Mittens

Once again, a post about my map obsession and once again a link to Strange Maps. This time we have an interesting post about BSD's home state, complete with a little German lesson at the bottom. How could I resist? The only problem with the post, is that the handmap is so obviously wrong. The thumb is jutting way too far east, doing who knows what to Ontario.


But, it is actually quite a good way to show Michigan geography and while I have never actually used it to point out my hometown, I have explained the locations of other places on my hand. I have a feeling I'll wind up using it more if I ever leave.

I just hope that this post doesn't trigger a five minute ramble from Stef about the little man with the hat that I always seem to get whenever I try to bring up American geography to her.

Here Be Dragons

Another day another victory for Strange Maps. This time they bring us The International Square Earth Society, which I can only assume (and hope) is a spoof on the flat earth crazies.

It's quite an authoritative and well-argued (if not well-reasoned) construction of a square earth based on biblical evidence and a good dose of insanity. My favorite section is the FAQ, where Mr. Wilcox argues that airline pilots and Hollywood (obviously) are in league with the devil.

I suppose it is a bit confusing to distinguish between what is metaphorical or not, given all the insanity in the Bible. I'm still on Genesis, but so far it's been quite an interesting read.

Redrawing the US: 38 States

I found the following map on one of my favorite blogs; Strange Maps, and did a bit of tweaking so that it no longer shows the current state borders. There is also some information about it here. It's cool to view the nation in a completely new way. Apparently this redrawing of the map is an attempt to center states around major population centers and thus coordinate state services better. Obviously a proposal like this has no chance to happen without some seismic movements in the governmental structure of the U.S., but it's an interesting exercise and a cool result. However, my main problem with the map is not it's impracticality (because I love that part), but the names of the new states.

While I do like some of the state names, most of them are just awful. Dakota and Carolina are nice because they hearken back to former states. Cumberland, Hudson and Appalachia have a nice ring to them and also. Piedmont reminds me of the old Italian kingdom, which seems a bit of an odd image to connect to the Deep South, but it was named for a present day region, so isn't too bad. But, by and large the names just seem far too random and I would I have guessed that Pearcy's only criteria was that they have some relation to the area, but had to be different from a current state. This leaves a lot to be desired. Apparently the names were actually chosen during some sort of survey in each state. This also creates problems. Things as important as naming fictional places on maps cannot be left up to the tyranny of the majority. While I do like some of these names, I think a lot of them could simply have old state names and the rest should be improved upon.

Alamo: If you're going to name it after a battle in the Texas Revolution, why not just call it Texas?
Bighorn: Naming a state after a sheep, no matter how big their horns are, is a mistake.
Bitterroot: Is this named after the flower, the river or the mountain range? I don't know, probably all three, but it sounds awful. Bitteroot would be a fine name for some be some backwater town, but not a whole state.
Bonneville: This may be ex post facto, but no states should be named after cars.
Dearborn: While I appreciate that Chicago was once called Fort Dearborn and I appreciate a state with the same name as BSD's hometown, this is just nonsensical. No states named after the founding fathers, but you give one to Henry Dearborn?
Kilauea: Cool name, but why can't this just be Hawaii? The borders are exactly the same!
Plymouth: This is just lazy... name the place after an American Indian tribe or something, but don't revert back to Plymouth. Plymouth Colony was absorbed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, hence the name of the modern state.
Prairie: A tad bit generic.

Geography of DC Comics: Gotham City

When trying to think up names for Sim City 4 cities or fantasy football team names or for any of many others reasons why someone like me might want to make up place names, Gotham has always been a thorn in my side. No matter how hard I try, I cannot think of a name as good as Gotham. Part of that is probably because it is so ingrained in pop culture and my mind that it actually feels like a real place and actual names always seem more realistic than fake ones. Moreover, the fact that Gotham is actually a nickname for New York probably gives some added weight to it.

Still, the name is simply perfect. It is short and catchy, yet manages to evoke so many images. Goth elicits memories of barbarian tribes, towering Gothic cathedrals and darkness, while ham is a simple English town ending. Thus, it manages to be a reference, but still sound like a real place.

But because Gotham is not a honest-to-goodness physical place, the most important part of its reality is in the mind. Gotham is darkness, it is madness, an art-deco nightmare. It is shadow, towering skyscrapers and muggings on street corners. When you think of Gotham City it brings to mind images of a real place, just as if you thought of New York, London or Hong Kong.

I haven't been able to find quite as much information the geography of the city itself, but I did find some interesting things. Strange Maps, which actually began this endeavor, has a post with some information on various places in the city, as does Gotham and Beyond. I'm not well versed enough with comics to comment further on those particulars, so let's just get to the maps.


The first image comes from Batman: The Animated Series, and honestly isn't all that helpful. Though it's a nice sepia tone and I just like the way it looks.



This next map is the original from Strange Maps and wonderful for city details, but not great for larger area names. As far as I can tell Gotham City is comprised of three main islands, two secondary islands and a few other islands here or there (including Blackgate Isle, #41 on the map). The islands I consider secondary are the two triangular ones, the northern containing Arkham Asylum, the southern the Tricorner Yards. These seem very integrated into the city and important, with an expressway going through the northern and the shipyards on the southern. The other islands are not given much detail, only showing a few bridges connecting them to the main islands and one road.


Here is a subway map of Gotham, which gives some nice detail on neighborhood names. It also gives us the areas of Uptown, Midtown and Downtown (obviously modeled after NYC), but no names for the actual islands which these areas of the city are on. A non-subway map similar to this can be found here. It has a zoom function, lists all sorts of street names and is without a doubt the best map of the city I have found. Oddly, both of these maps get rid of four of the five islands in the south of the city.


From these maps we get the following neighborhoods.
Uptown: Granton, Farrow, Harrow, Jerold.
Midtown: Gainsly, Reatton.
Downtown: Haysville, Stevensburgh, West Harlow.

Additionally, there is the Narrows between Midtown and Downtown, and the island in the southwest corner is South Hinkley.

I would appreciate any input those readers with more comic book knowledge than me have.

Metro Detroit High School Football Map

After hearing about the demise of the Michigan Mega Conference I got curious as to what new conferences were formed and which schools went where. That, coupled with my obsession with maps has produced the map below. I marked all the public High School football teams in Metro Detroit by conference. Hopefully the quality is good enough that it can be blown up.

The schools themselves are not marked, because the map would be too crowded and while the dots which represent schools are not necessarily in the correct location, they should be in the correct cities.

Teams can be extrapolated by heading here.