hey map enthusiasts
A little after I got into running long distances, I started wanting a giant map of pittsburgh, the sort you could hang on your wall and put thumbtacks with string attached into.
As a second-best, openstreetmap has this great mode where you can export sections of maps in huge resolution. I made one of pittsburgh (15MB - smaller version 5 MB) (and actually, OSM doesn't export quite that much, so I stitched together six tiles), and for a little over a year have drawn where I've run on it:
(larger version and largest version)
I'm really happy with how doing this has encouraged me to explore the city. When planning a route, I look at the map and think "Where haven't I gone before? I wonder what's there?". Then sometimes I get lucky and find something awesome, like this pink building right near my house on hamilton ave.
I'm also pretty proud of myself that just the routes, without a map behind them, are distinctly pittsburgh-shaped. (also that image is out of date by a whole year - you can tell 'cause there's nothing in point breeze.)
If you want to do similarly, it's really easy (compared to how some people make it look) - I keep a two-layer gimp image (background with the map, foreground with routes), and draw on the routes layer with the paintbrush (shift+click makes straight lines).
Now I'm spending the summer in mountain view (9 MB - smaller version 3 MB).
(larger version and largest version)
One thing I'm curious about on the mountain view map: I wonder if you guys (who don't already live here) can tell, just from the patterns of the routes, where I live. (edit: Rob already guessed it in the comments, so don't look if you also want to guess.)
As a second-best, openstreetmap has this great mode where you can export sections of maps in huge resolution. I made one of pittsburgh (15MB - smaller version 5 MB) (and actually, OSM doesn't export quite that much, so I stitched together six tiles), and for a little over a year have drawn where I've run on it:
(larger version and largest version)
I'm really happy with how doing this has encouraged me to explore the city. When planning a route, I look at the map and think "Where haven't I gone before? I wonder what's there?". Then sometimes I get lucky and find something awesome, like this pink building right near my house on hamilton ave.
I'm also pretty proud of myself that just the routes, without a map behind them, are distinctly pittsburgh-shaped. (also that image is out of date by a whole year - you can tell 'cause there's nothing in point breeze.)
If you want to do similarly, it's really easy (compared to how some people make it look) - I keep a two-layer gimp image (background with the map, foreground with routes), and draw on the routes layer with the paintbrush (shift+click makes straight lines).
Now I'm spending the summer in mountain view (9 MB - smaller version 3 MB).
(larger version and largest version)
One thing I'm curious about on the mountain view map: I wonder if you guys (who don't already live here) can tell, just from the patterns of the routes, where I live. (edit: Rob already guessed it in the comments, so don't look if you also want to guess.)