The Daily Render

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future

[Commissioned Map] Sandy Spring Friends School – Tessellation Two
|| 7/25/2009 || 9:39 pm || 6 Comments Rendered || ||

: rendered at 900 X 600 :
Sandy Spring Friends School Quilt by Nikolas R. Schiller

This map features a different tessellation of the area around the Sandy Spring Friends School in Maryland.

[Commissioned Map] Sandy Spring Friends School – Tessellation One
|| 7/21/2009 || 8:50 pm || 6 Comments Rendered || ||

: rendered at 900 X 600 :
Sandy Spring Friends School Quilt by Nikolas R. Schiller

I was recently commissioned by a person who wishes to have me a make a map of Sandy Spring Friends School as a gift for their friend. The person asked explicitly for a map on fabric that uses the Octagon Quilt Projection. This made the process somewhat easier for me because all I needed to do was create different tessellations of the aerial photography around the school. Often the client does not know the map design they desire most, so I have to spend extra time rendering different designs based off of one or two tessellations. This time around I was able to focus on making numerous tessellations for the client to choose from.

Click here to view the Google Map of Sandy Spring Friends School in Maryland.

Below is the same tessellation, but shown at a different scale:

: rendered at 900 X 600 :
Sandy Spring Friends School Quilt by Nikolas R. Schiller

Commission: Yankee Stadium Quilt
|| 12/19/2008 || 1:51 pm || Comments Off on Commission: Yankee Stadium Quilt || ||

: rendered at 9,000 X 6,000 :
Yankee Stadium by Nikolas R. Schiller

At the beginning of the week I received an inquiry about making this map. It’s intended to be a gift for the client’s friend who’s a big Yankees fan. I was unsure if I’d be able to obtain the newest imagery featuring the new Yankee stadium, but since the client felt the friend had spent more time in the old stadium, the newest of the imagery was not an issue. I went with .5 meters per pixel imagery from April, 2006. There was a second set of imagery of the area at lower spatial resolution, but I liked the coloring on this imagery better and went with it. This is my first map of the Bronx borough of New York City and for 2009 I am planning on mapping the rest of the boroughs.

Like my previous commission I was able to modify the source aerial photography so that the nearby outdoor track has been converted into a heart. I debated on modifing the coloration so that the pinkness of the heart (below) would be more pronounced, but I opted to follow my current style of non-modification. Yet this inclusion of the heart motif is something that I find to be an unique addition to my current map design. I am adjusting the imagery to not only create a geometrically perfect design, but literally adding a bit of love to it. An aerial landscape design of love, so to speak.

There is also a sense of transition in this map. By the varying degree of translational symmetry placed upon the the actual stadium, there appears to be an architectural metamorphosis taking place. Where the old stadium is becoming a new stadium. And some day in the future, when it’s time that I make the next map of Yankee Stadium, with newer contemporary imagery, it will be a new stadium. But will the heart (track) still be there in the future? Will development change the love of the geography? I don’t think so. Yet in making this map for the client, I’ve captured the love between two people (and probably thousands of others) that will never change.

Unlike my previous commissioned map, which was printed at 32″x48″ on stretched canvas, this Hexagon Quilt Project map will be printed a bit smaller at 10″x16″ on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl paper. If you are interested in obtaining a custom map, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

View the Google Map of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx

: detail :
A heart created next to Yankee Stadium

View the rest of the details:

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Geospatial Art in a box – The Anticipation
|| 10/25/2008 || 2:54 pm || Comments Off on Geospatial Art in a box – The Anticipation || ||

Photograph of my most recent commission in it's delivery box

On Friday my most recently commissioned map, Shirlington Quilt, arrived at my house. I placed it in my living room and decided to wait until the future owner arrived before I took the map out of it’s extremely large shipping box. I can’t help but be reminded of Christmas time when I was a kid. There’s that unique sense of anticipation that I feel toward what’s inside of this box. Will the map be printed nicely? Will the canvas be stretched perfectly? Are the colors nice? Will the future map owner like what they are paying for?

