“The forces that would shape my home state’s violent history were set in motion by a 480-year-old map made by a Spanish explorer.”
Maps
Posted inEditor's Pick
Trekking Across Switzerland, Guided by Locals’ Hand-Drawn Maps
“Nostalgic for a time before ubiquitous connectivity, a writer ditched his phone and relied instead on serendipity — and maps made by people he met along the way.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Burgeoning Science of Search and Rescue
“By analyzing reports of people who got off-track, researchers are advancing the science of ‘lost person behavior.'”
Posted inFeature
The Strangely Beautiful Experience of Google Reviews
Glimpses of humanity in an unlikely corner of the internet.
Posted inArts & Culture
Which Way to Westeros?
With a plethora of fantasy appearing on streaming services, we take a look back at Adrian Daub’s essay on world-building maps.
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Reading List
Charting Worlds: Five Longreads About Maps
From fantasylands to unique cartographers (including one that’s non-human), here are five stories about maps.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How to Map Nothing
“What if we took each sourdough selfie, each Zoom class, each Peloton ride, each Netflix binge and mapped the ecology of resources and services that have made it possible for some of us? And at the same time impossible for others?” On pandemic maps and the Great Pause.
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, profile, Quote Posts, Quotes, Technology
A Young Cartographer’s Mission to Map the Catholic Church — and Fight Climate Change
“The role of the cartographer isn’t just data analytics,” says Molly Burhans, an activist mapping the land assets of the Catholic Church. “It’s also storytelling.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change
“Molly Burhans wants the Catholic Church to put its assets—which include farms, forests, oil wells, and millions of acres of land—to better use. But, first, she has to map them.”
Posted inNonfiction, Story
Here at the End of All Things
On losing oneself in the geography of fantasy worlds, from Middle Earth to Westeros.