When we talk maps, there is always the perception issue: who determines what is on a map and what is not? Well, here we have a map project focusing on precisely that. These maps by Carlos Romo Melgar from Madrid are an automapping project: cartography of someone’s personal world. You will immediately see the ressemblance with a medieval Mappa Mundi. Only in these Cosmographies it is not a monk reflecting on the world, but a metropolitan.
As Carlos puts it: “Nowadays we are surrounded by maps (exact and geographical maps), which sometimes have informations we don’t really need to get guided through a city. Cosmographies are a sort of record or archive of personal facts and experiences. The center of that cosmos is the person who looks around himself, and represents what he sees, through his past experiences. I find that is a different way to approach to a city, by the irrelevant opinions instead of the stablished facts from an authority.”
Check his website, you can also buy the Cosmographies there (contact Carlos through e-mail). To top it off, he even makes tailor made maps, to make sure the cosmography reflects your own experiences in a city. Carlos: “I usually talk to the client, and ask for their experiences. From several interviews I get the facts which I represent on the maps.” Well, tailor made or not, looking at these makes me want to go back to Madrid instantly. What a great way to portray a city!
Litterally anything wrapped in paper with this tape around it would make a great gift! The tape exists with the subway or railway lines of London, Tokyo and New York. Absolutely love them.
Spotted this weekend while strolling (and eating half of all the delicious food that was on display) at Borough Market in London: a maploving fashionable Londoner.
Clean design and maps go hand in hand. See these nice examples of FontMap: maps created by Richard Small, who graduated in Typography at University of Reading and now works as a communication designer at Sony. These maps have been a side hobby for him. Good news for us it that we can enjoy them also!
This is not the Tube Map you normally see of London. On this one you can see what stops are accessible for wheelchairs and how many aren’t because of steps. Looks like a whole part of town is quite hard to reach, to put it mildly.
This is a pretty cool tip! June Caravel, a London based A Cappella singer from France, made a song about London consisting of words present in over 50 street names of the city. London Song is a witty song featuring the street names in the clip also. What I like most is the map showing all different locations June went to film the different parts in the clip. Awesome! Check out this singer on her website to learn more about June and her music.
Whether it is cooking, fashion, knitting, kitesurfing or cartography, go for the things you want in life with passion. Just wanted to share this wisdom of the Holstee brothers in their Manifesto with you!
Spending a week in wonderful Lisboa, I ran into so many things worth a post. Stay tuned for more. For now I just want to share some images of a impressive building I visited in the Beleim area of the city. The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, a facility for biomedical research, was opened in October 2010 and the architecture is really mindblowing… Take a virtual tour here: Virtual Tour of Champalimaud Research Centre
Since this blog is called Maps and the City, some City fun in today’s post. Check out this new graffiti by Banksy, he sure does create work about hot topics. Please note the tap. Uhoh. Must. Stop. Explaining. Jokes.
detail of his Mappa Mundi
