Where Your Christmas Tree Comes From

A recent map on maps.com (an Esri run map site) by Joshua Stevens shows where Christmas trees are grown.

The data is from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Each tree shaped spike represents a county. The most significant areas are in Oregon and North Carolina. If you click on the map you can activate a magnifier to play with.

The text below the map tells about the environmental advantages of natural trees over artificial ones though it feels a bit advertise-y. You can also read about the history behind the tree traditions and learn how to start your own tree farm. What's sadly missing from this map is the most important Christmas tree farm (to many people anyway) - the one that Taylor Swift grew up on.

Drifters on the Ocean

In May, 1990 a storm off the coast of Alaska knocked containers off a ship that was on its way from Korea to the United States. Some of the containers broke open sending 61,000 Nike shoes on a journey through the North Pacific Ocean. The following winter hundreds of Nikes washed up on the shores of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.

To oceanographers these shoes are "drifters," floating objects that enable them to test models of ocean currents. A model known as the Ocean Currents Simulator (OSCURS) predicted that most of these shoes would make landfall in British Columbia about 249 days after the accident. The first ones were found there 220 days after. Later shoes were found off the coast of Oregon showing that the currents diverted some of them to the south. A year and a half later some of them made landfall in Hawaii.

In early 1992, a similar accident sent a bunch of toy ducks into the ocean. Here is a map of "possible journeys" and places they were found over the next 11 years.

To reach the Atlantic Ocean they had to pass through the icy Arctic. They have lost their color, according to this article but many are still floating out there.

For more about ocean currents see these pages from the SEOS project.

Where to See the Best Eclipse Maps

It's not about where to go to see the upcoming eclipse (August 21st, 2017) -it's where do you see the best maps that interests me. The Great American Eclipse site is a good starting point. They feature very detailed maps showing how much time the total eclipse will last.

Above is the area around Columbia, South Carolina where some friends of mine (and possibly me but that is unlikely at this point) are gathering. I'm not sure why they want to drive 30 miles to get an additional 10 seconds of eclipse time but maybe it's better watching it over Lake Murray. Hopefully they get a sunny day-chances are much better of that in Nebraska or Wyoming.

This site features maps of the nation, for each state, drive time maps, videos of the path, lots of highly detailed maps like above and statistics. You can also buy "Occupy Totality" T-shirts. I like their logo too.

Here is a simple nationwide map from the South Carolina State Museum via the Columbia Total Eclipse Weekend site.

The Washington Post has a great page where you can scroll down and follow the eclipse's path. Here are two screen shots of Oregon.

 Also Carhenge, because Carhenge is awesome.

Teams of students under the Eclipse Ballooning Project will be sending up high altitude balloons with cameras across the country to live stream the event. You will be able to watch here.

Rexburg online (Idaho) has a nice simple state map.

You can see where future eclipses will be from Scientific American. Their interactive graphic works nicely for small countries...

...but gets unwieldy for larger ones.

There are probably many other good graphics. You can look up at the sky or look online for more maps. If you are in the USA and you miss this one, there will be another one in seven years. Click the picture for more details.

A Fresh New Six Pack of Maps

Spring beer season is back! A few years ago I posted some maps from the bottoms of beer packaging. Here are some new examples from my obsessive collection.

From California comes this dry, hoppy map from Anderson Valley Brewing. An extra malty monochrome color scheme adds a nice finish that smoothes out the jagged edges of the mountain roads.

This colorful map from Louisiana's Abita features floral notes and a complex coastline.

 Oregon's Full Sail uses some complex topography to balance out its simple map profile. Fruited plains accompany purple mountains gracefully. Good eye feel.

Shiner's complex geography pours into a smooth, straightforward map. A red star adds hints of location.

There are two ways to enjoy a Boulevard map from Kansas City. The outer more complex view gives way to a more blocky, local feel finished off with a large, red building.

This dark, chocolatey map comes from Avery Brewing of Boulder, Colorado. The deep cocoa malt is easily traversed by lighter milk-chocolatey passages. DO NOT use this map to find the brewery. They have moved out to the edge of town.

College Football Fan Map

The New York Times Upshot recently added College Football to its collection of fan maps.

I like how faithful the boundaries are to the state borders. Even in Kansas where they have a reciprocal arrangement with Missouri for in state tuition and plenty of students from Missouri, the boundary is pretty precise.

Using the university colors is a nice touch but it also has the effect of overemphasizing the red schools. What really jumps out here is Nebraska, Wisconsin and Ohio State, whereas Oregon's impressive reach into California, Montana and Alaska fades info the background. The other problem with the college colors is when you have similar adjacent colors. It's especially hard to distinguish Alabama and Georgia here. South Carolina and Auburn are also in the same color family.

I also like the small pockets of fandom for the lesser state schools such as Michigan State, Kansas State, Iowa State and that little university in Virginia whose relative lack of football success has made Virginia Tech the overwhelming choice of most of that state.   

The Upshot did a related map showing where college football is the most popular.

While I'm not convinced that the Facebook "like" is the most reliable measure of our culture, it does make for an easy data set and results in a clear pattern. If this map was done in a grey scale, reversed out and overlaid on top of the first map, you'd get a picture of not only who people like but how strongly. I'd do it if I had time but work beckons.

40 Maps That Won't Explain Anything-Part 1

In my continuing quest to make fun of the recent plague of "40 Maps That Will Explain Everything You Ever Needed to Know and Keep Your Breath Minty Fresh" articles such as this one and this one; here are 10 maps that blissfully do not pretend to explain anything. 40 maps is a lot to digest in one blog post so I will break this out into several posts that will appear from time to time.

