[Editor’s note: Thanks Curt!]
Republished from information aesthetics.
Via Vizworld and Gizmodo.
Sam Loman [just-sam.com] created an original take on illustrating the inner structure and workings of the human body as the tight intertwining of different systems (e.g. arterial, digestive, musculetal, respiratory, etc.), by way of a subway map metaphor.
[Editor’s note: Seen over at Gizmodo. Thanks Curt!]
Pinch to zoom? Nah. Try unfold to zoom. The Map2, a “zoomable map on paper,” is a clever invention that packs more detailed maps underneath its folds.
[Editor’s note: China’s government censoreship and web practices have been in the news this week after Google threatened to pull out of the country. This map / tag cloud / art piece highlights forbidden topics and websites inside China. Thanks Curt!]
[Editor’s note: A novel map projection based more on a fish-eye lens topology of near and far from both uptown and downtown perspectives. Thanks Melissa and Curt!]
Republished from Gizmodo.
By Mark Wilson, Tue May 5 2009.
It’s rare that we get excited over maps, but this idea by graphic designers Jack Schulze and Matt Webb would be great for GPSs, combining 3D, first person and overhead views into one übermap.
The art project, called Here & There, bends the world into horizon-less, roller coaster loop topography, which allows the viewer to see their position from the first person perspective (complete with those 3D buildings that usually just get in the way) alongside the route/terrain to come.
For now, the designers’ work is available in limited edition prints only that go for $65 (per a set of two). But we can still dream that someone like Google, Apple or Garmin might come around and drop a big pile of money on the small agency before automating this visualization for real time navigation. [Here & There and Background Info via FastCompany]
[Editor’s note: Google has started to add museum collections to Google Earth. The Prada in Madrid includes a self portrait by Albrecht Dürer, Las Meninas, the dark Goyas, and the Fusilamientos del Tres de Mayo. Video includes section on how Google took the photos. Thanks KL!]
Republished from the Duke
Original January 14th, 2009 by Randy Riddle.
Google has added the El Prado museum to Google Earth, allowing you to not only see the buildings, but to do a “virtual tour†of 14 paintings in the collections, viewing them in incredible detail – each painting is captured and presented in 14 billion pixels.
Below is a short video and you can also read a blog post at Gizmodo about the project.
[Editor’s note: Rand McNally introduces their popular US state-by-state road atlas series for the Kindle. Though without a GPS and in gray scale, I have played with a Kindle before and see the allure of the platform in terms of ease of use and portability. I discussed this topic at NACIS Missoula with some fellow cartographers in the context of the new lat-long GIS capabilities of the PDF format I wonder when smart phones like the iPhone that DO have GPS will start surpasing these efforts with such a PDF hack. In fact, there are several native apps for the Phone now featuring marine maps with GPS integration so there is a market out there. Though the iPhone’s display physical dimensions are smaller than the Kindle, it has a higher resolution (pixels per inch) display that it easy to zoom. As to the utility of a road atlas that is NOT Google Maps tiles take the Benchmark (great christmas gifts!) series of western states road atlases, far and away better than Rand McNally or Delorme, which offer integrated relief shading, better road classification, points of interest, and most importantly, landscape maps with land ownership and physiography. Plus, the ability to view maps while not connected to the network is a big plus. Thanks Curt!]
Republished from Gizmodo.
Rand McNally can’t be happy with everyone dropping their bulky atlases for GPS units and nav-enabled phones, so they’re fighting back. But they seem a little confused.
The company is releasing a series of atlases for the Kindle, which will be purchased, delivered and consumed like any other ebook on the platform. The first maps, for Northern California, Southern California, and Washington, will be available for $1.99 each, and like the Rand atlases of your childhood, will probably be exhaustive.
There’s nothing expressly wrong with the concept, and the price could well be worth the utility, but the fact remains that putting static map collections on an ebook reader only accentuates how outmoded they are, and how artificially limited the powerful Kindle is. Regardless, the Kindle’s search function and the carefully indexed maps will provide a workable map solution for that small Kindle-equipped, Google Maps-forswearing slice of the population. [eCoustics]
The eCoustics post:
Rand McNally Road Atlases have been designed to work specifically on the Kindle reader. The digital atlas includes a full, searchable index of every city on the map as well as National Parks and other federal areas. The atlas also features individual overview maps of major National Parks as well as major cities and towns.
“Building on our decades of experience and a tradition of producing the most trusted print maps in the world, we are excited to take the industry lead in delivering easily readable state maps in a truly portable digital format,” said Joel Minster, senior vice president and chief cartographer at Rand McNally. “Our cartographic development team created a map page navigation technique entirely new to the Kindle, letting users easily navigate to the map above or below the current page, not just the page before or after, which is typical of e-book readers. Customers should expect nothing less from Rand McNally than to provide them with the trusted tools they need to discover, map and navigate their world.”
Users can download content directly through their Kindle device or from their computers via Amazon.com. Kindle books include free wireless delivery within a minute of placing an order. Additional Rand McNally state atlases for the Kindle are planned for 2009.
About Rand McNally
From America’s number-one-selling Road Atlas, The Thomas Guide®, FabMAP® and Goode’s World Atlas to StreetFinder® Wireless and IntelliRoute® trucking software, Rand McNally has been an industry leader in the mapping, routing, geographic reference and trip-planning tool marketplace for more than 150 years. With More Roads-Better Directionsâ„¢, the company’s products are sold in more than 50,000 retail outlets, directly to business, and are distributed to 98% of schools across the U.S. Rand McNally is the premier resource for online travel planning as well as maps and directions. For more information, please visit www.RandMcNally.com, call 800-333-0136 or buy maps and travel gear online at http://store.randmcnally.com/.
