Author Archives: Andy Woodruff

About Andy Woodruff

I grew up as a regular visitor to Boston, my mom being a native (a BU alumna from Malden), and became an area resident when I moved to Cambridge in 2008 after finishing graduate school in Wisconsin. That's a lifetime short of being a real "local" by the standards around here, but I'm doing my best. I think I can at least imitate the Boston accent better than most people from my home state of Ohio. My day job is being a partner in Axis Maps, where we do custom interactive cartography and also sell typographic map posters. Sometimes I also post things on my personal site, too. Cartography is more than a day job, though; I've been exploring Boston by mapping it since I got here—by foot, bicycle, train, and study. There's hardly a better way to learn about and appreciate the city.

Mapping molasses

By now you’re aware that today marks 100 years since Boston’s Great Molasses Flood (or Molasses Disaster, or whatever you may call it). On January 15, 1919 a huge tank of molasses on the North End waterfront collapsed, releasing a … Continue reading

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Official unofficial neighborhoods, 2017

Time for an update on the classic-yet-ongoing neighborhood mapping project! To recap: we’re on version 2 of a web survey for mapping Boston-area neighborhoods, the boundaries of which can be the subject of much disagreement. We’ve asked people to draw … Continue reading

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The Boston Projection

Cartography Twitter has become abuzz with some local map news: last week Boston Public Schools ditched the classic Mercator projection in favor of the Peters projection for classroom maps. A trivial-sounding story to some, it’s interesting because it’s change motivated … Continue reading

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Much Sass State

Can you believe it’s almost the 400th anniversary of the the Pilgrims arriving at Hot Lumpy? Maybe you’re more of a North Shore type, and are excited for summer so you can visit the beach at Meth Cranes By-The-Sea or … Continue reading

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Myriad marathons

Happy Patriots’ Day, everyone! Today thousands of runners are making that famous trek from Hopkinton to Boylston Street. That’s The Boston Marathon, the only one that counts, but there are many ways you can run 26 miles and 385 yards … Continue reading

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A day of traffic

If you’ve driven a car at all around these parts, you’ve certainly spent some time as a part of slow or stopped traffic. Despite how it may feel when you’re parked on the Southeast Distressway, Boston is, relatively speaking, not … Continue reading

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The island nations of Boston

Some neighborhoods of the Boston area are actual islands, or were at one point. Others, however, can feel that way even when connected to each other by land. Water isn’t the only thing that can create a gulf between neighborhoods; … Continue reading

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Map your neighborhood! (Again!)

When you think of your neighborhood, you probably think of many things—people, institutions, cultures… and geography. In your mind it probably has a spatial extent, or a center, or some fuzzy definition of what is “here” and what is “there.” … Continue reading

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Snow

It’s the end of Winter 2015 and, well, we don’t need to tell you that it has snowed a bit. Last Sunday we celebrated breaking the all-time seasonal snowfall record with 108.6 inches. Below is an animated map of SNODAS-modeled … Continue reading

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Every vote for governor in Boston

As you know by now, Charlie Baker was narrowly elected to be the next governor of Massachusetts on Tuesday. Although he lost the city of Boston by a wide margin to Martha Coakley, Baker did perform better than in 2010 … Continue reading

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