), and Washington, D.C.

Blog URL: http://www.cartogrammar.com/blog/
Map Pictures: http://www.axismaps.com/blog/2010/09/typographic-map-posters/

http://www.axismaps.com/images/typographic/full/chi2b.jpg

The black and white detail of Chicago makes for a great contrast as opposed to the one in color.


http://www.axismaps.com/images/typographic/full/chi1b.jpg


http://www.axismaps.com/images/typographic/full/bos1a.jpg

Map of Boston

Maps URL: http://www.axismaps.com/typographic.php

visualizations

2010-11-23T12:11:00.000-08:00

Brian
Good: http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/29/the-daily-roundup-heres-what-you-mightve-missed/

Bad:

http://gizmodo.com/5696721/why-cable-subscriptions-really-declined-for-the-first-time-ever

(very confusing to me. The graphic really isnt that bad, once you have stared at it for a while. But, at least for me, it was not very easy to understand initially.)
As a bonus, they both use circles!

Ron

http://www.permuto.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/PER-GOOGLE.png

This is a bad visualization. It does not clearly represent data but rather a convoluted representation of data. It focuses entirely on aesthetics. Finally, it includes random facts that don’t pertain to the data being portrayed or the purpose of the visualization.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/17/washington/20090117_ADDRESSES.html

This is a good visualization because it is simple, easy to read, and still displays all the data with a simple mouse hover. Accessing and comparing all presidents is simple. Interaction plays a key part in this visualizations success.

Luke

"A Visualization to Explain Visualizations"

BAD Visualization

1. The chosen colors do not blend very well.

2. Inner and outer circles of each category are just different shades of the same color, making it hard to differentiate between the different circles.

3. The three "overlap" categories on the side are hard to correlate with the diagram's layout.

http://danielprager.posterous.com/a-visualization-to-explain-data-vizualization

"2010 Arctic Sea Ice Extent"

GOOD Visualization

1. Moving image highlights the difference between the two dates.

2. Focus on the matter at hand (the ice circle) without trying to add any unnecessary clutter.

3. Natural color of ice makes it easy to distinguish from the surrounding land and sea.

http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/noaa_vizualization_lab_arctic_extent.gif

Kev
Good: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/what-does-china-censor-online/
Bad: http://www.politicalmathblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ReligiousOutliersLarge.png

Adam
good: http://well-formed.eigenfactor.org/radial.html
bad: http://www.wefeelfine.org/common/movements/madness-full.jpg

Lakeem
good: http://benfry.com/zipdecode
bad:http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86109

Alec

http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2005/cmsc838s/viz4all/ss/fundrace.png

Bad: climate map (???)

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89365

Nicole
good:www.auscillate.com/post/110
bad: www.siggraph.org/publications.newsletter/volume/visfiles-the-next-surge-of-visualization-research

Rita
good: www.wikibon.org/blog/data-visualization/
bad: www.wefeelfine.org/movements.html

Morgan
good: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/minard
bad: http://thedoublethink.com/2009/08/tufte%E2%80%99s-principles-for-visualizing-quantitative-information

Brent
good: http://www.productivewise.com/web-trend-map-4/#more-1456
bad: http://eagereyes.org/blog/visual-mapping-of-poetry.html

Suphanut (not loading)
good: http://aperte.org/2008/04/14/visualization-data-book-review/
bad: http://infosthetics.com/archives/2009/03/just-loaded-visualizing-the-tweets-of-people-that-have-just-landed.html

Ryan
Bad: http://people.cs.ubc.ca/~tmm/courses/cpsc533c-05-fall/a1/acarbo/Images/bad_picture.jpg
Good: http://larvalsubjects.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/periodictable.gif

Jaquelyn
good: http://www.abeautifulwww.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/windowslivewritervisualizingthepowerstruggleinwikipedia-f7c7wikivislowres74.jpg
bad: http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/graphref/63022/HTML/default/images/gpldrl.gif

Keegan
good: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/
Cost effective - no training costs, people can pick it up and use it. Presents the points in an organized slide-at-a-time form that's easy to understand.

