The Oxford Drinking Map

With a new college year begun, students need a good map of their local watering holes. These days there are plenty of Google Maps versions of these for your area. Here is an old school version from 1883.

-via Bodleian Library

According to this blog post, this map is one of the most popular items at the Bodleian Library. It was ironically produced by the local temperance society to negatively portray the prevalence of alcohol (“drunkenness abounds in our midst”) in the city.

To emphasize drinking establishments there are no buildings and few landmarks shown. The legend uses shapes to distinguish drinking houses and breweries.

Though mainly known as a college town, the University does not appear on this map. Students were not allowed into city pubs and the colleges would have had their own bars. That area, in the northwestern part of the city is therefore largely empty of red dots.

There are few establishments in the northern, more upper class parts of the city suggesting that those of wealth and power were working to keep them away. However, as discussed in the blog post, St John’s College owned most of the land in north Oxford and had their own restrictions on land use and alcohol sales.

Another interesting bit is that breweries (the red squares) clustered near the castle where access to water was good.

The major river is the River Isis, an alternate name for the more well known Thames River. Down by the Folly Bridge there is a Thames and an Isis Street though Isis Street appears to be no more.

 Like this map? You can buy it at the Bodleian Shop.

 

 

 

 

The Bog Defense

A recent article in Politico details how eastern Europe’s bogs could be used as a defensive wall against Russian aggression. A defense consultant in Ukraine realized that by breaching a dam northeast of Kyiv and re-flooding the valley, the restored bogs and marshes could stop Russian tanks from advancing. Now with other countries under threat from Russia, bog restoration is being considered throughout the region.

These bogs also have the added benefit of acting as major carbon sinks. Half of the European Union’s peatlands are degraded, mostly drained for agriculture. These degraded peatlands are a huge contributor to global warming. The EU’s Nature Restoration Law requires countries to revive 30 percent of these lands by 2030.

Most of these peatlands are located along the borders with Russia and Belarus, its partner state. Troops cannot easily cross these lands and tanks get stuck in the bogs. Not all countries are equal in their enthusiasm for the project and there is significant pushback from farmers. Much of the current focus is on state owned lands but any major effort will require working with the farming communities.

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UNRELATED BONUS CONTENT: Here is a short video taken by a customer at the Map Center, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It is one of the last map stores left in the United States. Andrew Middleton (your cartographic sommelier) bought the store a couple of years ago and enthusiastically discusses his experiences running the operation.

 

Leavitt's White Mountains

 This pictorial map was created by Franklin Leavitt, a mountain guide and self-taught mapmaker.

The geography is mostly representational and it is probably best not to get too concerned about accuracy. Leavitt’s very small home town of Lancaster is prominently featured in the foreground.

Most of the map appears to be oriented with east at the top - the Saco and Androscoggin Rivers flow out of the top while the northwest-flowing Israel heads to the bottom of the map. However, as you move left the map seems to change orientation with south moving to the top. This is most pronounced by the curving of the Connecticut River (it doesn’t curve like that) from along the bottom to the right edge of the map. The north arrow, positioned on the left (east facing side) shows south as up. It’s all very confusing.

Best to focus on the strange details such as various people killing bears,

or riding in horse drawn buggies or trains or watching the cog railway climb Mount Washington.

The top of the map shows pictures of waterfalls and lists distances from Boston, Portland and other locations to promote tourism. There is also a railroad map of “the Canadas and United States” meant to emphasize how well connected the area is. The Crawford family established the first of what would become many tourist inns in White Mountain Notch, now known as Crawford Notch,

and not to be outdone they also killed bears.

 

Jewel of the Universe

Here is a remarkable piece of art that I missed back in 2012 and have not been able to find any recent information about. English-Chinese artist Chris Chamberlain created this world map from stained glass and jewels.

