Category Archives: Transportation

Visualizing Hubway, for real this time

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Andy Woodruff

How convenient. As soon as we got around to our previous post, in which we mapped some Hubway bike sharing data, a new visualization contest started. This time, MAPC and Hubway invited people to visualize every Hubway trip to date … Continue reading →

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MBTA + Boston Bikes Visualization

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Tim Wallace and Andy Woodruff

Back in January, the MBTA and City of Boston sponsored a developer challenge to develop new apps and visualizations making use of real-time bus locations and Hubway bike sharing station data. For the visualization challenge, they provided three days’ worth … Continue reading →

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You can’t get here from there

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Andy Woodruff

There’s an excellent Far Side cartoon of which I’m often reminded around here: a man in a car has asked a farmer for directions from Point B to Point A, as indicated by the map in the man’s hand. The … Continue reading →

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Happy birthday, Red Line

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Andy Woodruff

Do you live, work, or ever travel in the area between Harvard Square and Park Street? If so, you know a piece of the MBTA Red Line that celebrates its 100th birthday today! Yes, what is now the Red Line … Continue reading →

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An MBTA bus-iness day

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Andy Woodruff

(Click to see the whole thing!) You know by now that real-time bus location data are available for the MBTA via NextBus. It’s very handy for riders, of course, but for cartographers it’s also something else: a gold mine of … Continue reading →

Posted in Transportation | Tagged , | 21 Comments

Cantabrigian Namesakes

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Andy Woodruff

In spite of the borderline comical duplication of street names in the Boston area (often within the city of Boston itself), the streets around here are named for many people, places, and things. They are names we encounter every day … Continue reading →

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Boston: Fair and Square

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Andy Woodruff

Whether you blame it on cows, humans, or nature, Boston’s street network is very confusing to visitors and unseasoned newcomers. We cartographers can do nothing but delight in how lost you are going to get. Thence spring my two minimal, … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Transportation | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Mass Streets

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Andy Woodruff

Ah, the venerable street map. It is, perhaps, the most common type of map out there in a world of people in motion. From highway atlases to Google Maps, many a map, no matter how complex, is fundamentally designed around … Continue reading →

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The Mighty Charles

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Tim Wallace

I have a special place reserved in my heart for the Charles River. I love it. Sure, sure, most people do, right? It’s a significant river. Heck, Paul Revere crossed that river while embarking on his famous midnight ride. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Transportation | Tagged , | 2 Comments

(Cartographic) Greetings from Boston

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Tim Wallace

Ah, postcards. The travel microblogs of yore. For decades they were the preferred (if not only) method for sending updates and short messages from near and far to friends and family. If you ever find yourself bored in an antique … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Geography, Historical, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments