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If you weren’t able to join us for a great meeting in San Diego, slides are available on the conference website for each of the presentations: /conference/
Also, there is a link to download all of the handouts for the pre-conference workshop, Online Index Maps: Faster, Better Access to Map Sets and Aerial Photographs (these will eventually be moved to the WAML website).
The World War II map production by the Office of Strategic Services website has gone live at Stanford.
It was announced at the conference that WAML 2019 will be held at the University of Nevada, Reno. Details will be forthcoming over the next few months.
The Western Association of Map Libraries (WAML) is pleased to announce two stipends to current members in good standing to attend the Mapping the Grand Canyon Conference (see full announcement below) at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona from February 28 to March 1, 2019. Each stipend is up to US$500 to be used for costs related to the conference (travel, lodging, etc.).
The recipients of the stipends will be expected to attend all events associated with the conference and act as an ambassador for WAML. As ambassadors, the recipients will talk informally to attendees about the organization, hand out membership applications when requested, and staff a booth if the opportunity is available to do so. After the conference, the recipients will each write a brief article for the WAML Information Bulletin providing an overview of the conference highlights from their perspective.
The application deadline is December 3, 2018 11:59pm (PST). Stipend recipients will be notified by December 14, 2018. The Executive Board will choose the recipients.
To apply, please complete the application form, which asks for basic information as well as:
An explanation as to how you would promote WAML at the conference, and
Why you have found participation in WAML to be beneficial to your career.
https://goo.gl/forms/5xoZnusDx15TXFWF3
Benchmarks: People & Jobs
No news is good news? (Hint: send me some news.)
Other News
- NASA is asking people to contribute photos of the land to help them make a better world map: A competition ended October 1, but you can still contribute by downloading their app. See also: Help Make a Better World Land Map with NASA App
- The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Celebrates National GIS Day, Passage of Geospatial Data Act: The Geospatial Data Act of 2018 is a good government bill that seeks to inject more efficiencies into the procurement, creation of, and access to geospatial data. The goal of the act is to provide much greater coordination among agencies, reduce redundant procurement and thus costs to the government and taxpayers, and greatly expand discovery and use of geospatial data by all sectors. The act was signed into law on October 5 as part of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018.
- GIS can enrich spatial thinking and learning in K-12, say experts: …As part of an annual global event called GIS Day, speakers said the mapping and spatial data technology used by professionals across a growing number of fields can also teach young students how to understand and transform complex visual and technical objects.
- UK’s worst-selling map: The empty landscape charted by OS440: Golden eagles, leaping salmon and the rugged beauty of Scotland’s Glen Cassley appear to leave tourists cold – they’re missing a treat…. The Ordnance Survey now sells 1.7m paper maps a year (an increase on previous years) but is coy about sales of individual maps “for reasons of commercial sensitivity”. However, it recently revealed that its most popular map – Explorer OL17 of Snowdonia and Conwy Valley – sells about 180 times more copies than its worst seller, Explorer map 440: Glen Cassley and Glen Oykel.
- Recently from ESRI, I really liked these story maps, Maps in Dramatic Roles: Maps, minds, and narratives: How maps perform in multimedia narratives, and Smoking, Drinking, & Obesity (see also: Crazy Expression Symbology and Crazier CMYK Maps).
- It’s not about maps, but is about libraries (and beer): Tapping into Beer History: California State University San Marcos creates archive for local breweriana, Brewchive.
- Looking for cartifacts for holiday gift giving? Check out the options at The Grommet, The Smithsonian, National Geographic and Manuscript Maps. The Grommet especially has some interesting items.