Ray
bad: Myspace (Visualization of a Network) www.myspace.com

Human Genome Mapping

2010-11-23T06:41:00.000-08:00

Gene mapping has been around for many years. One of the first attempts at finding relative gene locations was in 1920 by A.H. Sturtevant. Since then, the techniques have changed greatly, and locations are now much more accurate. The Human Genome Project began in 1990, headed up by James D. Watson, and was completed in 2003. The project was mostly done by Universities world wide. The purpose of the project was to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs of the human genome physically and functionally. Some of the many potential applications to come from this project include: improved diagnosis of diseases, early detection of genetic predispositions, gene therapy, research of biofuels, genetic engineered progeny, studying evolution and migration of species, DNA forensic analysis, creating disease/insect/drought resistant crop, and many other uses.

Resources:

National Center for Biotech Information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Class/MLACourse/Modules/Genomes/map_genetic.html

National Institute of General Medical Sciences:
http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/thenewgenetics/chapter1.html

US Department of Energy:
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/project/benefits.shtml

For images of chromosome mapping:
http://genomics.energy.gov/gallery/chromosomes/gallery-03.html

Jim Gray

2010-11-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

Silicon Valley’s High-Tech Hunt for Colleague

Published: February 3, 2007, The New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 2 — When James Gray failed to return home from a sailing trip on Sunday night, Silicon Valley’s best and brightest went out to help find him.
Read more

Image Source=Tony Hey, Stewart Tansley, Kristin Tolle (Eds.): http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/collaboration/fourthparadig

BBC News: Online maps 'wiping out history'

2010-11-15T06:40:00.000-08:00

Internet mapping is wiping the rich geography and history of Britain off the map, the president of the British Cartographic Society has said.
Read more
(BBC News 29 Aug 2008)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7586789.stm

"Native Land: Stop, Eject"

2010-11-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

"Native Land, stop eject" is created by Paul Virilio and Raymond Depardon. It was presented in The International COP15 conference on climate change organized by the United Nations which takes place from December 7-18, 2009. This exhibition focused on "a reflection on the notions of being rooted and uprooted, as well as related questions of identity.” The first part of the exhibition is titled "HEAR THEM SPEAK." Raymond Depardon states “Let us listen to these people,... and give them a chance to speak, so we can hear them express themselves in their language, with their own way of speaking, their own facial expressions.” This part focuses on the identity that is associated with land, language, and culture. Depardon shows that globalization endangers the native culture and identity. The second part of the exhibition focuses on migration. Virilio states that “the disappearance of the world’s vastness,” created by the current transportation and telecommunications revolution. Virilo showed that cities have become similar to the train or bus stations and airports of today, or the spaceports of the future.

This map is created by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Mark Hansen, Laura Kurgan, and Ben Rubin. It shows the shift of population and the growth of population. The x plane shows the longitude while the y plane shows the change in population in a certain area. Furthermore, each pixel of the map represents one thousand people, and the pixels are distributed equally between urban and rural areas. It also shows the urban areas projected to grow the most which include: Beihai, China; Ghaziabad, India; and Sanaa, Yemen.

google latitude

2010-11-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k&feature=player_embedded

This device allows you to track your friends and family exact location through GPS. It's also good for spying on people. HaHaHaaa (evil laugh)

Urban Tapestries, Noderunner, You Are Here Museu

2010-11-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Proboscis developed the Urban Tapestries project in 2003, encouraging participants to "write their city" by marking the places they visited and sharing their stories and impressions through the network. (Andrea Moed, "The Map Gets Personal," E/W 107)

Pioneering Noderunner, a 2002 game designed by Gomez de Llarena and Yury Gitman: players are challenged to run around a neighborhood or city with WiFi enabled computers...searching for open access network nodes. (Moed, "Games in the Electrosphere" D/W106)

You Are Here Museu, by Laura Kurgan: long before the intentional degradation fo GPS signals was ended by the US government in 2000, Kurgan was experimenting with GPS to explore the displacements resulting from IT. A single, stationary GPS receiver placed on teh roof of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona recorded teh scatter of points caused by military scrambling. (Terzich, "Instruments of Uncertainty" E/W109)

Hertz NeverLost (5th generation)

2010-11-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

"They don't always know about one-way streets or roads under construction, and their information about nearby services such as restaurants and gas stations is predictably incomplete."

