The Map Center, Pawtucket Rhode Island

08/26/2026

How do and people use maps? The answer is with special tactile maps made with raised braille writing and embossed lines.
We check out an subway map of Boston from the 1980s that uses braille and we talk about the Lighthouse Foundation in San Francisco creates standards to make it easier for a visually impaired or blind person to quickly get where they need to go.
Read "Tactile Mapping" by Vincent van Altena and Jakub Wabinski by Esri Press

08/26/2026

Andrew Middleton drove across the country to help preserve a one-of-a-kind map shop in Pawtucket. FULL STORY⬇️

08/14/2026

NERDS NERDS NERDS

08/12/2026

Which is better? GPS or a paper map? Well, GPS is more reliable, precise, and adaptable but it also comes at the cost of our attention that we usually rely upon to find our way through the world. Efficiency is the enemy of discovery.

08/11/2026

Another album for Damien Saunder for the next edition of mapsonvinyl perhaps? I'm thinking that getting the rights to this one will be hard.

McDonalds is a complicated company but you gotta hand it to them. They really excelled at diversification. You'd never see an educational geography record from Chipotle.

08/06/2026

Check it out, The Map Center is at Providence Place! I spy Leiyana Mat Shaffer and African American Museum of RI

08/05/2026

07/31/2026

Join me as I make a scan of the streets of Pawtucket using a and a bicycle! I'm uploading the data to Mapillary because I want everyone to have access to street view imagery that can be used by folks like the Pawtucket DPW. Usually the city would pay tons of money to a company that does sign and infrastructure inventory to make maps of where repairs need to be done, where signs are missing or pavement conditions. But why spend that kind of money when we can do it ourselves for free and while having more fun?

07/29/2026

Thank you to the Millbury Public Library Page for having me over for a fun night of map making! This is a sneak peek of what some students made during my Map for a Cat workshop.