“Globes have a very low survival rate,” explained Ian Fowler, director of the Osher Map Library (OML) at the University of Southern Maine.
maps
Posted inArt
Why Cannibals Were on Every 16th-Century Map of the New World
Many of the first European maps of the Americas included warnings of cannibalism, despite no proof of such activity.
Posted inArt
Mapping the Gender Imbalance in City Street Names
This August, activist group Osez le Féminisme (Dare to be Feminist) installed guerrilla signs in Paris to rename streets and parks after women like singer Nina Simone, sailor Florence Arthaud, and author Simone de Beauvoir.
Posted inArt
Mapping 13 Centuries of English Metaphors
A three-year project from the University of Glasgow’s School of Critical Studies mapped 13 centuries of metaphors in the English language.
Posted inIn Brief
Researchers Decipher the Map That May Have Guided Columbus Westward
You might call Henricus Martellus’s 1491 world map — which many believe Christopher Columbus consulted before setting out on his voyage — a symbol of the limits of human knowledge.
Posted inArt
An Avant-Garde Map that Enticed Fearful Customers to Air Travel
When aviation took off in the early 20th century, safety was still shaky and the public needed some convincing to get them soaring among the clouds in the noisy metal contraptions.
Posted inNews
Open-Source Maps Help Guide Nepalese Earthquake Relief
A crucial need in any rescue effort — perhaps just as important to saving lives as medical supplies, food, and tents — is an up-to-date map that humanitarian workers can use to more efficiently navigate the rubble.
Posted inArt
Using Fiction to Map the Emotional Geography of Victorian London
The Stanford Literary Lab has plotted quotes from over 700 19th-century authors who mentioned locations in London in order to compose concentrations of dread or happiness.
Posted inArt
What the World Never Looked Like
During the late Renaissance, many gold-thirsty European explorers set sail on a quest to locate the fastest route to the Orient.
Posted inArt
An Atlas Gathers the Most Creative Contemporary Maps
Considering how long the earth’s been around, you’d think it would have already been exhaustively charted. But in recent years, mapmaking has exploded.
Posted inArt
From Manhattan Doorsteps to Brooklyn Living Rooms, a Photographic Map of 1970s New York
Two 1970s photography series that chronicled the urban landscapes of New York City are now accessible on interactive maps through the New York Public Library’s ongoing Photo Geographies project.
Posted inArt
Data-Driven Music for the Disharmony of New York’s Income Inequality
As the 2 train travels from Brooklyn through Manhattan up to the Bronx, it journeys along 49 stations of neighborhoods as varied as Flatbush, the Financial District, and Wakefield.