In the book I wrote about how modern maps need to have authorship information such as the author’s name, perhaps their affiliation, website, or other contact information. I stress that this is secondary or tertiary to other aspects of the map in that it only needs to be seen by those who look for it. Therefore it should remain unobtrusive in the overall design.

Tufte talks about how important it is for an author to place his or her name on the map, not just the organization’s name. The idea is that this holds the author accountable and ostensibly will result in a better product.

The 16th century cartographers took this concept to a completely new level, however. This authorship pedestal is found on a map by Augustine Herman Bohemiensis in 1670 of Virginia and Maryland:

Just for fun, I wondered what it would look like if we used authorship pedestals today:

I sent my authorship pedestal to a long-time client the other day, as a joke, to inform him that all my maps for him will now bear this insignia. His response was that the pedestal should be higher.

Looking for a new scale-bar idea? Well, maybe you weren’t looking for something quite like this. This scale bar is from a map of Virginia and Maryland authored by Augustine Herman Bohemiensis in 1670.

Here’s another one with the same idea, from a 1619 map by William Baffin and Thomas Roe titled “A Description of East India.”

And this one, from the same century, is from a 1664 map of New York (but at the time called New Amsterdam). It is so striking because it is in color! Who has ever seen a scale bar in color? What a strange concept. This one could potentially be implemented in a modern map, actually, perhaps on a children’s educational map.

When you encounter examples of people making a great effort in their everyday work lives, whether it is in fiction or non-fiction, take note. They are an excellent reminder to try a little harder, think a little more, and create better solutions. Here are just two examples that I came across this week that have inspired me:

• In a book called Shift: How to Reinvent Your Business, Your Career, and Your Personal Brand by Peter Arnell, the author describes how he came to devise the name and advertising angle for the clothing line DKNY: “I went out and began to photograph all the abbreviation logos of New York for inspiration. Late one night I was working in the studio…I spelled out DKNY in bold Helvetica letters…” He also states, a few pages earlier, “Whatever you take in becomes part of you. Give yourself permission to tap into that storage vault in your life and career. Your own capital grows from your constant aggregation of knowledge and experiences.”
• Lately I’ve been watching a lot of Poirot movies. In practically every movie, the main character, the detective Poirot, talks about how he has to use his “little gray cells” to solve a case. In most TV shows and movies today there is mostly action. Not even mere references to the act of thinking are allowed. Poirot, however, is a good reminder that all action and no thinking never gets you anywhere. In one particularly interesting scene Poirot leaves everyone in the middle of an unsolved case to go home and sleep. The other characters are angry at his lack of action, but in the end it is his “sleeping on it” that brings him the wisdom to nab the culprit.

Here’s a fun talk by Ursus Wehrli about tidying up art. I’m wondering if anyone in the geo-world would have a go at tidying up maps?