"Cartography is an intellectual poaching license." -human geography teacher who came into the store today GAAAAAH TATTOO THIS ON MY CHEST🔥🔥🔥🔥

My favorite customers, hands down, are obsessive, weird little kids who had fun doing a research project about some country once and now go absolutely NUTS for maps and flags. These kids are just forces of nature.

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On our Christmas morning walk, my friend was telling me that the peninsula we were on could just as easily have been called a promontory or even a cape. I think it's a good point.

Speaking as a paddler and hiker and not in my capacity as a reporter, this is a very disappointing decision by the province. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

My store is practically picked clean. I mean, by my standards. Don't worry, it still looks like a bomb went off in it. But seriously, what an intense holiday it's been. Really stoked to see so many people stoked about maps! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone.

There is a Lobster Mountain in Maine. While I think whoever named it must have a poor understanding of lobsters (it is ~100 miles from the ocean and also it's a mountain), they seem to have an exceptional understanding of Maine branding. www.mainetrailfinder.com/trails/trail...

You may not believe that building new housing lowers rents, but your landlord does:

Today is the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year for most of us living between the Equator and the Arctic Circle. The duration varies by latitude. Those living in the Arctic are experiencing Polar Night, which may have begun weeks ago! Blog antonioantoine.com/2025/12/17/t...

Honestly, watching elders care about youngsters and their education is something that perks me up faster than espresso. Let's find that kiddo an atlas. (We ended up settling upon "Where the Animals Go" by Oliver Uberti. www.oliveruberti.com/where-the-an...

A real legend. Sorry to see her go.

“I can think of no worse place to begin than in the area surrounding the Mariana Trench.” — Dr. Andrew D. Thaler Deep-sea mining isn’t theoretical; it’s being proposed now. Read, learn, and submit a public comment. The deep ocean can’t speak for itself. 🌊✍️

Oh heck yeah! I'll tell Anton about this- he spent three years making this map and I'm so stoked people are finding so many ways to put it to work.

The Pixies are from Massachusetts? I should have known! Where is my mind?

Happy winter solstice. 📊

Best single day of in-person sales ever and it didn't even require going viral on social media the day before. I think this might just be a normal December for me now.

Starting my day with a blended shake of oats, a banana, sunflower seeds and coffee syrup. How am I doing, Rhode Island?

I have a whole box of weeded maps that are expired, cut up or folded and I offer them to you all FOR FREE as wrapping paper.

I also made a directory, which is much simpler. Don't forget to stop at The Map Center ( @mapcenter.com )while you're here!

December is supposed to be a busy month, so good sales right now aren't actually great indicators of success. But a big change from last year is that almost every one who walks through the door is already very passionate and intentional customer. Which feels pretty great. Map people are good people

I did an orienteering/field navigation glass on Saturday and I got some lovely feedback: "Andrew was our steady guide and, as more than one person said, our Polaris in the dark."

Putin brags about capturing a city. The Russians lose said city. Russian soldiers then brag about retaking it. Geoguessing Twitter user proves they're still at least 20km away. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFCw...

A few times a week I get calls from folks who can't find my store and ask for the address, long explanations of street intersections and location in relation to now defunct business landmarks. And like, how do these people function?

Cartography, like photography, is not an objective field. Did those photons bounce off of objects in the real world onto a photosensitive receiver? Yes. That actually happened. Was that road actually surveyed? Yes, it really exists. But the way we compose data is anything but neutral.

It's been almost exactly one year and the meme still lives. Thanks, nerds.

Not sure what to get him for Christmas? Get him a map. Dudes love those things.

Every time I make a formal inquiry about a commercially leasable space in Providence I get a little bit closer to moving back to California. I'm losing hope that the space that I need is going to be found anywhere near here. I'm genuinely curious who will pay the rent that these lunatics are asking.

Happy birthday to one of my favorite places I've had the pleasure of visiting. Vast, beautiful and welcoming. Pass the koumis!

It's nearing the end of the tax year which means I need to buy some things that I can expense (the alternative being that I take home income that gets taxed). What should I buy for The Map Center? Serious and hilarious recommendations welcome.

You could do this but with maps.

Brilliant choice of bivariate color palette in this map of water stress from @wriclimate.bsky.social & ESRI. I love how it draws attention to areas with high demand for water with saturated colors, & distinguishes low & high availability with a striking change in hue. via @dantoearth.bsky.social

This event was so much fun! I might have to organize orienteering competitions in the future. If you had a map and compass, could you visit all of the stations in a race of way-finding?

I'm not sure what the point of this is, as GPS spoofing is now so easy & ubiquitous. For ex., GPS spoofing technique is already widely used to bypass geo-based restrictions in games & apps. See: "Master the Art of GPS Spoofing: Tricks to Fake Your Phone's Location." www.lifewire.com/fake-gps-loc...

They sought safety and protection in the map collection.

I tend to prickle around Very Online social critiques that pick out the least charitable interpretation of kind and anodyne sentiments. Nonetheless.... I'm glad I haven't seen any "Providence Strong" bs anywhere. Knowing you're not ok and you're allowed to ask for help is also strength.

Person of Interest detained in connection to the Brown shooting. Shelter in Place order has been lifted.

I'm sheltering in place at The Map Center, about two miles from Brown. The building is locked and we're safe inside, waiting for news.

Doing my regular check-in of commercial real-estate in Providence and I find this glorious explanation of why downtown Providence is struggling. Look at all the thriving local businesses next to this downtown property!

Anecdotally, I've noticed more of my customers found me by Googling "map stores near me" and it delights me to know that people are looking. How many parts of the world have a positive search result near them?

Lots of folks have expressed interest in becoming more proficient with a map and compass so I'm co-leading this workshop with the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council this Saturday. There are spaces left to sign up! wrwc.org/events/orien...

I've been watching Ken Burns' The American Revolution. It's good! Overall the maps are amazing, if a little gratuitous in the war-porn department. Just had to share that I love the narrators' voice- Peter Coyote- who I first saw on screen as the unnamed investigator "Keys" in the movie ET.

Antonio is a beast for having cranked all these out in November! I'm so proud to stock his work at the Map Center so be sure to come see it!

I've also provided maps for another movie but I signed an NDA and all I can say here is "I can't freakin' wait to see one of my maps show up in the background of what I think is going to be an extremely cool movie about a place I love."

Lots of folks have expressed interest in becoming more proficient with a map and compass so I'm co-leading this workshop with the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council this Saturday. There are spaces left to sign up! wrwc.org/events/orien...

Set dressers last spring bought a giant USA map from The Map Center to be in the background of this movie so I might just have to go see it. I don't think the map will get a romantic subplot or any lines but maybe it'll get a nice ECU with a flattering soft focus.

Looks like I may get a lil' news coverage this week. NIIIIIIIICE.

They're talking about me on the r/aspiememes subreddit

The official crowd sourced list of places you can buy carto-creations from is now live! Check out pokateomaps.com/mappygifts. Let’s help folks shop small and support our mappy friends this holiday season!

Ways earth science has been political: -Studying climate of the American West brought the concept of Manifest Destiny into question and challenged notions of American expansionism in the 19th century. -The discovery of Geological Time upended the Biblical timeline

I had so many amazing customers so far this weekend but a special shout-out to the lady looking for a map of the (magnetic) North Pole that she had just recently visited. Real "Most interesting man in the world" energy.