An expert on mapping ancient landscapes explains why Big Oil is his biggest customer, among other things. (interview at BLDGBLOG)
For bibliophiles: a ton of photos from a visit to the Prelinger Library (AKA the “speakeasy of [map] libraries”). (by map wanderer)
Geoff Manaugh in Cabinet Magazine on how criminals “operationalize urban topology”:
In his 2003 memoir . . . retired Special Agent William J. Rehder briefly suggests that the design of a city itself leads to and even instigates certain crimes—in Los Angeles’s case, bank robberies. Rehder points out that this sprawling metropolis of freeways and its innumerable nondescript banks is, in a sense, a bank robber’s paradise. Crime, we could say, is just another way to use the city.
(I note that this perfectly describes how crime *ought* to work in SimCity. Instead, I’m sure crime tracks recycling trucks, or something nonsensical like that).
Thanks for the technology goosebumps, Google Maps: the [recently righted] Costa Concordia looked positively eerie in satellite view, leading Collision Detection to ask what other disasters have left manmade scars visible from space.
Finally, Susi Sie’s “Cymatics” depicts the illusory landscapes created by Lycopodium powder vibrating on a stereo speaker (via Colossal):
Bonus link: Robert McFarlane on urban exploration in the Guardian.