I've done a bad job keeping in touch with my longtime colleagues at Axis Maps since leaving a few years ago, but it's nice to see that they've found some time to update the website with the good work they've been up to! www.axismaps.com/projects

Silver lining—or if you’re not from here, some additional good news—from the Patriots’ loss yesterday is that my Boston maps book will not already be out of date when it’s published in May.

My kid came home from preschool with this the other day. These poor suffering 3 and 4 year olds have spent their entire lives without seeing the Patriots in the Super Bowl! 😢

Well, they put me on TV. youtu.be/vh1g-8HrUS4

If you’ve ever yearned for b-roll footage of cartographers pretending to work by moving a map label back and forth, you are in for a treat!

Task at hand is a map that mostly copies @margot-carto.bsky.social's styles from a different map, and her work is so solid that you can accidentally turn off a major layer and it still looks great!

It's not really feasible for me to participate in things like Defeat ICE by Taking a Three Day Weekend or whatever. Usually more than time or effort, the thing I'm able to give to a cause is money. Are there organizations to which I can donate that, in any small way, might help stop this shit?

Sorry I don’t know if we’re allowed to post about meaningless things right now, but apparently in 2022 we had a top 10 snow storm here and I just… don’t remember it? Having young children is such a brain-wrecking experience.

The impending winter storm is so massive that it will wreak havoc on the geographical fabric of the USA. You’re gonna have Big Great Lakes and Little Great Lakes. States within states. Vast regions will shrink and vanish. Grab a shovel! (Source: 🤷‍♂️ via some page that Facebook wanted to show me)

Hopefully they edited out all of my parts, but nevertheless it was fun to join this conversation about maps and Cincinnati. www.wvxu.org/show/cincinn...

I was a legend back in grad school. @pinakographos.bsky.social knows what’s up.

Labeling maps is a peaceful practice, and often is half the job of a cartographer. I'm sure seas will be drained and skies will be blackened so that AI can do it in our stead in a year or two, but for now, I always enjoy looking at a "map minus map" version of completed work.

You know when people say “hey eating less meat would be better for everyone” and the toddler-brained right wing types respond by eating twice and much meat and proudly posting pictures of, like, godawful boiled steaks? I’m gonna do that with food dyes.

Two new versions of the New Mexico hierarchical elevation grid. Green and brown pen & yellow and black pen on hot press watercolor paper.

Don’t listen to what my kids say about toys or candy or whatever, I know for a fact that these map books were the best gifts they received today.

Many people simply snapped a photo or stared in wonder, but friends, I will not be a mere witness to history. I will be an active participant and spend 8 bucks for two (2) tiny hamburgers dispensed by an opaque machine.

Bringing back the bugle mountains with this work in progress.

Alright cartografriends, I have a maps book from @mapcenter.com for my 5 year old, but I still need something for the 3 year old. Recommendations? Ideally not just, like, actual maps. Something that explains what maps are, in a way that a 3 year old can kind of understand.

[speaking into the void] Look if you require me to create an account in order to purchase your product directly from you, I’m just going to leave and do the Bad Thing and buy it from Amazon, because of course I already have an account there like everyone else in the world.

Cincinnati in 50 Maps is officially in the world today! Words and (most) ideas by Nick Swartsell, maps by me. Just look how nicely it fits under a Christmas tree. beltpublishing.com/products/cin...

Books that start with maps. End with maps. Have maps in the middle. A lot of maps. Upwards of 49 maps. I know a couple good ones coming out tomorrow! beltpublishing.com/products/col... beltpublishing.com/products/cin...

The last step is that it goes on my map! I should also do a version with cases that were closed with comments like “turkey flew away 🤷‍♂️” because it seemed like a lot of them.

People are also saying you should buy this one.

Oh yeah this is very soon! People are saying that it's a nice book and you should buy it.

Transit Study I Nine gel pens on 24x32cm black paper. New item in the shop! Adding more this weekend. www.timwallace.art/product/tran...

By request, here's a thread of books that I think make excellent gifts this holiday season (obviously they're cartographically inclined, you know me) 1. Best anthology "All Over the Map" by Betsy Mason and Greg Miller A gorgeous, full color history of maps mind-bending maps from around the world.

