David Ramos
@imagineterrain.bsky.social
Designer/design educator in Washington, D.C. Making maps/systems to help us imagine landscapes past + future. Lost streams,🚲🛶🌊 On the web — imaginaryterrain.com
Pinned
David Ramos
@imagineterrain.bsky.social
· Sep 24
A pinned collection of map projects, starting with "Lost Streams of Washington, DC," and "From Bay to Mountains," the Chesapeake Bay region's railroads, past and present.
Ah yes, another bike rack that was designed by someone who had never seen a bicycle before, just read descriptions of them written by small, innumerate children.
November 17, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Ah yes, another bike rack that was designed by someone who had never seen a bicycle before, just read descriptions of them written by small, innumerate children.
Euclidian Zoning, as in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. zoning, is structured in a remarkably complicated way.
November 17, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Euclidian Zoning, as in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. zoning, is structured in a remarkably complicated way.
What is this.
You wake up. Clinton? 9/11? iTunes? Epstein? Your friend is pounding on the door of your walkup in Belltown. You missed your shift at Bauhaus Books and Soundgarden is on at 9.
November 17, 2025 at 3:11 PM
What is this.
The line isn't wrong. Might be missing one adjective.
November 17, 2025 at 3:08 PM
The line isn't wrong. Might be missing one adjective.
Thinking about design education. It isn't about "portfolio schools" and "process schools" anymore, if it ever was. A design program's purpose falls along a scale—aiming to *prepare students for professional practice*, or working to *advance the state of practice*.
November 16, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Thinking about design education. It isn't about "portfolio schools" and "process schools" anymore, if it ever was. A design program's purpose falls along a scale—aiming to *prepare students for professional practice*, or working to *advance the state of practice*.
Learned that, in the 2000s, the Historic American Engineering Record worked with the US Maritime Administration to document some important ships within the US reserve fleets. www.loc.gov/item/tx1092/
November 15, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Learned that, in the 2000s, the Historic American Engineering Record worked with the US Maritime Administration to document some important ships within the US reserve fleets. www.loc.gov/item/tx1092/
Looks as if the Fenty for Mayor campaign is kicking off, over on Adams Mill Road.
November 14, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Looks as if the Fenty for Mayor campaign is kicking off, over on Adams Mill Road.
I'm struck that, more than most buildings, large modern theatres really are machines, machines for moving scenery and curtains around and throwing light on them. (This is a plan of the basement of the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago — it's mostly hydraulic lifts.)
November 14, 2025 at 10:27 PM
I'm struck that, more than most buildings, large modern theatres really are machines, machines for moving scenery and curtains around and throwing light on them. (This is a plan of the basement of the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago — it's mostly hydraulic lifts.)
I like the idea of US states that are built around watersheds, in some romantic sense, but the notion really only works west of the Appalachians, and it's arbitrary even then. (Why wouldn't the Roanoke River get a state?)
November 14, 2025 at 10:03 PM
I like the idea of US states that are built around watersheds, in some romantic sense, but the notion really only works west of the Appalachians, and it's arbitrary even then. (Why wouldn't the Roanoke River get a state?)
The "very bad" design, with the most light pollution? The Washington Globe streetlights follow that pattern, because the shape is historic and NCPC insists that we should keep it.
Lots of folks captioning aurora photos like "for a few minutes we didn't think about politics"
guess I'm built different, every time I'm out trying to see night sky stuff I frequently think about how much light pollution is entirely preventable with just a tiny bit of regulation
guess I'm built different, every time I'm out trying to see night sky stuff I frequently think about how much light pollution is entirely preventable with just a tiny bit of regulation
November 14, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The "very bad" design, with the most light pollution? The Washington Globe streetlights follow that pattern, because the shape is historic and NCPC insists that we should keep it.
Well, Canada is no longer measles-free. (Also, I don't know how to spell "measles," because I'VE NEVER HAD TO USE THE WORD BEFORE, fecking antivax goons.)
Canada loses measles elimination status after ongoing outbreaks
International health experts say Canada is no longer measles-free because of ongoing outbreaks, as childhood vaccination rates fall and the highly contagious virus spreads across North and South Ameri...
apnews.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Well, Canada is no longer measles-free. (Also, I don't know how to spell "measles," because I'VE NEVER HAD TO USE THE WORD BEFORE, fecking antivax goons.)
Observations from an MLA program: people in the architectural professions have no sense of viewing distance or the scale of paper. School pin-ups instill bad habits, and looking at PDFs on-screen makes the problem worse.
