The Greatest Paper Map of the United States You'll Ever See

November 23, 2017 2:37 AM

Can one paper wall map really outshine all others—so definitively that it becomes award-worthy? One man outside Eugene Oregon spent nearly 6000 hours over 2 years working alone on his map, which has won the “Best of Show” award at the annual competition of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society.
posted by twilightlost (12 comments total)

I remember when this article came out 5 years ago. I nearly bought it. Wonder if they still sell them?
posted by Patapsco Mike at 2:47 AM on November 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Patapsco Mike: " Wonder if they still sell them?"

Try here, the artist's site.
posted by chavenet at 3:06 AM on November 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

As someone who comes from one of those little towns that's often omitted from maps in the interest of space-saving, I was somewhat dismayed to compare this one with the National Geographic side by side and discover that Nat. Geo.'s had many more little towns. What do I know, they may all be suburbs outside of Indianapolis with nothing to show for themselves but a stripmall full of Bed, Bath, and Beyonds (whereas my little town has grain elevators and falling-in barns to show for itself, which indicate the height of vitality and map-worthiness), and it certainly says something about me, and about National Geographic too, maybe, to prioritize human settlement -- whether Cabazon, CA [the Inland Empire's home of outlet malls] or Centralia, PA [home of a mine fire that's been burning for over fifty years, and maybe still ten residents] -- over well-considered topographic indicators, say. But for me it's an important consideration, in large part because some irrational fondness and softheartedness I have for towns too small to make it on the map, like Bug Tussle, Texas, which once existed but no longer does, or High, which the DPW doesn't bother putting up a sign for anymore, since it's always stolen so quickly and anyway the population was 55 in 2000, when there was a working post office and a little store.

Hey, neat: some of those early settlers in the Handbook of Texas Online link are my ancestors!

Also, looked at the cartographer's website and neither Bug Tussle nor High are on the map, nor is my little town, which is still going strong at 600 though no movie theaters or bathhouses like the turn of last century. :(
posted by tapir-whorf at 4:07 AM on November 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Is there a high-resolution image of this map available online?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:11 AM on November 23, 2017

Kirth Gerson: Sorta, but it's tiny. If you go here, you can zoom in on the image of the map. When you mouse over the map, a clickable navigation bar will pop up, or you can pinch to zoom using your trackpad. It's only just large enough to see if your little bitty town is there, but not good enough to get a sense of whole mountain ranges or things larger than human-scale.
posted by tapir-whorf at 4:29 AM on November 23, 2017

Double. Same link, even same post title.
posted by ryanrs at 4:37 AM on November 23, 2017

Even if it's a double, Imus has apparently been hard at work adding new maps to his portfolio. They're available from the shop on the web page.
posted by Harald74 at 4:53 AM on November 23, 2017

I zoomed in, tapir-whorf, and landed straight on Black Mesa. Half-Life 3 confirmed!
posted by Harald74 at 4:55 AM on November 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

(OK, I zoomed in and clicked left a couple of times. But anyway...)
posted by Harald74 at 4:56 AM on November 23, 2017

Double
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:47 AM on November 23, 2017

If I were Žižek, I might liken a map to an ideology, and finding a post that is a double would be like already having caught that particular Pokémon.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:57 AM on November 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I have this map on the wall behind me. It is nice.
posted by Bee'sWing at 6:01 AM on November 23, 2017