"In their very staticness, printed maps from any source demand a more active navigating posture from people, since the words and graphics in hand are all the driver is going to get. Instead of listening for the next cue to turn, one barrels forward as the world unfolds on the other side of the windshield."
(Andrea Moed, "Can You Find Me Now?" Else/where Mapping 2006 p105)

Amble Time

2010-11-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

2003 Media Lab Europe

Fig. 1.1 from Crampton, J. Mapping A Critical Introduction to Cartography and GIS.

2010-11-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

Underskin Body Map - Sam Lomen

2010-10-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

This map is an artistic web sensation. Published in an obscure magazine, this map gained popularity in the internet community.

"Sam Loman ( 1983) studied Illustration at the academy of arts in Rotterdam the Netherlands and received her
Bachelor of Design in January 2005. A year before
her graduation she started her own design business.
First as an illustrator but soon she extended her
creative skills with graphic design, photography,
product design and writing children and non-fiction
books." (www.just-sam.com)

Although it is not anatomically accurate, as that would be extremely complicated, Lomen's map show's the body from a different, simplistic perspective. The body is presented as a subway system, as all the systems are interconnected and analogous to the hectic by-ways of underground travel. Purposes behind the map include: providing a simple tool for people to easily understand that their body is an interconnected system or possibly teaching children the basics of the various systems (reproductive, respiratory, etc). The legend emphasizes simplicity, which contributes to the overall style Lomen uses. She presents a very complex topic in a simple way. By borrowing aspects from the London Underground map, Lomen effectively and simplistically portrays the human body as an interconnected group of systems that interact with each other.

Tracking Teenagers

2010-10-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.getisight.com/

It's smart. Easy to use. And essential for parents of new teenage drivers. GetiSight:

installs permanently, discreetly
offers a secure, easy-to-use website at GetiSight.com
Uses GPS technology to pinpoint your vehicle's immediate location and speed online
provides a complete 30-day vehicle history
alerts you via email and/or text
message if your vehicle exceeds a user defined speed limit or leaves specified areas defined by you

Interesting fact: created and maintained by the step father of a student at UT and, on a more personal note, my ex-girlfriend.

GPS Sharing Bikes

2010-10-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

This type of GPS system allows bike riders to keep track of available bikes around town that are vacant and ready to use. Your account is charged at the time you unlock the bike till the time you lock it back up. When wanting to find a bike, use your cell phone and a map pops up for available bike locations.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-08/social-biking-system-wants-bring-low-cost-convenient-bike-sharing-nyc

GPS Good for the Groin!

2010-10-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

GPS technology has become adapted as a tool in radiation treatment to remove cancerous areas in the protate. This allows the radiation treatment to be much more accurate, where-as prior to this more real-time imaging, radiation beams might miss, and damage organs. The application of GPS in this manner allows for a safer treatment of prostate cancer.

BÉG, SAMI M.D. "GPS System Helps Treat Prostate Cancer." Feb. 12, 2007 .http://abcnews.go.com/Health/CancerPreventionAndTreatment/story?id=2863252&page=1 (accessed Oct. 25, 2010).

