Map of the Week - QSL Card Maps

QSL (Query Station Location) cards are postcards sent by amateur radio operators to verify station reception. The cards provide a visual identity for radio operators and are popular collectibles. Garth Hamilton, operator of station VE3HO in Fonthill, Ontario creates map based QSL cards for other operators. Here are some examples:

Here's his own card.

Map of the Weekend-The Canada Puzzle

It's puzzling how clear some things are to me - like the colors of our states and provinces. On a recent weekend cleaning binge I found the jigsaw puzzle that helped me learn Canadian geography and also taught me what color each province is. If you see a map with different colors from these, it's inaccurate!

Saskatchewan is as yellow as the wheat that waves in a summer wind and and don't try to tell me Ontario is orange - nyet! Here are some pieces, poorly photographed.

States and Provinces Auto-Completed

The auto-correct feature on smart phones can be really annoying but if it didn't exist we wouldn't be able to waste our workday looking at Damn You Auto Correct!

Google has a slightly different feature called autocomplete based on web searches. Here is a map of the United States showing google's autocomplete suggestions - via Very Small Array.

Too bad the gratuitous topography makes it hard to read at this scale but if you click the map you'll get a readable version. There are at least five unfortunate states, that do not even contain google's autocorrect suggestion. See if you can figure them out.

Here's Canada, courtesy of the GIS User blog.

What is Map of the Week?

Today is the fifth anniversary of Map of the Week! Sort of. Actually it's more complicated than that as most things are. An exact anniversary date is tough to pin down so today is as good as any. Here's the boring history lesson:

Map of the Week started in or around 1993 when I shared a house in Lawrence, Kansas with fellow graduate student, frequent commenter and Renaissance blogger Michael5000. We started putting maps of the week on the kitchen wall (or maybe fridge I can't remember everything from those crazy college days.)  They were not exotic or special - just maps that we felt like posting and the practice didn't stick for very long because we had homework and life to attend to.

When I accepted a job in Seattle, a place I'd never been, I drew this mental map based on my limited knowledge and probably posted it as a final map of the week. The map suffers from the classic "figure ground" problem-the water looks like land and vice versa. The original is on yellow paper, printed on the back of a lost dog notice.

On occasion I would send Mr. 5000 maps in the US mail that I found to be noteworthy. Here is a map from a charity newsletter of a project they did in Moncton, New Brunswick. I clipped out the charity's name to spare them the embarrassment as they do some very good work.

The map is pretty tough to read from my poor copy but basically they didn't know where Moncton or New Brunswick were so they just plopped it right in the middle of the country. That's OK - Canada's a small place!

Years later (around 2004 or so) I decided to revive Map of the Week as a weekly e-mail with a map attached. Five years ago today I started keeping track of what map I posted on what date with an eye towards a possible blog. I finally created the blog in 2007 and began by back posting all my entries beginning October 5th, 2005. As of today the blog has reached over 150 countries!

Map of the Week will try to continue to bring a quality blog product every week, with the occasional extra map of the weekend or other special event. Map of the Week will not advertise your book, or map products but if something looks interesting, I may post it without the sales pitch. Thanks to all my readers for years of support!

Map of the Week-The $5.5 Million Fence

The G20 summit is coming to Toronto this weekend and you are NOT invited! They are building a security fence in your honor at an estimated cost of $5.5 Million according to the Globe and Mail. The fence is outlined in red on the map below. The lighter shaded area is where automobile traffic will be tightly controlled.

This area is right in the middle of downtown and encompasses many theaters, hotels, restaurants, sports venues and other attractions such as the CN Tower. Most of these places will be closed and the Toronto Blue Jays will be playing their "home" games this weekend in Philadelphia. That means the area's 25 or so baseball fans will miss Roy Halladay's big return to Toronto.

The Globe and Mail has an interactive map showing the security and closures. The items on the left side of the map can be clicked for locations and more information.

 Also, if you are in or near the area be prepared to look good because you will be photographed as illustrated by this security camera map from the Toronto Star.

Map of the Week-Take the Long Way Home

Today is Day 90 of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay. It's a long way from Victoria to Vancouver. You could just take the ferry but that's no fun! This route takes 106 days and goes through every province, territory and major city in Canada.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic web site has an interactive map where you can see the route details and link to events, photos and stories. The route looks more like a child's connect the dots drawing than a map but cartographic accuracy is not their first priority. Here is today's route through British Columbia from Revelstoke to Salmon Arm and then on to Kamloops.

Clicking the red dot at Kamloops brings up a detailed map showing this evening's route and festivities. The detailed maps also feature cartographic accuracy!

Maps in Unexpected Places - Part 1

This is the first of an occasional series highlighting maps in, you know, unexpected places. I saw this map of the Underground Railroad on a U-Haul truck this morning.

You can see all the states and Canadian provinces at U-Haul's online super graphics page.

Other map oriented truck graphics include North Dakota...

...and one of my personal favorites, Pennsylvania.

The "Did you know..." texts from these images:

Ontario: Abolishing slavery decades earlier than the U.S., Canada became a haven for enslaved people seeking freedom. How did "conductors" assist thousands?

North Dakota: Flags of the U.S., Mexico & Canada fly at the monument of the geographic center of North America in Rugby.

Pennsylvania: With President Jefferson's instructions in hand, the Lewis and Clark Expedition set sail down the Ohio River. What role did Philadelphia and Lancaster play in the tireless preparations undertaken for this journey? 

Map of the Week #99 - [murmur]

Murmur (excuse me it's [murmur]) is a cool multimedia project established in Toronto. You can click the link below, choose a neighborhood and bring up a "mental map" such as below. Clicking the red dots will bring up audio files that are stories told by everyday people who have a connection to those locations. Below is their own description of the project:

[murmur] is a documentary oral history project that records stories and memories told about specific geographic locations. We collect and make accessible people's personal histories and anecdotes about the places in their neighborhoods that are important to them. In each of these locations we install a [murmur] sign with a telephone number on it that anyone can call with a mobile phone to listen to that story while standing in that exact spot, and engaging in the physical experience of being right where the story takes place. Some stories suggest that the listener walk around, following a certain path through a place, while others allow a person to wander with both their feet and their gaze.
The stories we record range from personal recollections to more "historic" stories, or sometimes both -- but always are told from a personal point of view, as if the storyteller is just out for a stroll and was casually talking about their neighbourhood to a friend.

MOTW #58

In honor of New Year's Eve I had posted an interactive Guy Lombardo map of London, Ontario showing all the sites related to his life growing up there. There were lots of amusing and somewhat violent stories attached to the various places he lived and played music. Sadly, the map seems to have disappeared from cyberspace.

MOTW #41

Want to know where to go for a lobster dinner in Prince Edward Island? Here you go. The PEI online Visitor's Guide lets you build a travel itinerary and make a map of it on the fly.

MOTW #34

This is a map outlining the places I rode my bike during my May-June bicycling vacation in Quebec. I went up there for the Montreal Bike Festival and did a bunch of other rides in the Laurentians.

MOTW #24

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Atlas of Canada here's a 100-year old map showing the telegraph network in Ontario and Quebec.

MOTW #12

This map was originally published in the Canadian magazine Geist. They have a "Caught Mapping" feature showing maps of places in Canada grouped around a common theme. This is a map showing locations mentioned in songs by Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers. Back in my college days I spent many Saturdays evenings listening to Stan and others on the Hudson River Sampler from WAMC in Albany.

MOTW #8

Here is a map of the results from Canada's 2004 election - courtesy of the Atlas of Canada. This is a blow up of the eastern part of the country click here or on the map for the complete picture