November 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Observations from an MLA program: people in the architectural professions have no sense of viewing distance or the scale of paper. School pin-ups instill bad habits, and looking at PDFs on-screen makes the problem worse.
I should probably have said "light rail cars." (What's light rail? It's an interurban that was built after 1972.)
Purple Line streetcars will begin test runs on tracks from College Park Metro to the east, later in November, extending into the UMD campus in January. view.email.umd.edu?qs=3fa1b3ab6...
University of Maryland
view.email.umd.edu
November 7, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I should probably have said "light rail cars." (What's light rail? It's an interurban that was built after 1972.)
Purple Line streetcars will begin test runs on tracks from College Park Metro to the east, later in November, extending into the UMD campus in January. view.email.umd.edu?qs=3fa1b3ab6...
University of Maryland
view.email.umd.edu
November 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Purple Line streetcars will begin test runs on tracks from College Park Metro to the east, later in November, extending into the UMD campus in January. view.email.umd.edu?qs=3fa1b3ab6...
Craft is dead.
this looks like a trick daffy duck would put up to get bugs bunny into "the oval office"
November 5, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Craft is dead.
NYC will be getting a mayor who understands traffic safety—that the design of streets and what vehicles people drive both matter.
Two years ago I interviewed a 31-year-old NY state assemblymember about a 7-year-old girl killed by an SUV driver in his district. I hung up the phone, astonished that I'd talked to a legislator who so thoughtfully articulated what actually needs to change on our streets.
He'll make a great mayor
He'll make a great mayor
November 5, 2025 at 8:32 PM
NYC will be getting a mayor who understands traffic safety—that the design of streets and what vehicles people drive both matter.
So this is new: I'm now blocking people who offer outrageously stupid comments. Happy to talk about disagreements, but I do not have time for foolishness.
November 5, 2025 at 3:01 AM
So this is new: I'm now blocking people who offer outrageously stupid comments. Happy to talk about disagreements, but I do not have time for foolishness.
DDOT's seeking feedback about the Columbia Heights bus priority street redesign, with a public meeting at Mt. Pleasant Library, 5:30–7:30 pm tonight (11/4), open house drop-in style. content.govdelivery.com/accounts/DCW...
Columbia Heights Crosstown Bus Priority Project – Concept Open House
content.govdelivery.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:51 PM
DDOT's seeking feedback about the Columbia Heights bus priority street redesign, with a public meeting at Mt. Pleasant Library, 5:30–7:30 pm tonight (11/4), open house drop-in style. content.govdelivery.com/accounts/DCW...
We once had hydrofoils.
I wrote about a possible electric hydrofoil ferry service in D.C. (www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...) but a reader points out there was a hydrofoil on the Potomac back in the 60s - nixed because it "proved too fast for comfortable sightseeing." Doubt that will be an issue this time around.
November 3, 2025 at 10:50 PM
We once had hydrofoils.
Looking up Wills Creek toward the Narrows, Cumberland, Md. We're on the former Western Maryland line.
November 3, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Looking up Wills Creek toward the Narrows, Cumberland, Md. We're on the former Western Maryland line.
Little Seneca Lake on Sunday. We have no naturally-occurring lakes in Maryland or Virginia, so I appreciate these freshwater environments with rushes along the fringes of a still body of water.
November 3, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Little Seneca Lake on Sunday. We have no naturally-occurring lakes in Maryland or Virginia, so I appreciate these freshwater environments with rushes along the fringes of a still body of water.
Thinking about David Lynch's _Image of the City_, which would be confusing and full of cowboys.
November 3, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Thinking about David Lynch's _Image of the City_, which would be confusing and full of cowboys.
TIL that the Oxbow, in Northampton, Mass., no longer exists as painted by Thomas Cole — just a few years after Cole finished his painting, the Connecticut River cut through the meander's neck, leaving an oxbow lake.
November 3, 2025 at 2:59 PM
TIL that the Oxbow, in Northampton, Mass., no longer exists as painted by Thomas Cole — just a few years after Cole finished his painting, the Connecticut River cut through the meander's neck, leaving an oxbow lake.
The Potomac River at Great Cacapon, W.Va.
November 1, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The Potomac River at Great Cacapon, W.Va.
I had problems with search results on the USGS National Map last week. Looks as if the nation's data infrastructure is starting to crumble because of the shutdown. www.reddit.com/r/gis/commen...
From the gis community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the gis community
www.reddit.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:51 PM
I had problems with search results on the USGS National Map last week. Looks as if the nation's data infrastructure is starting to crumble because of the shutdown. www.reddit.com/r/gis/commen...