Chicago’s Festival of Maps

by Kelly Amabile on

The Field Museum exhibit I mentioned yesterday is part of a larger cartographic celebration that kicked off in Chicago earlier this month. The Festival of Maps is a citywide event that celebrates exploration, discovery and mapping. It began on November 2, and will continue into 2008, as over 30 scientific and cultural institutions participate with activities and exhibits highlighting these themes.

The exhibit at the Field Museum is the cornerstone event, featuring over 100 maps created by ancient navigators and modern Internet pioneers. Other organizations with exhibits beginning this month or in the weeks to come include Encyclopedia Britannica, The Polish Museum of America, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

There are plenty more galleries, museums and libraries around Chicago with map-themed exhibits on the horizon. Keep up to date with announcements about exhibits and events at the Festival’s blog, which most recently posted news about 16th century maps of Rome currently on view at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library.

One for the Road: Maps – Finding Our Place in the World

by Kelly Amabile on

Since geography is a theme that will get extra notice this week, I went with a cartographic selection for today’s book. Maps: Finding Our Place in the World is a new book that accompanies the current exhibit of the same name at Chicago’s Field Museum.

The book introduces readers to a wide range of maps from different time periods and cultures, focusing on the specific functions that maps do and have done in the past. This comprehensive volume examines the history and uses of mapping from ancient through modern times, and is sure to be a treat for map lovers.

There is also an online collection of unusual maps that was created in conjunction with the book’s release: What is a Map? The first page of the feature includes a selection of unique journey-themed maps.

(via The Map Room)

The Best U.S. Cities for Singles

by Justin Glow on

You may recognize this “Singles” map from the February 2007 issue of National Geographic. It ranks the number of single women versus the number of single men in metropolitan areas, and you may be surprised at some of the results.

Girls, looking to travel to a bachelor-heavy area? The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metro area, for instance, has the highest population of single males, with 40,000 more than single women. On the flip side, guys, the New York-Newark urban area has 185,000 more single women than men.

What I find particularly interesting is Texas. Dallas, Austin, and Houston all have more single men than women, while San Antonio has more single women. With the influx of military personnel in San Antonio, I would have figured the opposite.

World Atlas Rubik’s Cube

by Justin Glow on

I don’t think I’ve ever successfully solved a Rubik’s Cube without cheating, and with this world atlas version, I don’t think it’ll get much easier. For about USD $20, you can order your very own Rubik’s Cube atlas from this Japanese company. Just don’t un-solve the cube and get lost, or you might be forced to learn how to decode this little bugger before finding your way home. [via]

Zebra Map: A Map For Time Zones, Not For Zebras

by Willy Volk on

Got a travel blog and want to feature different time zones? The ZebraMap time zone map is a free, customizable map that you can use on its own or as part of a blog or web site. You can choose from twenty color schemes, add locations, and position the labels anywhere on the map. This map illustrates Bjork’s summer concert schedule.

You can also add hyperlinks to the labels, so people can click on the label “Roskilde, DK,” for example, and visit the concert’s site.

By the way, if you want to learn more about Roskilde — or any other summer concerts — be sure to check out Gadling’s Massively Huge 2007 Summer Music Festival Roundup. If you want to learn more about zebras, check out the African Wildlife Foundation.