This morning I’d like to share three very interesting links:

1) Blog post by Justin O’Beirne: (the actual blog post is down so this link takes you to the Google blog mention – but definitely try to read Justin’s original post if it goes live again) Excellent explanation of why the Google maps’ labels are more effective than those of its competitors. The findings can be directly applied to any maps you yourself make too, whether you make web maps or static maps. The two big take-aways are that thick, white, non-translucent, labels are important to enable label legibility over a busy map background. The second is that the density of labeling can and should be artificially reduced immediately surrounding those areas that are most dense to further set the dense areas apart from the sparse areas. These are all illustrated brilliantly in the article.

2) Haptic Lab: Blankets and bags made of quilting, where the quilted stitches make up a pattern very much like a map – perhaps a map of your home town to snuggle into. These are made by Haptic Lab Inc.

3) The Impossible Tulip of Cartography: The 12-foot long Chinese map of the world from 1602. Interesting nick-name, interesting map.