Geography of Twitter: Mapping out a month of tweets

Low Lai Chow Contributor

By Low Lai Chow in New Trends on Saturday 11 May 2013

Thanks to a paper that gleaned geolocation data from 1,535,929,521 tweets from 71,273,997 unique users in Oct 23-Nov 30 last year, some fabulous maps showing a month in the life of Twitter were generated. The world of Twitter, as you can see, is beautiful.

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Elisabeth Lecourt makes dresses out of old maps

Mareike Muller Contributor

By Mareike Muller in New Fashion on Friday 26 April 2013

The maps Elisabeth Lecourt’s dresses are made from are a little outdated, so you probably still have to consult Google Maps or a friendly person on the street to ask for directions. But these beautiful and delicate pieces are so one-of-a-kind that we should neglect this fact for now. Most importantly, the work of this [...]

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New illustrations by Australian artist Liz Anelli

Stuart McBratney Contributor

By Stuart McBratney in New Illustration on Tuesday 23 April 2013

While Liz Anelli’s illustrations have amused and delighted kids, they’ve also provided a useful public service. Making cartographers feel as creative as a block of discount cheddar, her hand-drawn street guides are both fun and practical. Let’s hope Google Maps commissions a re-design.

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US city metro maps given geeky Super Mario 3 makeover

Low Lai Chow Contributor

By Low Lai Chow in New Design on Friday 12 April 2013

Dave Delisle, who confesses to ‘post all kinds of ideas, usually of the geeky variety’ for fun, has meted out the Super Mario 3 treatment to rapid transit maps of eight US cities, including Atlanta, Portland and Washington DC. These are super cool creations.

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Underwater topographic charts

Low Lai Chow Contributor

By Low Lai Chow in New Art on Wednesday 16 January 2013

Husband-and-wife team Robbie and Kara Johnson are behind Below the Boat, which offers wooden bathymetric charts (like topographic maps, but underwater instead of on land) for sale. Laser-cut and glued together, the results look really lush. It’s fascinating how topography can exist underwater as well as over land.

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Wind maps: the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US

Low Lai Chow Contributor

By Low Lai Chow in New Art on Friday 11 January 2013

Excuse us while we get completely geeky about this. A side-project by the duo leading Google’s Big Picture visualization research group, Martin Wattenberg and Fernanda Viegas, Wind Map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US’ by visually mapping out the land in real time according to the strength of the wind [...]

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Maps show the different suburbs of late 1800s Sydney

James Crawley Reader Find

By James Crawley in New Design on Tuesday 8 January 2013

I have a handful of friends who insist on hanging vintage art on their walls. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love old stuff. It just gets a bit weird when it’s not home grown. London, Paris, New York – all the cliches come out to play when it’s vintage art hour. The good news? Sydney has some history of its own. These beautiful maps show the different suburbs of Sydney from the late 1800s. Sourced from the City of Sydney Archives, these awesome reproductions are printed on archival grade, textured stock. Who thought maps could be this sexy?

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Brilliant face portraits on maps by Ed Fairburn

Low Lai Chow Contributor

By Low Lai Chow in New Art on Tuesday 11 December 2012

How does an artist like Ed Fairburn look at a map and see someone’s face in there? Oh, we get it, he picks up a pen and inks that damn face in between these fine lines of roads and streets, that’s how. His face map portraits are complex and stunning works of visual poetry, and we’re so in awe we’re going to have to find a way to top up some fast.

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GPS drawings from cycling by Christopher Wallace

Low Lai Chow Contributor

By Low Lai Chow in New Art on Wednesday 2 May 2012

Christopher Wallace’s drawing tools of choice are a bicycle and GPS. His canvas of choice is his Baltimore neighborhood. First he plans his routes with something in mind (check out his free-style hydra and centaur), then he takes to the bike trail while tracking his movements using GPS. Geeky and awfully cheeky.

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Crumpled City Maps

Contributions Reader Find

By Maria Niarchos in New Design on Wednesday 4 April 2012

These are the most useful pieces of crumpled, indestructible, fabulousness going. Totally waterproof, fool-proof, lightweight and tear resistant, they even highlight a few extra-special ‘soul sights’ to see you navigate your way around the globe. GPS free.

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Maps: new music from Sam Fitzpatrick

Sam Fitzpatrick Reader Find

By Sam Fitzpatrick in New Music on Saturday 24 March 2012

I spent last summer in the mountains of South Wales making my album from which the single Maps was released last month. The album is a chronological tapestry of tales of life’s experiences and ideals, and songwriting is my mind’s coping mechanism. Maps is the first release, but there will be a visual accompaniment for [...]

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