GPS- Bikes

2010-10-25T19:44:00.001-07:00

http://www.athleticgps.com/articles/a0116.shtml

This site/article compares different GPS devices that are used for bikers and runners. They can track your route, give hear rate information feedback, and many other cool features. Some UT students for their senior EE design projects created the same idea but much smaller and more simple. The purpose would be to upload your course information to CapMetro and the City of Austin to better bike routes around the city. However, there were not any published articles about this design project; I only know of it because I happened to attend the Design fair last fall right before Thanksgiving. Below is a link for a project that the Bicycle Sport Shop put on in Austin that did the same thing as the EE team's idea. The event was to get people to upload their routes so that the city would know how to help encourage people to ride their bikes and how to adjust roads to make this happen.

http://www.slideshare.net/rooster09/austin-commuter-challenge

GoSkyWatch

2010-10-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

GoSkyWatch utilizes GPS to pinpoint the user's location and combines this information with the current date and time to determine which stars appear in the night sky and identify constellations.

Geohashing

2010-10-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

Geohashing, a fun GPS game to play when you feel like going somewhere random!

http://xkcd.com/426/

Crime as an elevation.

2010-10-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

Doug McCune, a data visualization engineer and graduate from Stanford University, used a year of crime records from San Francisco to topographically visualize (vertical plotting) the crime concentrations in different parts of the city.

He mapped a total of 8 different crimes:

Blog: http://dougmccune.com/blog/2010/06/05/if-san-francisco-crime-was-elevation/
Information about the blogger: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dougmccune

"Geomosaic"

2010-10-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

This map of a shamrock was created after making a drawing on a real map and then walking the path with a Blackberry GPS tracker in Victoria Park.

http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/?m=200906

Geocaching

2010-10-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

This is an example of a geocaching map. Geocaching websites allow people to share GPS coordinates where caches are hidden. Once a person arrives, they must find the cache, which is generally hidden somewhere clever. The caches themselves can contain almost anything, but almost all of them include a log book for you to sign. This particular map is part of a puzzle to discover the coordinates of a particular cache in the Austin area. Link

American student finds GPS tracker stuck to car, FBI shows up to reclaim its 'federal property'

2010-10-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

This is not a particularly innovative use of a GPS, but it is definitely a scary one.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/08/american-student-finds-gps-tracker-stuck-to-car-fbi-shows-up-to/

CDC'S County-Level Heart Diseases GIS Map

2010-10-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

This map shows the rates of people aged 35 or older with heart disease that died between 1999 and 2003. It was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent disease by raising awareness and promoting healthy choices.

http://www.cdc.gov/gis/mg_heartdisease_stroke.htm

America's Challenge Balloon Race Tracker

2010-10-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.balloonfiesta.com/GasTracking/2010/

GPS trackers are attached to hot-air gas balloons to track their progress as they race across the country, starting in Albuquerque, NM. The map is interactive to allow the user to find out more information about the participants.

The Vulcan Project GIS map

2010-10-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

This map is created by The Vulcan Project which is
funded by Purdue Univeristy, The Department of Energy,
and NASA. It shows the emission of fossil fuel carbon dioxide
emissions in 2002. This map is used as a tool for policymakers,
demographers, and social scientists in order to reduce
CO2 emission and to combat global warming.

Source: http://www.purdue.edu/eas/carbon/vulcan/index.php

Jeremy Wood's GPS Art

2010-10-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

This is a segment of the 44.2 mile long quote from Moby Dick created using GPS tracings of Jeremy Wood's wanderings imposed over a satellite map. www.gpsdrawing.com/jw/work/meridians.html

Zip Scribble Map

2010-10-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Robert Kosara, who has his PhD in Computer Science from Vienna University of Technology, wanted to experiment with Ben Fry’s zipdecode applet. Ben Fry, a noted scholar and developer of Processing, created an applet which allows you to type in the digits of a zip code within the United States and see its exact location. Kosara, playing off this idea, decided to connect the dots on his Zip Scribble Map. He put all of the zip code locations on a map of the United States, and connected them within each state, in ascending order. The map begins in New York and heads across the country to the West, which is exactly how the postal zip code system was established anyways. Another map which is a spin-off of the Zip Scribble Map, is the Travelling Presidential Candidate Map, also created by Robert Kosara. In this map, he again placed all the zip code dotes on a United States of America map, and connected them using the shortest route possible through the zip codes. He basically untangled the lines from his Zip Scribble Map, and made a whole bunch of little mazes. The idea behind this map being, that should a Presidential candidate want to travel the country and visit every single zip code, this is the most efficient way to do so.

