Blue Sky GIS: Maps in comics

Hungary pains

2012-02-01T00:47:00.000-08:00

I know we've already done one epic geography fail video this week, but it's Groundhog Day tomorrow, so let's do another.

This time it's from the now-cancelled Jeff Foxworthy-hosted game show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?". Prepare for 3 minutes of cringe:

South Carolina epic geography fail

2012-01-31T00:47:00.000-08:00

See, I'm not sure if I should post this for Animated Map Thursday, two-fer Tuesday, or Friday Fail (win). But since last week was the primary in South Carolina and I haven't found any new South Carolina-map -themed editorial cartoons (though I didn't look very hard) I figured I'd follow the Tuesday Two-fer theme from the last two weeks and post what might be the most epic geography fail in recent pop culture history. I give unto you the 2007 Miss Teen USA contestant Miss South Carolina: Lauren Caitlin Upton:

Why is this a two-fer? Because there is also a t-shirt at Busted Tees:

Starslip

2012-01-30T00:47:00.000-08:00

Starslip by Kris Straub who happens to be among the internet's more successful webcartoonists. Starslip is lots of fun and well worth getting addicted to. I like the silliness of looking for planets on hardcopy 2D paper maps.

Traffic zoo

2012-01-27T00:47:00.000-08:00

Traffic.

Persol maps

2012-01-26T00:47:00.000-08:00

I've never heard of Persol before. It appears to be a company that makes lenses.... in this case sunglasses... this case being a pretty little animated ad for Persol's sunglesses that features some nice maps. Enjoy:

A Year of Sun with Mr. Persol - HD from Yuki 7 on Vimeo.

Buni saves

2012-01-25T00:47:00.000-08:00

This is Buni, by Ryan Pagelow. The titular character is typically mute and dangerously optimistic. Here he fails to save the world.

Primarily New Hampshire two-fer

2012-01-24T00:47:00.000-08:00

There weren't quite as many New Hampshire-map-related editorial cartoons as there were for Iowa. But hey! We're up to 31 states that have been specifically featured in this map-related-comics blog! Only 19 more to go. Should be able to knock out a few more of them this election season.

These first two came from Daryl Cagle. My apologies for that second one. It goes WAY too far.... and suggests that New Hampshire is a very difficult state to anthropomorphize.

This next one is from Bill Day and foreshadows the South Carolina primary:

Texas Tales

2012-01-23T00:47:00.000-08:00

Here's the article that (kinda) explains this post:

PIGS! ... and a birthday.

2012-01-20T00:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to a brand new island in the Red Sea. Smithsonian article about it.
Kinda makes up for Global Warming sinking an island in 2010 (thus resolving a 30-year-old international dispute)

I'm not satisfied with the comic-ness of this post so... PIGS! (available free from the Library of Congress)

Dance map revolution

2012-01-19T00:47:00.000-08:00

This is simply silliness.... inexplicably performed in front of a map.

SOPA STRIKE: STOP SOPA NOW!

2012-01-18T00:47:00.000-08:00

SOPA STRIKE: STOP SOPA NOW!
In solidarity with the SOPA strike.

Primarily Iowa two-fer

2012-01-17T00:47:00.000-08:00

It's presidential primary season. So it's time for editorial cartoons featuring the states that are holding primaries. We'll start, of course, with Iowa:

This one is by Marshall Ramsey... and I'm pretty sure it's about the fractured nature of the GOP party voting... although I'm not quite getting the debris falling...? Is that emblematic of deteriorating GOP cohesion?

This anthropomorphized Iowa is Daryl Cagle commenting on the craziness that is the states competing to be the first to hold presidential primaries. I gotta agree that jockeying for position is beyond silly. I wonder which state is the most difficult to anthropomorphize? Which one is the easiest?

This one is by Bob Gorrell... clever little pun I suppose.

And back to Daryl Cagle again, this time presaging what we all know comes next: Next Tuesday's two-fer will focus on New Hampshire!

Google Steno

2012-01-16T00:47:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have seen this Google Doodle last week noting the 374th anniversary of the birth of Nicolas Steno. Given that it resembles a geological map for the purposes of demonstrating Steno's foundational contributions to the discipline of geology (one of my academic pursuits) it's a perfect fit for this map-related-comics blog.

