The Daily Render by Nikolas R. Schiller

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New York Public Library Quilt by Nikolas R. Schiller

This fractal octagon quilt projection map was recursively rendered four times before the final result above. It took approximately two hours for each rendering to complete and then each tessellation was sampled while maintaining the source spatial integrity. Altogether this map took about 12 hours of rendering time and post-processing time to complete. I intend on printing this out for the upcoming lecture.

View the Google Map of the area around the New York Public Library in New York City.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: A New And Accurate Map of the World by John Speed [2007 Remix]

6/10/2008 || 6:17 pm
Madison Square Garden Quilt

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Madison Square Garden Quilt by Nikolas R. Schiller

Using my new procedure, I pre-rendered 2 tiles to create this third derivative map of Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan. It looks very similar to Hirshhorn Quilt (they are both circular buildings) but they are composed of aerial photographs taken at different spatial scales. The NYC imagery has been downsampled to 2ft per pixel compared to DC’s imagery which is at 6 inches per pixel or a difference of about 16 times less detail (I think). Up next will probably be the New York Public Library, which was actually in the first tessellation, but dropped from the second.

View the Google Map of Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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4/17/2008 || 6:59 pm
Boston Common Quilt

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Boston Commons Quilt

I’ve had a couple geographers contact me asking if I was attending the AAG’s annual meeting in Boston. My answer has been that I’m too busy on various projects to attend. As a former employee and someone who helped facilitate two annual meetings (Denver & Chicago), I realized that the next meeting I plan on attending will be as either an exhibitor or if the trip is paid for by an employer. I would like to give another presentation again or organize a panel discussion, but, as with most things in life, I’m in no hurry.

Since I have not made any maps of downtown Boston since August of 2005, I decided to download the city, in lieu of going to the city. Pleasantly, I was able to download the city at two different spatial scales and from two different years: 2004 & 2005. So far the imagery looks a lot better than the patchwork design that was previously placed into the public domain. Eight different tessellations later, the entire downtown area will be remapped in the next week. Today’s map features the area around Boston Common, which is the oldest public park in America (created in 1634), and the Massachusetts State House. I chose an Octagon Quilt Projection because I liked the way the center creates a compass rose. Up next will be a derivative of today’s map.

View the Google Map of Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Render A Comment || || Posted One Year Ago: Voting Rights March Recap

3/31/2008 || 3:49 pm
Albany Droste Quilt

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Vassar Quilt #2

I’ve made similar Droste-like maps before that are multi-scalar, but this is the first to follow “rules” involved in creating the Droste Effect. To achieve this effect I cut out an octagon out of the center of the map and pasted a 34% reduced duplicate of the map within the octagon. This recursive process allows for multiple internal repetitions because the source map is very large in size (216 megapixels).

View the Google Map of downtown Albany, New York.

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Render A Comment || || Posted One Year Ago: The Masked Mapmaker

3/26/2008 || 5:18 pm
Vassar Quilt

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Vassar Quilt

Continuing my ongoing project of mapping various colleges, schools, and universities around the United States, I decided to follow-up Mount Holyoke College with Vassar College. According to the metadata, the aerial photography was taken in 2004, scanned at 1 foot per pixel in early 2006, and released to the public in December, 2006. I have prepared another tessellation for Vassar and will make a derivative follow-up map.

View the Google Map of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

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Render A Comment || || Posted One Year Ago: Changing the World, The White House is Off-Limits to the Public: An Exploration of Censorship's Perimeter

3/18/2008 || 1:07 pm
Scott + Dupont Circle Quilt

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Scott + Dupont Circle Quilt

Continuing my current project of mapping the portions of Washington, DC that Google is censoring, I decided use the same process that was used to create Washington + Dupont Circle Quilt. This type of digitally derived double exposure aerial photography creates some of my favorite maps as of late. While I am only touching on the germane juxtaposition of traffic circles in Washington, DC, I’ve been thinking about how I take two completely disparate geographies and create similar styled maps. One idea is to take two of the tessellations I created for the Los Angeles Interchanges Series and create a double exposure highway interchange. Another possibility is to make a Supreme Illusion Supreme by overlaying the Pentagon on to the site of the World Trade Center. I’m not sure how it would look, but I think I’ll try making one of these maps in the near future.

View the Google Map of Scott Circle in Washington, DC.
View the Google Map of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

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1 Comment Rendered || || Posted One Year Ago: Locations, top 100 downloaders in the last 5 days

2/24/2008 || 3:32 pm
87 & 280 Quilt #4

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The 87 & 280 Interchange in San Jose, California

Using this portion of 87 & 280 Quilt #3, I constructed this derivative map of the California State Route 87 & interstate 280 interchange. This is the final map of the series. It reminds me of a braided highway!