Robert Kosara's Zip Scribble Map

Robert Kosara's Travelling Presidential Candidate Map

Mapping Mars with NASA's Thermal Emission Imaging System

2010-10-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

In April of 2001, the Mars Odyssey was launched; on it a new, high-powered infrared camera known as the Thermal Emission Imaging System or THEMIS. Shortly after the Odyssey’s arrival in October and aerobrake completion in February of 2002, THEMIS began its mission to analyze the mineral content of the Martian surface as well as to create a better map of Mars. With a multi-band infrared camera capable of taking pictures at a resolution of 18 meters/pixel for visual images and 100 meters/pixel for infrared images, THEMIS could easily outdo previous mapping attempts such as the one performed by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer on board the Mars Global Surveyor launched in 1996.

Previous mapping attempt (above); THEMIS attempt (below)

By taking pictures of Mars with an infrared camera, warmer areas closer to the sun, such as mountains, could be distinguished from lower, colder areas like valleys. The resulting images form a shaded relief map allowing users to distinguish changes in elevation. Since THEMIS began imaging Mars in 2002, over 21,000 pictures of the Red Planet have been taken. In June 2010, scientists completed piecing the thousands of images gathered from THEMIS to produce the most accurate map of Mars in history. Although atmospheric dust has not yet permitted THEMIS to take quality images of some areas, their addition to the map is promising with the Odyssey and THEMIS still orbiting the planet.

Animal-shaped cities.

2010-10-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

On August 18th, the Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning of Southern Sudan announced its plan to remodel the region's cities into the shapes of their state flags, which consist of animals and fruits. This includes relocating the capital and constructing it in the shape of a rhinoceros, in which the eye will hold the president's office.
Asides from Jubo, the highlights of the plan include a giraffe-shaped Wau, as well as a giant pineapple for the town of Yambio. This radical plan could be cartozoogy's largest project ever.

For a territory who is not independent yet, and in which 90% of the population lives with under a dollar a day, this enormous plan seems illogical. Southern Sudan plans to do this project with $10 billion dollars of which only two have fundraised. As a blog critic mentions, the whole plan could be simply a flag to attract private investment and attention to the territory seeking independence, since the majority of the project's funding is dependent on it. Although not very realistic with the given budget and poor governmental organization of the territory, this project surely is effective at spreading the word about Southern Sudan's plans of independence, and in the long run, this attention could possibly provide the international interest to invest.

Mapping the Internet

2010-10-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

Though the art of mapping may be almost as old as dirt, that doesn’t stop this ever changing aspect of human ingenuity from being applied to modern elements of today’s world. Even the most vast and illusive terrain of our era cannot evade good old fashioned cartography. Multiple methods have been applied to mapping the internet. Two of the most notable attempts were done by Cheswick and Burch, and the Opte Project.

The Cheswick map, sends packets of data through the internet with deletion timers. When each packet deletes itself, it sends out its location. Innumerable amounts of these packets are sent, each with their own deletion timers, so that together, all the positions could be connected to form a web representation of the internet. The Internet Mapping Project has been in operation since 1998, originally designed to study malicious attacks on the internet, as well as other general activity.

The Opte Project, however takes a different route, using a rapid mapping method, which can map the internet in one day. Sending data to the major nodes of the internet, such as the big internet hosts, like AT&T, the packets then divert to sub nodes, mapping these. While this does not plot out every IP on the internet, this method gets the general shape of the internet, making for a good representation.

Cheswick, "The Internet Mapping Project."
http://cheswick.com/ches/map/ (accessed 10-09-10).

