Tag Archives: Maps

How well do you know geography

Posted on December 15, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

When I was just a nerdy little kid, my friends and I would play a simple game the we called “Geography”. It entailed a player naming a country and the next player challenged to name another nation starting with the … Continue reading →

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Too Many Rivers To Cross

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Possibly inspired by All Streets, Ben Fry’s map of all the streets in the US, Nelson Minar built a US map out of all the rivers in the country.  

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Dylan’s mind and other diversions

Posted on November 16, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Can AI tell us anything meaningful about Bob Dylan’s songs? What was uncovered when computer scientist Prashant Garg  fed Dylan’s official discography from 1962 to 2012 into a large language model (LLM), building a network of the concepts and connections … Continue reading →

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Everybody thinks the world revolves around them

Posted on October 10, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

A 17th-century, Safavid brass, Mecca-Centered World Map, from Persia. The circular brass base plate with centrally-pivoted rotating brass diametrical rule fixed with removable pin, a glazed circular recess for compass to lower part, the base plate finely engraved and chased … Continue reading →

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Equal Earth

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Most of us were educated to believe in a wildly inaccurate world map. Odds are that you have accepted the standard Mercator projection as the actual map of the world. But it’s completely misleading, making Africa look about the same … Continue reading →

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A river runs through it

Posted on October 8, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

By now you all know that I love a clever map. And, there’s nothing better than a brilliant series of maps with a transit map theme. The map above is a terrific reimagining of North American rivers as a  classic … Continue reading →

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Take the train

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

I really enjoyed playing with the new website Chrono Trains .  Plug in any train station in Europe and this website will show you exactly how far you can travel on the continent’s rail networks within a set period of … Continue reading →

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Travelers still need (and love) maps

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

It’s been years since I visited the tiny state of Rhode Island, but the next time that I go I will definitely make time for the Map Center. Cartographer Andrew Middleton took over the 70 year old shop two years ago … Continue reading →

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The world in verse

Posted on August 13, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Every city, every forest, mountain, and every river has its own poem waiting to be discovered. You can uncover that geographic poetry on the MultiVerse – an interactive map where a single click anywhere in the world generates a unique … Continue reading →

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Where in the world is the Republiko of Zendia

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

How do you find a republic that never existed ? During the 1950s Cold War, U.S Army cryptologist Lambros D. Callimahos created the mythical  “Republiko of Zendia” to use in wargaming for U.S. military intelligence codebreakers simulating the invasion of … Continue reading →

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