1. Jeep tracks around the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta Australia

2. Almost unreadable map of Chicago restaurants

3. Detail from Hand Drawn Map of Berlin by Jenni Sparks

4. Oregon Wine Regions using 1980's style computer graphics - somethingaboutmaps

5. The Milky Way Transit Authority by Samuel Arbesman

6. Panama Shipping Routes from a lemon crate

7. Detail from a zoning map of Minsk-the full map is here.

8. Fort Wayne, Indiana art print from Jennasuemaps

9. Forth Worth, Texas art print, also from Jennasuemaps - really you can't tell the difference?

10. Map of Kashi (Kashgar) just because I've always been weirdly fascinated by the place. Note the areas that were not surveyed due to the arrest of the surveyor.

What's Your State?

A recent study of America's mood by state, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, is featured in Time Magazine. There is a test you can take to see what state matches your personality. With all the discussion about introverted, neurotic people from the northeast, I figured I fit in perfectly but much to my surprise that wasn't the case.

Oregon????? I must have answered some of the questions more wishfully than truthfully. The regional patterns here are pretty clear and the article has interesting explanations for some of them. The west coast is clearly a separate region but I don't usually think of Arizona or New Mexico as part of that region and certainly not North Carolina. Texas is another odd one but they've seen lots of in-migration and immigration so maybe that state is more complex than the cliches suggest. Plus, according to another Time article and magazine cover, they are our future. Nice cover art!

By the way, if you take the test and enter the default value (neither agree nor disagree) for each question, you end up with Texas. Have fun taking the test. You too may end up in an unlikely place.

The Newberry Library Part 2

This post is a continuation from last week detailing my recent visit to Chicago's Newberry Library. In the map room was a book of maps of the Oregon Trail. Having gone to graduate school in Lawrence, Kansas near the beginning of the trail, it caught my attention.

The full title is "Topographical Map of the Road From Missouri to Oregon Commencing at the Mouth of the Kansas in the Missouri River and Ending at the at the Mouth of the Wallah Wallah in the Columbia." Produced in 1846 (when the Oregon Treaty settled a boundary dispute with the U.K.) by order of the U.S. Senate, this map is from the field notes and journal of Captain John C. Fremont, and sketches and notes from his assistant Charles Preuss. There are seven sections, above is the first, easternmost section.

I like that Westport, now the place to go in Kansas City to see bands and watch drunk 20 year olds get into fights, was its own little village. Actually, it was probably a much rougher and rowdier place back then. This detailed view came from the David Rumsey Map Collection where you can see the full maps with much better clarity.

The sections feature charts of meteorological observations for sunrise, noon and sunset for each day of Fremont's expedition.These include the temperature, altitude, wind direction and brief weather descriptions such as "perfectly clear" or "occasional thunder and light."

The locations of the expedition for each day are shown on the map, along with "cyphers" listing the distance from Westport. Each section has notes in the corner that provide some good atmosphere and local color. These are from section 1:

This section abounds with grass, water and fuel so that emigrants may encamp almost anywhere.
Elk and deer, the only game, are very scarce.

Selected notes from the other sections provide lessons in geography and attitudes towards non-whites.

Game - Antelope and Buffalo, the latter in innumerable bands.

Timber is extremely scarce, except on the islands*. Some driftwood and buffalo excrement makes the fuel as that of the camels does in the deserts of Arabia.

Good guard ought to be kept. Pawnees, if they do not kill, will at least take what they can from the travellers [sic] by force if they are strong enough, and by stealth if too weak to act openly.

With this section** the prairie ends, and the barren sage (artemisia) country begins.

East and West of this section [section 3] more or less buffalo and antelopes, but 50 miles from Fort Laramie each way no game is to be found. Grass - is scanty and only occures [sic] on the banks of the rivers and creeks.

At Sweetwater River*** buffalo appear for the last time and emigrants should provide themselves with well dryed meat.

West of the Green River the traveller [sic] is considered out of danger, as the Snake Indians are considered friends of the whites. Property however should be guarded.

This is the most trying section**** for the traveller on the whole route. Water, though good and plenty is difficult to reach, as the river is hemmed in by high and vertical rocks and many of the by-streams are without water in the dry season. Grass is only to be found at the marked camping places and barely sufficient to keep strong animals from starvation. Game there is none. The road is very rough by volcanic rocks detrimental to wagons and carts. In sage bushes consists the only Fuel. Lucky that by all these hardships the traveller is not harassed by the Indians, who are peacable [sic] and harmless.

Of course, these notes also provided highly valuable information for emigrants heading west.
 
*     the islands of the Platte River
**   section 2 covering the area between 98 and 102 degrees west longitude along the Platte River. 
***  near the continental divide
**** section 6-along the Snake River between Fort Hall (north of Pocatello)  and Fort Boise in Idaho.

Map of the Week-Mainegon and Wiscachusetts

Next week I will be traveling to Portland for a workshop.
If I use Andy Woodruff's map of Portland I should be able to find my way, right?

Maybe on the way up there I'll stop in Madbridge, Wiscachusetts. Here is a detailed street map.

MOTW #40

A memory map of Portland from the Lori Napoleon collection.

MOTW #21

A quilt map of the wonderful state of Oregon by one of Portland's finest bloggers, songwriters and quilters, Michael5000
see below for the author's description

"Each square of this Quilt Map of Oregon represents 12 miles square. The map is loosely based on land use maps from the Atlas of Oregon (q.v.). Quilting represents county boundaries. Most major cities, mountains, and lakes are shown, and are accurately placed within four or five miles. Those familiar with the state should be able to pick out the Ochoco, Strawberry, Blue, and Wallowa Mountains, as well as familiar features like the Willamette Valley, Mt. Hood, Crater Lake (and Wizard Island!), and the lower Columbia River. " -Michael5000