Earth drops

2012-01-13T00:47:00.000-08:00

German photographer Markus Reugels creates these shots by dripping water in front of a high-resolution image and quickly capturing the drop in mid-flight.

FedEx dominoes

2012-01-12T00:47:00.000-08:00

Recently there has been a spate of videos going around documenting seriously flawed practices by FedEx delivery personnel. Conan even spoofed it. (though to be fair, UPS is not immune from this sort of behavior).

Well, not that I'm a big FedEx booster, but here's one that shows some of the geographic prowess FedEx can achieve, at least in its advertising (notice the gigantic map painted on the floor of this set-up):

Geographic ingratitude

2012-01-11T00:47:00.000-08:00

Tom Batiuk's Funky Winkerbean.

Notice the little globe in the travel agency. That's the map part of this map-related Funky Winkerbean strip by Tom Batiuk. Talk about ungrateful! This imaginary travel agent (because are there any travel agencies anymore?) offers an amazing travel package to a fascinating location that is very much in keeping with the sports theme of the charity, and the titular character there dismisses it like the slimy cretinous slug that he is.

The proper response here would have been: "Holy Kenya!, Really!? That's an amazingly generous offer! I can't tell you how thrilled we are to have such a valuable donation for our raffle. We'll save that prize for last. By the way, how in the world have you managed to stay in business all these years?"

Redistricting two-fer

2012-01-10T00:47:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season of redistricting. There's a great guy, John Milem, up in my neck of the woods who was recently recognized for his volunteer work on the redistricting in Washington State. So today is a redistricting-themed two-fer in honor of him and to recognize that the redistricting battles in the states around this Union are winding down (either the states have their redistricting done or, if they don't, the court battles begin). There are some promising signs that with the burgeoning digital cartographic tools available so much more broadly to so many more people the days of the gerrymander may be numbered.

Please, if you've see any more redistricting cartoons let me know.

This one is by Jeff Parker, noting the struggles Florida is having with redistricting:

This bit of cartographic poetry is from Tom Toles:

Also, this is the first cartoon in this blog to specifically feature Maryland so that brings our total of states mentioned to 29. I suspect that this primary season will be perfect for collecting several more state-map-themed cartoons. Let me know if you find any.

Here's some links to previous redistricting-themed map-related cartoons:
The power of the redistricting cartographer
Israel's redistricting issues under Sharon
Same thing under Olmert
The classic Gerrymander cartoon that started it all

Custer's Stand

2012-01-09T00:47:00.000-08:00

General Custer sold maps? From Dan Piraro's Bizarro.

Quinault dragons

2012-01-06T00:47:00.000-08:00

Somebody added monsters and dragons to the park map. Cute. I actually mapped this area for a project once. Made a time-lapse animation showing changes in forestation of the area for timber inventory. It was fun.

GIS rap

2012-01-05T00:47:00.000-08:00

This probably isn't the only GIS rap in existence, but it is one I've found.

Zen GPS

2012-01-04T00:47:00.000-08:00

Buddhist monk's GPS. Speed Bump by Dave Coverly

Two maps two-fer

2012-01-03T00:47:00.000-08:00

Today's two-fer involves 2 beautiful "hand-drawn" maps (the second one was done on a computer, sure, but involved so much intricate detailed work that it's legitimate to call it hand-drawn).

The first is from designer Paula Scher and is a book full of her beautifully rendered maps that are purposefully careless-to-accuracy. Below is a sample and here is a link to an article and slideshow explaining them:

The second is the map that got the “Best of Show” award at the annual competition of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society. Made by one David Imus in Eugene. Looks like interest in the thing crashed his server. Article about it and an image of it below:

Plumber's world

2012-01-02T00:47:00.000-08:00

The world according to the Mario franchise.

Geography statement

2011-12-30T00:47:00.000-08:00

A familiar refrain.

Happy new year. May this next one not suck.

I want my solar parity

2011-12-29T00:47:00.000-08:00

John Farrell over at Energy Self-Reliant States made this interactive and animated map mash-up that shows " which major metropolitan areas can beat grid prices with local solar first, and how quickly unsubsidized solar could take over America's major metropolitan areas."

Link to see when your city can bask in off-grid rays: http://energyselfreliantstates.org/content/mapping-solar-grid-parity

While I'm thrilled that some cities begin to achieve parity as early as 2013, I gotta wait until 2026 to get mine.