Realigning Political Boundaries

It's a sign of courage by a local politician if they advocate realigning political boundaries - merging the City and County, or doing something about the number of local political entities that once made sense but now primarily serve to maintain the status quo.

Maybe that's not enough of a change. Maybe we should think bigger.

Neil Freeman takes realignment to a higher level, and considers what the map of states would look like if they were realigned the way Districts of the House of Representatives are. Here's his view of the 50 states (click the image for his site):



In our present format, the population of states ranges from 493,782 to 33,871,648. In Neil Freeman's depiction, the population of states will range from 5.4 to 5.6 million. Major cities and their suburbs are in the same state. His map restores the historical structure of the electoral college and the political alignment of the United States' federal system.

In this image to the right, I've overlaid the existing state boundaries above our regional map in Neil Freeman's depiction.

In the areas that I'm familiar with, these boundaries make contemporary sense. Breaking Upstate New York into Erie, New England, and Susquehanna makes great sense. I think the Ohio split into North Coast and Sohio makes sense. I like the way the State of Allegheny works. I think that the States of Allegheny and Erie would be better off in the new structure than they currently are, combined in the same entity as Philadelphia.

I think we'd have better national politics with a state map like this.

Map Geek: Northism, Cognitive Maps, Friday Gallery Opening

I am a map geek, and I most appreciate a map that depicts reality in a new way and helps you to interact/navigate more effectively.

The NYTimes just wrote about people making maps (and art) out of their own travels, using GPS and various software packages. I've been enjoying mapping my bicycle rides for a while.

Northism

I just came across the notion of "upside down maps", which demonstrates what maps might look like if we weren't fond of "northism", the assumption that north is at the top of the map. Northism is just an assumption, it doesn't have to be that way.

Originally, East was the primary direction of a map (that's why we say, I need to get oriented). This was due to a few factors - that's where the sun comes up, after all, and Jerusalem was considered the center of the Occidental world for a very long time.

Compasses point north, they say, and that started Northism. Then the lat/long grid was focused on the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England, and that coordinate system reinforced Northism.

Non-Northist Map of Earth

Here's a map that offers a non-Northist view of the world:

Map of Web 2.0

To kick it into meta, maps are explanations of lacunae, of cognitive space. For instance, this is a map of web social communities:

Do you know how when you meet somebody and they say they're from New Jersey, the response is "oh, what exit"? The author/artist of the above web map comments in his alt-text, I'm waiting for the day when, if you tell someone 'I'm from the internet', instead of laughing they just ask 'oh, what part?'

Map of Humanity

Here's a map of humanity (click for large-size, opens in new window, must be seen to be appreciated). You'll see that Miami, New Orleans, and Amsterdam are on the coast of the continent of Hedonism, on the shores of Sensualist Bay. It's really a brilliant work, weaving cities and literature in a way I haven't seen before (which is the mark of a great map, seeing something in a new way).

Allegorical Map of Success

Kudos to commenter Jim Russell, for pointing out the map of success. (edit)

Pittsburgh Map Gallery Opens Friday

Last weekk the Trib-Review covered the opening of Shaw Galleries, a Pittsburgh antique map and fine art shop at 805 Liberty Avenue. Their Grand Opening Party is Friday, September 11th, 5:30 to 9 p.m. Here's the map from their home page:


Excellent Map Geek Blogs:
Cartophilia
The Map Room