Videos from the @nacis.bsky.social conference are now online, somewhat soothing my monthlong regret of missing the first half of @itspangler.bsky.social's talk.

In my box of Random Old Maps is a smaller box of maps and brochures, mostly from the 1950s, from one person’s travels. I don’t know how or why I have them. A couple of my favorites are deck plans of ocean liners like the Queen Elizabeth, which in 1946 finally began passenger service after the war.

Discount bundles on allllll published 50 Maps books: 10% off if you buy one, 20% off if you buy two, 30% off if you buy three, 40% off if you buy four, and 50% off if you buy five. Stock up for the holidays!

Back in Ohio, there was a kid in my school who, for the 10 years I was there, was a whole package of smart, popular, and friendly. Class prez in high school, naturally. Also could do impressive juggling tricks in 6th grade. Anyway he crushed his re-election to Cincinnati mayor yesterday!

Such a blessing to be the parent of children in their precious, innocent first few years of life. You can eat a bunch of their Halloween candy after they go to bed and they’ll have no idea.

Got a nice package in the mail yesterday. You, too, could receive it! beltpublishing.com/products/cin...

To any Boston-area map people who might still be with me on this site: head down to our southern neighbor Thursday evening for Maptime! I guarantee this is the closest thing to Maptime Boston you’re going see in the foreseeable future. www.mapcenter.com/maptimeri

Well I still haven’t seen our book, but I guess the important thing is that my mom has.

Finally tried the Marmite sample that @kennethfield.bsky.social handed out at the @nacis.bsky.social conference. I like it more than most cartograms. #nacis2025

You'll hear me screaming much more about this book in a month or so, but for now I've made a little portfolio update to add a thing on the soon-to-be-published Cincinnati in 50 Maps, which you can and should pre-order now. andywoodruff.com/posts/2025/c...

My phone camera is too crummy for this, but Boston #NoKings could be spotted from a few miles away in the air yesterday.

When I lived in Oakland, I was part of this amazing group called MapTime that was a friendly, quirky, techie and kind group of cartographers and geography-enthusiasts. It was called MapTime and I've started a RI chapter. Come hang out and learn with us! www.mapcenter.com/maptimeri

If you're in the Boston area and you want to see some cool maps and learn about why we shouldn't always trust them, join me for my library talk "How Maps Lie" this friday! newtonfreelibrary.libcal.com/event/14866807

Me 363 days of the year: heck yeah, no dentist appointment today! Me 2 days of the year: ugh

Catch my next library talk on October 10 at the Newton Free Library in Newton MA newtonfreelibrary.libcal.com/event/14866807

New poster! Hachure illustrations of the highest Cascade Range volcanoes. This one took a lot of experimentation to get the layout right. If you or someone you know loves this area, check it out. www.etsy.com/listing/4373...

New author interview live! This one's with Nick Swartsell and Andy Woodruff, the editor and cartographer of Belt's forthcoming Cincinnati in 50 Maps. @awoodruff.bsky.social beltpublishing.com/pages/conver...

If you have a London person in your life, this looks very nice! (Unsurprisingly, coming from one of the best cartographers out there!)

Cincinnati in 50 Maps, by Nick Swartsell and me, is off to the printer, so you can get your pre-orders in now for the December launch! beltpublishing.com/products/cin... Get this, folks: I counted and there are 125 individual maps. That's 75 extra maps for free!

Since Boston is sounding the “don’t drive a truck on Storrow” sirens this week, time to post this map again, now with a timeline. As far as I can tell, either the messaging works or the idea of students smashing U-Hauls into overpasses is largely a myth. I couldn’t find any real spike in September.

Me at 7pm: wow, I made a vegan dinner that was actually pretty satisfying! Me at 11pm:

Making what might be my first real, work-for-hire grayscale maps after all these years. Monochrome is a fun challenge for a pet project, but when it’s “distinctly symbolize these 7 routes and 90 points that are all on top of each other if you want your money” it’s just kind of… hard?

The rail map of Columbus, OH, a city of nearly one million people: