Maps and the City

Mappa Mundi 2.0

marleen — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:17:17 +0000

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!

detail of his Mappa Mundi

Caught on Tape

marleen — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:09:12 +0000

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.

iPhone Case Closed

marleen — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 08:40:33 +0000

Etsy.com is really filled with cool map items. Look at these great iPhone cases, love them! Do you too? Check ‘m here.

Fashion & Fantasy

marleen — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:09:35 +0000

Yeah, it must be clear after all these posts that MATC likes fashionable map use & also Tolkien inspired maps. Thanks Thanh Le, for sharing this on 9GAG.com.

Map Fashion @ Borough Market London

marleen — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:42:42 +0000

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.

A Page Filled with I-want-them-all Map Prints

marleen — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:27:02 +0000

So, I stumbled upon this map on Pinterest, a cool Mondrian style world map. It was posted on a blog called College Life DIY by Vanessa. And I am so happy she did because it let me to the site of ArtPause. It just won’t get much better than this site… Jawdropping map designs all over the place. Yay! I will only post two here, please go their Etsy site to see all of there amazing prints.

8bit Coolness

marleen — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:18:09 +0000

Need we say more? This. is. brilliant. Click on the map details to go to Google Maps in 8bit and go for a stroll yourself.

Game of Thrones S2 is coming….

marleen — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:00:02 +0000

I really can’t wait. Game of Thrones is about to kick off Season 2 on HBO. The first season got me hooked completely (as blogged earlier)…. For anyone who missed out on Season 1 (which I doubt) there is a great Viewer’s Guide where you can check all insides about the series (about main characters, about the different Houses that are involved in a quest for power, et cetera). The Viewer’s Guide existed already, but obviously got a lot more complete since my post last year. And lucky us: they also added an Places option in the Guide. So if you read about a city you want to know more of; you can now click the Place and get directed to it on the map. Yes. Yes. Yes! Legid reason to explore the map for a while: you need to be up to date when Season 2 commences in April. Off you go, click it!

Gone with the Wind

marleen — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:00:03 +0000

Geography rocks. On this website you can see wind flowing over the United States. Click on the map above to go to the hint.fm website and see the current currents, pretty impressive! Live nature entertainment. The gallery is almost poetically called Snapshots of Winds Past, those images almost look like pieces of leather.

Let’s go hiking in Narnia!

marleen — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:39:27 +0000

So happy people keep sharing cool map stuff with me (yes, you there little uikstar, thanks for sharing). Check this map of what our world should look like according to some. The map is published on 9gag.com; a website filled with hilarious stuff. The map itself doesn’t need any explanation I guess…