Huge North America Pictorial

Last night, thanks to the Leventhal Map Center in Boston, I had the opportunity to see Anton Thomas discuss his amazing map project that has been four years in the works.

We all got to look up close at a copy of the map (from stitched together photographs of the original) as seen above. Magnifiers were also provided.

The photos above were taken with my phone under poor lighting conditions. Here is a detail from his web page to get a better sense of the map.

The project started with a drawing on the refrigerator in his apartment in Montreal. He recently visited and confirmed that the fridge is still there though it barely works.

Before embarking on the current map he did one titled South Asia and Australasia.

There are lots of amazing details including the cityscapes, flora and fauna and music and he spent a ton of time researching each place. Below the Chicago skyline there is a guitar with music coming out of it - specifically the notes and rhythm of "Sweet Home Chicago."

Here is a picture of him showing a collection of bears and moose that he drew in various locations.

One of his challenges is what to do when an area is devastated by an earthquake. Here is Haiti with some of the major buildings of Port Au Prince ghosted in.

If you're interested in digging deeper, here is a video where he describes his process.