Well, I am pleased to say that the map turned out perfectly and the new owners are pleased :-) Hopefully, in the not too distant future, I’ll get a photograph of how the owners hung the map in their house. Everyone puts their maps up in different places and it should look great no matter where it’s hung.

[Commission] Shirlington Quilt
|| 10/15/2008 || 6:16 pm || Comments Off on [Commission] Shirlington Quilt || ||

: rendered at 9,000 X 6,000 :
Shirlington Quilt

I’ve been working on this commissioned map for a few months now. It was originally going to be Paris, but we decided to it would be easier to make a map of their house. I spent some extra time transforming the nearby highway into a heart (below) to signify the love between the husband and wife. I think it looks beautiful :-) It will be placed in the client’s home, which is featured within the map.

View the Google Map of the Shirlington neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia.

: detail :

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Featured on-line with the Maps exhibition at the Walters Museum
|| 2/27/2008 || 7:17 am || Comments Off on Featured on-line with the Maps exhibition at the Walters Museum || ||

Screen grab showing a small detail of a Concentric Quilt

Starting in mid-November I’ve been volunteering my time with the Walters Museum‘s upcoming exhibition. They have a small technology center (4 iMacs) in their cafeteria which I was given the opportunity to review. I look forward to going to the opening later this month!!

The Walters Museum has also included a layer for Google Earth that I produced for the exhibit. You can download the layer here or here.

Queen Anne Quilt
|| 6/28/2007 || 3:43 pm || Comments Off on Queen Anne Quilt || ||

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

I made this map for a friend of mine. I am excited to hear that it might be hung in quite a nice place.

View the Google Map of the Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle, Washington

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Capitol Hill Mandala, draft #2
|| 4/30/2007 || 9:16 am || Comments Off on Capitol Hill Mandala, draft #2 || ||

: rendered at 9,000 X 9,000 :

Read more about this commission & the first draft here. The client wanted more of their house and I hope this version will suffice!

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Capitol Hill Mandala, first draft
|| 4/9/2007 || 3:27 pm || Comments Off on Capitol Hill Mandala, first draft || ||

: rendered at 9,000 X 9,000 :

A couple weeks ago a visitor contacted me about places where she could see my maps printed out. After finding that she ived here in DC, I invited her & her husband over to look at some of the maps I have in my house. After viewing the lot, they really liked the one I made of Park City, Utah and asked if I would make one of their house that looked similar. This is the first draft. I will post the subsequent drafts as they are made….

The development of the tile I used to for this draft is actually something akin to an advancement in my own artistic endeavors. I originally made two tiles to be used- one that featured a diamond and the other featured a 16 sided polygon. I ended up using the 16-sided polygon to surround the house because it looked similar to the centers of the maps I’ve created using the Octagon Quilt Projection. The advancement I speak of is that by using an 16 sided polygon shape and having octagonal symmetry, I, for the first time, have created a unique geometric illusion.

In the Park City map I used a hexagon to outline the house and as one moves their eyes around the map they can see the hexagon rotates in conjunction with the symmetry used in the map. The illusion is that the houses rotate inside of the polygon but the polygon itself does not!

For example, along 45 degree line of symmetry, a hexagon or diamond would be rotated 45 degrees (while still being a hexagon or diamond in shape), however, in this map the polygon does not rotate because the polygon has exactly twice the number of lines of symmetry being employed in the map. Only upon closer inspection can one see that the contents of the polygon rotate along the lines of symmetry, while the polygon itself does not.

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Meridian Hill Park Mask
|| 12/2/2006 || 11:47 pm || Comments Off on Meridian Hill Park Mask || ||

: rendered at 15,000 X 10,000 :

This map was commissioned by a friend of mine and went through four drafts before perfection.

View the Google Map of the Meridian Hill Park in Ward 1 of Washington, DC.

View Mask Details:

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Nikolas Schiller is a second-class American citizen living in America's last colony, Washington, DC. This blog is my on-line repository of what I have created or found on-line since May of 2004. If you have any questions or comments, please contact: