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The Map Room
@maproomblog.com
310 followers 44 following 210 posts
A blog by @jonathancrowe.net about maps in all their forms, on and off since 2003. maproomblog.com
Email digest: maproomblog.com/about/subscribe
Mastodon: mapstodon.space/@maproomblog
Support via Patreon: patreon.com/jonathancrowe
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maproomblog.com
This week on The Map Room:

StateFace
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/stat...

Mapping the 2025 (and 2021) Canadian Election Results
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/mapp...

The Onion Doesn’t Miss
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/the-...

300,000 Kilometres of Roman Roads
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/3000...
November 14, 2025 at 8:23 PM
maproomblog.com
Itiner-e is a comprehensive digital atlas and dataset of the Roman Empire’s entire road network, based on fieldwork, existing maps, published data and remote sensing. It’s an attempt to provide more granular detail than past… More
300,000 Kilometres of Roman Roads
Itiner-e is a comprehensive digital atlas and dataset of the Roman Empire’s entire road network, based on fieldwork, existing maps, published data and remote sensing. It’s an attempt to provide more granular detail than past… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:39 PM
maproomblog.com
The Onion: “An alarming new educational survey has found more than 70% of Americans lack the basic geographic literacy to locate the country, region, or continent they are currently being deported to.”
The Onion Doesn’t Miss
The Onion: “An alarming new educational survey has found more than 70% of Americans lack the basic geographic literacy to locate the country, region, or continent they are currently being deported to.”
www.maproomblog.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
stevenfeldman.bsky.social
www.euronews.com/culture/2025...
Mapping the past: 300,000km of Roman roads charted in new digital project | Euronews
Itiner-e not only duplicates cartographic knowledge of Roman roads, but transforms our understanding of how the Roman Empire functioned and was built and also reveals how Rome could maintain power for centuries.
www.euronews.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
theonion.com
Study Finds Most Americans Can't Find Where They Are Being Deported On Map
November 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
maproomblog.com
Jacob Weinbren has mapped the results of the 2025 Canadian federal election at the polling station level, along with the 2021 results so that we can see how the vote changed. Any project of this… More
Mapping the 2025 (and 2021) Canadian Election Results
Jacob Weinbren has mapped the results of the 2025 Canadian federal election at the polling station level, along with the 2021 results so that we can see how the vote changed. Any project of this… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:09 PM
maproomblog.com
StateFace is a font made up of tiny state shapes—all 50 U.S. states, plus D.C. and the lower 48 as a whole. M is Idaho, v is Wisconsin and so on. Seems like it’d be… More
StateFace
StateFace is a font made up of tiny state shapes—all 50 U.S. states, plus D.C. and the lower 48 as a whole. M is Idaho, v is Wisconsin and so on. Seems like it’d be… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
jacobweinbren.bsky.social
canada-election.pages.dev This is my election map of Canada by polling district - interested what you think!
Canadian Election Results 2021-2025
Interactive map showing Canadian federal election results and vote swing analysis between 2021 and 2025
canada-election.pages.dev
November 10, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
justjami.bsky.social
New to me so sharing -- for those of you who didn't know, there's a font available that gives you tiny US state shapes that can be used as design elements.

it's called State Face, a project by @propublica.org
propublica.github.io/stateface/

(thanks for sharing this, @propublica.org !)

#GISChat
StateFace
propublica.github.io
November 10, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
beltpublishing.bsky.social
Discount bundles on allllll published 50 Maps books: 10% off if you buy one, 20% off if you buy two, 30% off if you buy three, 40% off if you buy four, and 50% off if you buy five. Stock up for the holidays!
November 11, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by The Map Room
mapcenter.com
Do I know any Indigenous folks who make maps? Got a request for a paid design/cartography job and it'd be rad if I could connect you with them.
November 8, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by The Map Room
ticiaverveer.bsky.social
Researchers used archaeological & historical records,topographic maps & satellite imagery to create Itiner-e,a new high-resolution digital dataset & map of the Roman Empire’s roads around 150 AD. It charts 185,896 miles (299,171 km) of roads across almost 1,544,409 square miles (4,000,000 square km)
The Roman Empire’s Entire Road Network Just Got Mapped, and It's Mind-Blowing
A new study identified over 68,000 more miles of ancient Roman roads than were previously known.
gizmodo.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
stamen.com
In our latest blog post, we share our philosophy of dark mode basemaps. What are dark maps good for, and why might you need one? How do you design a dark mode map that is both beautiful and functional? All this and more, now on the blog at stamen.com/stamens-dark...
A dark-colored terrain map overlaid with the text "What makes a dark map style work?" A montage of dark-colored maps overlaid with the text: "The art and science of dark mode cartography, on the blog now"
November 7, 2025 at 5:38 PM
maproomblog.com
This week on The Map Room:

Ireland: Mapping the Island
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/irel...

