Chemical smoke puffs represent exploding shells…

Surveyed through field glasses that make it appear miles away, a novel war map at Princeton University makes artillery practice realistic to students of the Princeton unit of the Reserve Officers Training Corps.

…Each student takes his turn at directing the miniature “barrage.” The ingenious map is operated by the instructor, who follows the student’s data and commands to fire. A small adjoining map is criss-crossed with lines showing where shells with various ranges would strike. Over this key chart moves a lever which, placed at the spot where the student’s shot would fall, swings a glass nozzle to a corresponding position on the large map; at the student’s word “fire” a puff of artificial smoke is released.

Popular Mechanics, May 1927

“Plan shewing principle characters of work used in mapping.”

A map of nowhere showing everything.

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Without and with color.

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Terrain symbols.

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“Plan shewing proposed new street.”

Maps are propositions, right?

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Trees and terrain.

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Geological mapping.

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George G. André

The Draughtsman’s Handbook of Plan and Map Drawing
Including Instructions for the Preparation of Engineering, Architectural, and Mechanical Drawings.

London, New York, E. & F. N. Spon, 1891

Entire book available from Google Books

Iowa is dignified by the largest egg of all…

Innovations in poultry maps, 1931…

An egg map of the United States, showing at a glance relative egg production of each state, ca. 1931.

Each state is represented by imitation eggs of different sizes.

Popular Mechanics, May 1931

The practicability of making war maps from aeroplanes during aerial scouting expeditions into the enemy’s territory has recently been tested by the signal corps of the United States army and found entirely feasible. Several signal officers flying alone or as passengers were able to make usable sketch maps of the country below them, as they flew two or three thousand feet in the air. Two maps that were made during these tests are reproduced [above].

One of them is the rough sketch map drawn by Lieut. W.C. Sherman while riding as a passenger in an aeroplane with Lieut. Thomas DeWitt Milling on his record flight from Texas City to San Antonio. Tex., on March 28, 1913. It was drawn while they were traveling 56 miles an hour and, by means of the signal corps symbols, gives a clear picture of the country tover which they passed. Railroads, highways, streams. towns, woods. etc., are marked, and the figures on the lefthand margin indicate the aeroplane’s time. The original sketch is 12 ft. long and to scale, 6 1/2 inches equaling 10 minutes, and 1 in. equaling 1.44 mile. The other is a completed map drawn from a sketch of San Diego; Cal., and vicinity made by Lieut. J. D. Park while flying alone on May 3, 1913. a few days before his death in an aeroplane accident on May 9. The coast line and the topography of the country are indicated clearly enough to be of value to an attacking force, and at various points clear fields where airmen might make safe landings are marked out. Although the strip of country included in the map is 5 miles wide and 15 miles long, the entire sketch was made during a 35-minute flight from the aviation field at the south along the line of the railroad. At times the airman reached a height of over 3,000 ft. and from there was able to note the character of the country for 10 miles about.

Popular Mechanics Magazine, Volume 20, Number 4, October 1913.

Cupid’s Weather Map

If Gladys had sent me no message,
Or the mail from Palm Beach met mishap,
Though I lacked premonition or presage
Or courage the wires to tap,
I am sure I could learn when she planned her return
From one look at the weather man’s map.

You’ll notice, no matter in what light
These loops and festoons you may view,
Wherever she moves, like a spot-light,
A zone of fair weather moves, too.
The breezes of May will be blowing her way
When our cars and our fingers are blue.

One sunshiny patch, set off clearly
In a country with rain-clouds all black,
To-day travels northward or nearly,
While a blizzard descends in its track.
Can I possibly err if from this I infer
That Gladys is on her way back?

No; the stupid old map of the weather
Tells the news in its tiniest line.
The isotherms nestle together,
The isobars tenderly twine,
While the forecast they print bears so rosy a tint
It well might be Cupid’s – or mine.

Philip Loring Allen

Life, February 28, 1907, p. 49

The revised and expanded second edition of Denis Wood’s Everything Sings: Maps for a Narrative Atlas, is due May 30, 2013 from Siglio Press.

The second edition of the atlas comes with ten new maps, including Numbers and Roof Lines (below).

The second edition also includes an interview with Blake Butler, as well as essays by Albert Mobilio and Ander Monson. This edition comes swathed in a violet dust jacket and the book itself is daffodil yellow, but it’s the new maps and accompanying essays that are the main attraction.

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Among the most expressive of map making tools are pencils, pens and other analog devices. The certainty of the topographic map contrasts with the precursory aesthetic of the hand drawn annotations.

This final posting in a series contains hand-sketched glacial geomorphology annotations on topographic maps by Dr. George Crowl (1910-87) who taught geology at Ohio Wesleyan University from 1947-1975. The topographic maps are from the USGS 15′ series, covering the area around Delaware, Ohio. Crowl was known for his field trips for students in Ohio and surrounding states. These manuscript maps, in the archives of the Geology & Geography Department at Ohio Wesleyan, were likely created for a generalized map of central Ohio glacial landforms for use on his field trips.

Excerpts from Westerville, OH USGS 15′ quadrangle

Among the most expressive of map making tools are pencils, pens and other analog devices. The certainty of the topographic map contrasts with the precursory aesthetic of the hand drawn annotations.

This and three subsequent postings contain a series of hand-sketched glacial geomorphology annotations on topographic maps by Dr. George Crowl (1910-87) who taught geology at Ohio Wesleyan University from 1947-1975. The topographic maps are from the USGS 15′ series, covering the area around Delaware, Ohio. Crowl was known for his field trips for students in Ohio and surrounding states. These manuscript maps, in the archives of the Geology & Geography Department at Ohio Wesleyan, were likely created for a generalized map of central Ohio glacial landforms for use on his field trips.

Excerpts from Delaware, OH USGS 15′ quadrangle

Among the most expressive of map making tools are pencils, pens and other analog devices. The certainty of the topographic map contrasts with the precursory aesthetic of the hand drawn annotations.

This posting contains a series of hand-sketched glacial geomorphology annotations on topographic maps by Dr. George Crowl (1910-87) who taught geology at Ohio Wesleyan University from 1947-1975. The topographic maps are from the USGS 15′ series, covering the area around Delaware, Ohio. Crowl was known for his field trips for students in Ohio and surrounding states. These manuscript maps, in the archives of the Geology & Geography Department at Ohio Wesleyan, were likely created for a generalized map of central Ohio glacial landforms for use on his field trips.

Excerpts from Marion, OH USGS 15′ quadrangle

Among the most expressive of map making tools are pencils, pens and other analog devices. The certainty of the topographic map contrasts with the precursory aesthetic of the hand drawn annotations.

This posting contains a series of hand-sketched glacial geomorphology annotations on topographic maps by Dr. George Crowl (1910-87) who taught geology at Ohio Wesleyan University from 1947-1975. The topographic maps are from the USGS 15′ series, covering the area around Delaware, Ohio. Crowl was known for his field trips for students in Ohio and surrounding states. These manuscript maps, in the archives of the Geology & Geography Department at Ohio Wesleyan, were likely created for a generalized map of central Ohio glacial landforms for use on his field trips.

Excerpts from Richwood, OH USGS 15′ quadrangle