View the Google Map of the interchange.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Houston Mandala

12/25/2007 || 1:38 pm
Ballwin Quilt #2

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Ballwin Quilt #2

My memories of Christmas will always be defined by the time I spent growing up in the Burtonwood Manor Condominiums in Ballwin, Missouri. The map above is of the 1,500 foot radius around childhood bedroom on the second floor of 148 Apartment G, Cumberland Park Ct. I remember helping my mother move out of the apartment in 2003 and now only the memories remain. This Christmas I am hanging out in DC without the family, so today’s map is a reflection on times past. After looking at Google’s imagery and comparing it with my imagery and it’s meta-data, I believe mine imagery is slightly newer. I am basing my theory on the apartment’s rooftop coloring. In Google’s imagery the rooftops appear to be multiple colors, which indicates the installation of new roofing shingles. In the USGS imagery, all of the buildings around my former apartment have the same colored shingle, except my old apartment which is darker. This means that either my apartment was the first to be re-shingled or Google is using imagery that is older than April 2006.

View the Google Map of Burtonwood Manor Condominiums in Ballwin, Missouri

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11/14/2007 || 10:36 am
Stuyvesant Quilt #3

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Stuyvesant Quilt #3

notes forthcoming… very soon…

View the Google Map of the Stuyvesant Town- Patrick Cooper neighborhood in Manhattan.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Alexandria Quilt - West #2 (1st Derivative)

11/12/2007 || 3:35 pm
Stuyvesant Quilt #2

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Stuyvesant Quilt #2

notes forthcoming…

View the Google Map of the Stuyvesant Town- Patrick Cooper neighborhood in Manhattan.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Alexandria Quilt - East

11/4/2007 || 11:47 am
Mount Vernon Quilt #5

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Mount Vernon Quilt #5

Using this portion of Mount Vernon Quilt #4, I created a derivative tessellation to create this fractal map.

Up next will be the final map of the Mount Vernon series.

View the Google Map of the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland

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10/28/2007 || 6:15 pm
Mount Vernon Quilt

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Lately I’ve been going to Baltimore to work on some tasks and have spent a fair amount of time traversing the streets of old downtown Baltimore. I find the city to have quite a unique character. I enjoy these getaways from DC very much and it’s cheap- only $14 roundtrip on the MARC trains. Cab rides within DC cost more than that!

Mount Vernon is a historic neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Included in this area (and above map) is my favorite monument in Baltimore: the Washington Monument. I prepared a derivative tessellation to show more imagery of the monument in the next map. It should look interesting.

View the Google Map of the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland

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7/31/2007 || 8:42 am
Jacksonville Quilt #2

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Read my comments concerning the Jacksonville maps here

View the Google Map of Jacksonville, Florida.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Tucson Arizona recap

7/7/2007 || 7:09 am
Adams Morgan Quilt 2005 #8

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Read my comments concerning this series here..

View the Google Map of the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Washington, DC.

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7/6/2007 || 8:08 am
Adams Morgan Quilt 2005 #7

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Read my comments concerning this series here..

View the Google Map of the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Washington, DC.

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6/23/2007 || 3:19 pm
University of Texas at Austin Quilt #3

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Read more about the process used to make the map here.

View the Google Map of the University of Texas at Austin

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Starscape Animations

4/19/2007 || 11:55 am
Oakland Quilt #3

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This map was created from a first derivative tessellation creatied by sampling this portion of Oakland Quilt #2.

View the Google Map of Oakland, California.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Dallas Quilt #2, Farewell Grandpa

1/21/2007 || 9:24 am
Polar Coordinates of the George Washington University [octagon]

5 tiled map

8 polar coordinate maps using a zoom of GWU Quilt #3.

Read more about the process involved to make these here.

View other maps of the George Washington University.
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Portland Quilt

12/12/2006 || 8:42 am
San Diego Quilt #2

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View the Google Map of Downtown San Diego, California.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Anthony & I like maps!

12/7/2006 || 10:52 am
Sacramento Quilt #2

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View the Google Map of Sacramento, California.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: La Haine - tonight

11/17/2006 || 12:52 pm
Washington Highlands Quilt #3

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View the Google Map of Washington Highlands in Ward 8, Washington, DC.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Dupont Circle Quilt

11/13/2006 || 8:33 am
Alexandria Quilt - West

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View the Google Map of Alexandria, Virginia.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Wal - Monster

8/18/2006 || 12:45 am
Portsmouth Quilt #3

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I am happy with how this fractal came out.

View the Google Map of Portsmouth New Hampshire.

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8/16/2006 || 8:42 am
Portsmouth Quilt #2

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View the Google Map of Portsmouth New Hampshire.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Baghdad Imagery change in Google Earth

8/14/2006 || 2:23 pm
UCLA Quilt #5

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The final map of the series….

View the Google Map of the University of California - Los Angeles.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Boston Mandala

8/11/2006 || 2:16 pm
UCLA Quilt #2

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View the Google Map of the University of California - Los Angeles.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Boston Volcano

7/19/2006 || 12:39 pm
San Juan Quilt #2

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I’m really tempted to make a third map using the imagery of this map (aka a 1st derivative map), but I think I’ll just make another one of Washington, DC (it’s been a bit!). I’ve tessellated American University, Howard University, and Woodley Park but I haven’t gotten around to rendering these locations yet. So many places still to cover….
View the Google Map of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Bizzack, Google this yo

7/9/2006 || 1:59 pm
Park City Quilt

The print arrived in the mail today and I showed it the client this afternoon. She is very pleased with the final outcome (as am I!). She is mailing it to her sister tomorrow….

This is probably my favorite commissioned map