Top 5 Blogs About Maps
We love looking at maps (our own and other people's). We've done a little run down on our current favourites, from the wacky to the wonderful...
1. Fuckyeahcartography As mysterious as Batman, the individual behind this Tumblr blog is unknown, only their mission statement – to "explore interesting representations of space". They love all maps, from classic Robinson projections through to 1930s street plans of LA, interactive map infographics on birth control / racism / places Bill Gates can or can't buy cash (niche) – they've got it covered, trawling the internet and retweeting the most interesting maps they uncover. There might even be a Future Map or two in there...
2. The Map Room Though now technically defunct, The Map Room is still one of the most comprehensive reference blogs on mapping through the 2000s, covering everything from antique maps through to geo-mapping technical innovations. Blogger Jonathan Crowe maintains the old blah, and posts occasional news-tories relating to map developments. Covering a broad range of topics, this is an easy way to immerse yourself in the cartographic world for a few hours...
3. Strange Maps "I had you at maps" says Strange Maps blogger Frank Jacobs. And oh! how he did… A bit like a Ron Seal advert, this blog does exactly what it says on the tin, offering up curious – Cucumber Map of Europe – strange – Greenland by Way of a Drainpipe: Accidental Cartography IV – and interesting – When Harry Met Paris: Beck's Métro Map – blog posts about cartography, it's history, comedic moments and mythologies.
4. Time for Maps! Pictures=pretty. That's the order of the day for this Tumblr blog, which sources maps (real, fictional, and the blurry group in the middle) and reposts them as a stream of constantly changing pictures. You're never quite sure what you're going to get here so it's worth a gamble.
5. Mapstalgia Combining a nostalgia for video games (we loved Alex the Kid) with hand drawn, pixeled, painted and sculpted maps, this Tumblr page curated by Josh Millard is probably about as niche as you can find. Drawn from memory, these maps recreate the fictional worlds of video game levels, worlds and scenes submitted by readers. A testament to the diverse information the human brain retains it's not necessarily cartography in the strictest sense, but it's a bit of fun!
