Ancestors

Written by The Map Room on 2025-01-30 at 17:15

A few new followers this month. Welcome! For those who may be curious, here’s an explanation of what it is I do here.

The Map Room is an old-school blog about maps, a relic from the golden age of blogging. I began it in 2003. Nearly 22 years ago now!

This started as an exercise in self-education: I liked maps, a lot, but I wasn’t an expert or professional in any sense. 22 years later, I’m still not. (1/7)

https://www.maproomblog.com

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Written by The Map Room on 2025-01-30 at 17:15

What expertise I have is half an inch thick and five miles wide: I know a little about most things map, but only a little.

Which is to say that this isn’t a side hustle to a mappy day job: I’m not a cartographer and I don’t work in geospatial. I’m basically a reporter and commentator. Occasionally that means I opine on map-related developments in the news or the industry (e.g. the Gulf of Whatever thing). (2/7)

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Written by The Map Room on 2025-01-30 at 17:16

I’ve written a number of articles about maps in fantasy and science fiction: how they’re used, and why they look the way they do. Here’s a list of my map-related publications: https://www.maproomblog.com/publications/

I’ve also reviewed a ton of books about maps: https://www.maproomblog.com/category/book-reviews/ (3/7)

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Written by The Map Room on 2025-01-30 at 17:17

Since there’s no day job to promote, the site pays for itself—barely—with advertising and affiliate links. Last year I finally launched a Patreon; if enough readers sign up for it I’ll be able to get rid of the ads. (Meanwhile, it’s ok if you use an ad blocker.) (4/7)

https://www.patreon.com/jonathancrowe

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Written by The Map Room on 2025-01-30 at 17:17

Blogging isn’t what it was 20 years ago. Readers’ attention has been diverted to social media. It’s also harder to find things to post. What I relied on back then—blogs, media, mailing lists, even Google Alerts—are long since hollowed out. I have a link submission form on the website, but it’s 98 percent spam. A solution to this problem continues to elude me. (5/7)

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Written by The Map Room on 2025-01-30 at 17:18

You can follow The Map Room here and/or on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/maproomblog.com

There’s a Facebook page, but I’m reconsidering what to do with it right now.

And there’s still an RSS feed:

https://www.maproomblog.com/feed/

One surprisingly popular way to follow The Map Room is via the weekly email digest, which comes out on Fridays. Old school, running on a vintage announcement list tool, plain text. Sign up here: https://www.maproomblog.com/about/subscribe/ (6/7)

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Toot

Written by The Map Room on 2025-01-30 at 17:19

If you want to see me talk about things that aren’t maps (piano, sf/fantasy, snakes, typewriters, etc.), follow @mcwetboy, visit https://www.jonathancrowe.net (soon to be totally redesigned) or subscribe to my newsletter at https://buttondown.com/jonathancrowe.

Thanks for your attention. (7/7)

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Descendants