Conferences, Classes & Exhibitions
- October 5, 2018 – January 2, 2019 – Santa Barbara, California
The John and Peggy Maximus Gallery at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta Del Sol, will exhibit antique maps and books from the 17th-19th centuries in a show titled The Kingdom of California; Mapping the Pacific Coast in the Age of Exploration. The Kingdom of California offers stories of early mapping of the Pacific Coast told through antique maps on loan from La Jolla Map and Atlas Museum, the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Rare Book Collection. - February 14-15, 2019 – David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford University
Mapping and the Global Imaginary, 1500-1900
Maps have long been used to bring imaginary places to life, from Thomas More’s Utopia to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. But the role of the imagination in mapping extends well beyond the depiction of fantasy realms. This conference—co-organized by the Global History and Culture Centre at the University of Warwick and the History Department of Stanford University—is designed to showcase research and facilitate conversation about the role of the imagination in the cartographic enterprise writ large. In a partnership with Stanford Libraries, the David Rumsey Map Center will host the event and an exhibit that will be curated by the speakers. For more details: see Rumsey Center Current Events and this article by Martin W. Lewis. Attendance is free and open to the public and includes a reception at Green Library on Thursday, February 14th, 2019, but pre-registration is required. - February 28 – March 1, 2019 – Tempe, Arizona (Arizona State University)
The Mapping Grand Canyon Conference
In Spring 2019, Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) will host a two-day conference dedicated to the cartography of the greater Grand Canyon region.
Mapping Grand Canyon Conference
The conference aligns with two important milestones in Grand Canyon history, the centennial (1919-2019) of Grand Canyon National Park, and the sesquicentennial (1869-2019) of John Wesley Powell’s first expedition through the Colorado River, which, of course, carved the Grand Canyon.
The conference promises a full two-day program of map-based story-telling, transdisciplinary analysis, demonstrations of state-of-the-art geospatial and cartographic techniques, and engaging hands-on activities.
Importantly, this event will be free and open to the public – a reality made possible through the generosity of our existing Mapping Grand Canyon Conference Partners.
The weather’s gorgeous here in Arizona that time of year, and there’s no better time to celebrate the cartographic history of the greater Grand Canyon region!Hoping to see you there!Matthew Toro
Director | Maps, Imagery, Geospatial Services
Map and Geospatial Hub | ASU Library
480 965 5973 | lib.asu.edu/geo
For other events, see: Cartography – Calendar of Meetings and Events http://www.docktor.com/meeting.htm Exhibitions http://www.docktor.com/exhibit.htm
New Maps & Web Sites of Interest
- A Map of Every Building in America (New York Times) highlights Microsoft’s US Building Footprints dataset (via GitHub), which contains 125,192,184 computer generated building footprints in all 50 US states. This data is freely available for download and use.
- Human Body: Map Anatomy (Detailed anatomy of the human body illustrated in the style of a subway map) (Tufts Medical Center)
Publications about Mapping
- Digitizing the first map of Indianapolis (1852) at the Ihdiana State Library.
- Just in time for the election returns: How to Make a Tile Grip Map Using Google Sheets. See also: Cartogram: House Election Results (Michael Sandberg’s Data Visualization Blog)
- Why your mental map of the world is (probably) wrong: These are some of the most common geographic misconceptions that are both surprising and surprisingly hard to correct. Betsy Mason and Greg Miller are authors of the new illustrated book from National Geographic, All Over the Map.
- The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book: Pit your wits against Britain’s greatest map makers
- Hot off the presses: A History of America in 100 Maps by Susan Schulten. See The Map Room blog review: It’s no small feat to produce a collection of maps that covers so many bases: narrative line, quality of maps, diverse and thorough coverage.
- Wizards, Moomins and pirates: the magic and mystery of literary maps: From Moominland to the Marauder’s Map, writers Robert Macfarlane, Frances Hardinge and Harry Potter cartographer Miraphora Mina unfold their favorite maps. See also, the new book: The Writer’s Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands edited by Huw Lewis-Jones and published by Thames and Hudson.
- Speaking of maps of fantasy, The Map Blog, in Worlds Imagined Redux, re-highlights Worlds Imagined, the imaginary maps exhibition at Texas A&M University last year, fear not. The 100-page exhibition catalogue* is still available for download (if no longer in print), and while it doesn’t always show the entire map, it’s a hell of a reference, equal in scope and comprehensiveness to J. B. Post’s 1979 Atlas of Fantasy, only more up to date. The exhibition curators also put together a video tour: the full version (above) is 25 minutes long; there’s a three-minute quick touras well. Previously: Fantasy Maps Exhibit at Texas A&M Library. *co-edited by WAML’s Sierra Laddusaw