Andy Woodruff

The rail map of Columbus, OH, a city of nearly one million people:

Nice! I really love the ability to randomize everything in QGIS patterns.

Photo of the ten commandments in front of a church, behind a low rock wall with pointed stones to prevent people from sitting.

XI. Thou shall not rest thy legs on the LORD’s landscaping

True indeed. I continue to be im/depressed by how well the whole bit has aged over the years.

I know we can't meme our way out of this, especially here in the Echo Chamber, but are there variants of the two buttons sweaty guy or trolley problem memes where they gleefully chose "be a dick" and "murder the most people" respectively? These guys have never met a bad decision they don't love.

Frame from a 1994 Simpsons episode showing a Republican convention with cheering participants and banners stating “we want what’s worst for everyone” and “we’re just plain evil”.

Another solid day in the 30+ years of progress in advancing this from Simpsons joke to actual GOP platform.

Build it!

Everyone should learn the joy of changing trains at Park Street. This is what peak transit system design looks like.

Seattle to San Francisco? Just go Inbound to Park St and change trains to go Outbound to San Francisco! Nothing could be simpler!

The final step is deciding not to publish the map after all. 400 years of wasted time.

Map titled "1648 Boston" where the old shoreline, buildings, and streets are overlaid on a map of the modern city.

How a map is made:
- 1640s: people write down property descriptions
- early 20th century: amateur historians obsessively catalog them and derive maps
- 20XX: someone (sorry, not sure who) georeferences those maps
- 2025: I simply sit on a chair and trace said georeferenced maps

Photo of two hiking trail maps on an information kiosk.

Not sure I'll ever see these maps in real life, but it's fun to know that someone will! Here's some work I did with the Community Geographics team to design new summer trail maps for the Appalachian Mountain Club's Maine Woods Initiative properties.

just look at that lunatic, clearly thinking about something insane like a bike lane or affordable healthcare

Portrait of a very expression-less face drawn by an elementary school child, titled “Radical Andy W.”

Sometime in the 1990s it seems I created a poster that my opponent can use, should I ever run for office.

Wall mounted map in the shape of Massachusetts, with “Cambridge” in neon lights above.

Went to State of the Map US since it was here in town. Fun. Should attend more than once per decade.

Anyway here’s this map we saw of Massachusetts (but missing the islands) labeled Cambridge, made of… hotel lobby bench cushion?

Gonna try to be there if I can sort out childcare on time and survive a hurried bike ride over! 🥵

Typographic contour lines… 🧑‍🍳😚🤌

✋
who else?

Perhaps a question aimed more at out-of-towners, but 🙋‍♂️. See you there?

While we are here, check out this brand new beaut…(spring ‘26 by @awoodruff.bsky.social; cover by @downpourdw.bsky.social)

I feel like I know a bunch of Twin Cities cartographers. Some of you must be on here and wanting to do a book!

👀

What does Market Basket's Chelmsford soda taste like? The drink has a rich caramel color and an effervescence that one taste tester said would go well with pizza. Read more on Boston.com.

If you come to New England maybe you can help me drink some Chelmsford ginger ale which only seems to come in two liter bottles; I haven’t opened one that’s waiting in the pantry because I have no solid plan for how to get though it all.

www.boston.com/news/wickedp...

I haven’t had one in maybe 10 years, and I have to say it disappointingly wasn’t as weird as I remember. A bit medicinal but mostly sugary.

Still, if there’s ever a NACIS within driving distance of here, or if anyone sells it inside Logan airport, I’ll bring one or two!

photo of a bottle of Moxie soda and a Hoodsie Cup ice cream

summah

It's back now if anyone wants to trade me some dollars for a White Mountains map.

Gotta love Madison’s farmers market… if only straight-from-the-farm also meant affordable. Thanks for the link; looked up MA out of curiosity and the only stores listed *just* shut down within the last couple of weeks ☹️

Interesting to learn, thanks! I took a spin through there only once, and so many years ago that I don’t remember what I saw.

Regrettably this time I could only buy a backpack’s worth of berries ($5, consumed within two days). Next time I’m bringing the cargo bike.

Do other US cities have similar markets to Boston’s Haymarket? (Super cheap overflow produce from the wholesale distribution center) I’d almost forgotten about it before wandering by recently, and as a parent of kids who eat nothing but fruit, am now considering rearranging my life to go every week.

I don't know if I have the capacity to add the data myself, but I'm happy to share my file if anyone wants to run with it! It's a small area in a specific year, and, as noted earlier, is a bit sloppy (a lot of lines not as straight as they should be), but... it's something!

1. Gross, obviously.
2. I was just working on a map of the combined sewer overflows into the Charles etc. around Boston! One internet dollar to anyone who can guess what the map's title is.