Lyon, Barrett. "The Opte Project."
http://www.opte.org/ (accessed 10-09-10).

Mapping the Moon

2010-09-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

Selenography, the mapping of the moon, began in 1779 with only the use of telescopes. In 1994 NASA's Clementine mission created an almost global topographic map of the moon, using a laser altimeter to measure the distance from the Clementine to the lunar surface with laser pulses. In June 2009, NASA returned to the moon with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to create a complete lunar topographic map with the purpose of finding smooth surface spots from future moon landings. The LRO orbited the moon two times an hour at approximately 31 miles above the lunar surface for one year to create the lunar map. The LRO is equipped with the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) that emits 28 pulses per minute; the complete lunar map was created with 2.4 billion pulses. LOLA works by emitting a single laser pulse which is then diffracted into five pulses. LOLA then measures the flight time to determine the distance from the lunar surface, the spread of the pulses to determine the surface texture, and the return energy of the laser pulse to determine the reflectivity of the surface, which allows scientists to determine the presence of ice crystals. This map enabled analysis of the moon's craters giving scientists a glimpse into the history of the solar system. By mapping the craters larger than 12.5 miles in diameter, James Head, a professor of Geological Sciences at Brown University, and a group of other scientists were able to determine that approximately 3.9 billion years ago Jupiter and Saturn shifted, changing the gravitational pull on the asteroid belt and releasing large asteroids which collided with the Moon and Earth. The evidence of this on Earth has been destroyed by billions of years of erosion and the movement of tectonic plates.

Kiepert map of Africa

2010-09-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Heinrich Kiepert's 1856 map of Africa hung on the wall during the 1884 Bismarck conference in Berlin: an important tool in the subsequent "carve up of Africa". Note that the land to be partitioned by the six European powers was represented as a mostly blank slate. The pieces went to Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Belgium; among them, they acquired 30 new colonies and 110 million subjects.
Image of map from David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.
BBC Radio 4 "In Our Time"

Lynch maps from Image of the City 1960

2010-09-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

Cuthbert on Lynch

2010-09-07T05:47:00.001-07:00

Cuthbert, Alexander R. "Urban design: requiem for an era – review and critique
of the last 50 years" in URBAN DESIGN International (2007) 12, 177–223

Debord psychogeography

2010-09-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

"The Naked City, a map by Debord, illustrates the Situationists' concern with the construction and perception of urban space. The map consists of 19 cut-out sections of a map of Paris, printed in black ink, which are connected with red arrows. With its invention of quarters, its shifting about of spatial relations, and its large white blanks of non-actualized space, The Naked City visualizes a fragmented city that is both the result of multiple restructuring of a capitalist society, and the very form of a radical critique of this society."
Tom McDonough, October 67, (Winter 1994) 58-77.

Debord psychogeography 1957

2010-09-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

General Motors Futurama

2010-09-07T05:41:00.000-07:00

Le Corbusier Contemporary city 1922

2010-09-07T05:38:00.000-07:00

Le Corbusier Contemporary City for 3 million residents

James Corner on the High Line

2010-09-01T21:13:00.001-07:00

From Inhabitat

Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Air-Ocean Worldmap 1943

2010-09-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

Lewis Carroll, Borges, on maps

2010-09-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

Mercator projection & the Greenland problem (+ equatorial shift)

2010-09-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

NPR on Robinson and his projection (All Things Considered 2004)

2010-09-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Arthur Robinson tribute on NPR

Robinson projection

How the New York Times Creates its Infographics

2010-09-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Interesting little movie, from Gestalten.

James Corner article in New York Magazine

2010-08-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

"They would not build a new park on top of an old dump. Instead, they would make the old dump a part of the new park, by acknowledging it, reclaiming it, recycling it on behalf of a modern metropolis. Corner did not see Fresh Kills as a painting, in other words; he saw it as a palimpsest, a collaboration between a landscape architect and his landfill."

Wall-E Park By Robert Sullivan, New York Magazine, Nov 23, 2008