More on Secret Maps
www.maproomblog.com/2025/11/more...
November 7, 2025 at 8:06 PM
maproomblog.com
Doug Specht has a piece about the British Library’s exhibition Secret Maps in The Conversation. “The exhibition does not shy away from difficult topics. Maps tracing the infrastructure of apartheid, or those produced to facilitate… More
More on Secret Maps
Doug Specht has a piece about the British Library’s exhibition Secret Maps in The Conversation. “The exhibition does not shy away from difficult topics. Maps tracing the infrastructure of apartheid, or those produced to facilitate… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
uk.theconversation.com
Maps have always both granted power and threatened it, depending on who controls the data, the scale and the narrative.
Secret Maps at the British Library reconsiders the lines that shape our world
Maps have always both granted power and threatened it, depending on who controls the data, the scale and the narrative.
tcnv.link
November 3, 2025 at 6:54 PM
maproomblog.com
RTÉ has published an excerpt from Ireland: Mapping the Island by Joseph Brady and Paul Ferguson, the latest book of cartographic histories published by Birlinn (though Birlinn’s website seems to be offline at the moment).… More
Ireland: Mapping the Island
RTÉ has published an excerpt from Ireland: Mapping the Island by Joseph Brady and Paul Ferguson, the latest book of cartographic histories published by Birlinn (though Birlinn’s website seems to be offline at the moment).… More
www.maproomblog.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:43 PM
maproomblog.com
Belt has recently been publishing a number of “[Midwest City] in 50 Maps” titles, which this presumably impacts.
craigcalcaterra.bsky.social Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 14d
I received this mail from Arcadia Publishing, the company which now owns Belt Publishing, who originally published my book in 2022.

Belt's authors are not the sort of people who are gonna be cool with this. I feel really bad for whoever is answering the emails at Arcadia next week.
Arcadia has been presented with an opportunity to provide content to a major technology company involved in AI development. The request is to use the content in your title(s) for AI training purposes. You would receive a total royalty of $355 for this one-time use. To develop a responsible AI model, companies use vast amounts of content to tune answers to prompts in an attempt to increase the quality of the answers and to decrease the number of false responses. Arcadia has had lengthy discussions with the technology company involved, and after serious deliberation has determined there is good cause for moving forward. This firm is acting responsibly by offering compensation for the content, but these kinds of opportunities could be very limited in the future. Recently, courts have ruled that AI training is “fair use” of copyrighted content, for which tech firms need not compensate authors. If future cases result in similar rulings, it will be increasingly difficult to secure payment for content. Please see the FAQs for answers to common questions. Arcadia values its relationship with its authors, and we are therefore offering you the opportunity to opt out in this specific instance. Should other similar opportunities arise where Arcadia has done the same serious vetting on the company and its contemplated usage, Arcadia will contact you again. No action is needed to be included and receive payment. To view your included titles and have the opportunity to opt out, please click here and follow the instructions on the page by November 7. Please note that if you opt out you will receive no payment. ​​​​ Arcadia’s position is that in this instance we are dealing with a trusted partner, that the use of the content is responsible and has some aspects of improving the use of AI in general, and that the monetary amounts are a reasonable price for the use. Regards, Arcadia Publishing
November 1, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by The Map Room
pinakographos.bsky.social
It's been a long journey (>1 year since I began), but there's finallt a public release of the oblique hachures method. With many thanks to @southarrowmaps.co.nz, who significantly refined the methodology from what I began with.

Writeup (w/ a link to the script): docs.google.com/document/d/1...
An image of three mountains (Mt Shasta, Mt Adams, Mt Rainier), showing each mountain in an elevation view (i.e. seen from the front). Each mountain is illustrated by means of sketch lines. An image of Aoraki, seen from the ground level. It is illustrated with sketch lines in black and white.
November 1, 2025 at 2:24 AM
maproomblog.com
I didn’t put two and two together. Secret Maps, the British Library exhibition (previously), has an accompanying book, because British Library exhibitions invariably come with books. And that book was already listed on my Map… More
Secret Maps, the Book
I didn’t put two and two together. Secret Maps, the British Library exhibition (previously), has an accompanying book, because British Library exhibitions invariably come with books. And that book was already listed on my Map… More
www.maproomblog.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:23 PM
maproomblog.com
Viabundus is an online map of medieval Europe. Viabundus is a freely accessible online street map of late medieval and early modern northern Europe (1350-1650). Originally conceived as the digitisation of Friedrich Bruns and Hugo… More
A Street Map of Early Modern Europe
Viabundus is an online map of medieval Europe. Viabundus is a freely accessible online street map of late medieval and early modern northern Europe (1350-1650). Originally conceived as the digitisation of Friedrich Bruns and Hugo… More
www.maproomblog.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:28 PM
maproomblog.com
A new exhibition opened at the British Library this weekend: Secret Maps. Maps have always been more than just tools for navigation – in the hand of governments, groups and individuals, maps create and control… More
New British Library Exhibition: Secret Maps
A new exhibition opened at the British Library this weekend: Secret Maps. Maps have always been more than just tools for navigation – in the hand of governments, groups and individuals, maps create and control… More
www.maproomblog.com
October 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
maproomblog.com
An update on ads coming to Apple Maps. AppleInsider, citing a paywalled report from Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter: “[T]he decision has been taken to move ahead with the project. The claim is that starting… More
Ads Coming to Apple Maps: Report
An update on ads coming to Apple Maps. AppleInsider, citing a paywalled report from Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter: “[T]he decision has been taken to move ahead with the project. The claim is that starting… More
www.maproomblog.com
October 26, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
britishlibrary.bsky.social
Secret Maps opens today! 🤫 🗺️

From medieval manuscripts to Cold War espionage, our new exhibition explores how maps have hidden as much as they revealed for over 600 years.

Book now: bit.ly/BLSecretMaps
October 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by The Map Room
milleanick.bsky.social
Our next season for The Oxford Seminars in Cartography ... #TOSCA @bodleian.ox.ac.uk @oxfordgeography.bsky.social Register at: visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tosca
More info at: www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/maps/tosca @bcsmaps.bsky.social @ordnancesurvey.bsky.social
1st speaker is @drpragyaagarwal.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 2:02 PM