-image via Acte Gratuit

-via My Modern Met

He describes his 2+ year process in a video. He hand cut over a quarter of a million pieces of glass and 1,238 gemstones. He used zircons for many cities. There is one diamond representing Freetown, Sierra Leone. Rubies were used to indicate religious centers such as Jerusalem and Mecca. He also used emeralds and sapphires. Here is one detailed area of the map.

Since this is glass it is meant to be illuminated from behind. This image, via ArtRabbit gives some idea of what that looks like.

He also illuminated the map in his video but it is a little hard to appreciate it from a YouTube screen shot.

He mentioned that the work is for sale and I imagine it must have sold because there is no further information about the artist of the work and the web site set up for the artwork no longer exists. For a few more pictures and details (includes the one below) see this page on My Modern Met. 

Our Drying Planet

A recent study in the journal Science and illustrated by ProPublica details how the Earth’s land is drying. Water is being diverted to the oceans by melting glaciers, agricultural runoff and by pumping aquifers. The story incorporates a spinning globe as you scroll down, highlighting problem areas

Earth’s supply of fresh water is quickly disappearing leading to a “a critical, emerging threat to humanity.” Aquifers are being pumped out causing groundwater depletion. This has become one of the largest contributors to sea level rise and is causing the land to sink as shown dramatically by this illustration.

Some of the world’s most important food producing areas such as the Nile and Mekong River deltas are threatened. This subsidence is also happening in many major cities, compounding the flooding problems that are increasing due to rising sea levels. 

The ProPublica story includes maps showing global water loss as well as these problem areas of North and South America.

The scarcity of water is being used as a weapon in many conflict zones around the world the world. Without a global framework or governmental regulations these problems will continue to grow. The article mentions some policies that have worked, at least temporarily and suggests that a policy that looks at water as a national security concern, may be able to counterbalance special interests and forces of habit. Scroll through the ProPublica site for more details and illustrations.

Traffic Counts, 1925

I found this 1925 traffic count map on the Library of Congress website while looking for maps by Howard Fogel, last week’s mystery cartographer.

This blueprint style map uses line thickness. I like how they hollowed out the big cities, otherwise the thick lines would take over the entire area. It also lists traffic counts, which at the time could range from 8,000 daily vehicles traveling north from Chicago, 

to a mere 50 or so south of Buffalo in western South Dakota and 65 between Buffalo and Bison (what we call buffalo are really bison, not true buffalo if you like being picky).

There were 6,000 cars heading west from Milwaukee. Today’s Wisconsin DOT Traffic Counts Map shows 166,000 daily cars.

They don't make maps like that anymore. The current map seems to be lacking a bit of the human touch.
 

The Mysterious Howard Fogel

 I had an opportunity to try out an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool to help college instructors brainstorm class activities. I asked the tool to suggest a class syllabus about mid 20th Century pictorial cartography. The AI (based on Claude) suggested highlighting various cartographers including Howard Fogel. Having never heard of him I asked some follow up questions that did not get me any closer to this person. After my session was over I went directly to Claude, who had no results about him. A search of various platforms and map sites came up empty, except for this one map attributed to “Fogel” from Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc.

I contacted the company to ask if they had any more knowledge about “Fogel” and the answer was no. The author is merely “Fogel”. If anyone out there knows anything about Howard Fogel, please let me know. Is this just be some kind of strange AI fabrication? In the meantime let’s appreciate Fogel’s (one and only?) map.. . 

A film crew spotlights the centrality of the hotel, across from the Chinese theatre and adjacent to the other theaters and television studios. Mickey Mouse points out the numbered landmarks. There’s a bunch of fun going on as people are playing golf, tennis and polo, racing horses, conducting orchestras at the Hollywood Bowl, watching sports at the Coliseum, having picnics and flying their planes, all while the cops are guarding Beverly Hills. Downtown Los Angeles is just a tiny sideshow in the far corner. You’d barely know it’s there. The flip side of the map shows you all the exciting hotel details. Let's "thrill to the pageantry"!