iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

My kid’s school is teaching solid lessons in the Great American Failed Culture of Transportation. Her kindergarten teacher: ✅ Lives about a 12 minute safe and comfortable walk to school ✅ Drives to school

120

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The Equal Earth projection news has spawned a bunch of TikTok explainers and, like... all of them are wrong. Incorrect "true size" comparisons, AI slop maps, etc. Tom Patterson has many beautiful versions of the real deal in the public domain, totally free! But making shit up is easier?

Political map of the world in the Equal Earth projection, by Tom Patterson.

1178

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

An official seal of approval for the @mapcenter.com kids’ section!

Photo of two children on the floor reading books in a shop filled with books and maps on the wall.

1844

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

On this day we commemorate that time when our Allston Christmas map was a little too real for people.

Screenshot from Twitter of a post by Bostonography, “Annual re-publishing of our scientific survey of #AllstonChristmas” showing a map of the neighborhood covered by a big “trash” label. Below it, a reply from someone reading “Literally, go fuck yourself. Allston has 40,000 residents and you're portraying as Trash? You should hope we never meet.”

1101

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

'tis the season* in Boston! Mind your vehicle height on Storrow Drive/Soldiers Field Road and Memorial Drive. Here's my map of some popular locations to sardine-tin the roof of your truck. (*'tis not the season. There is no season. The whole thing about students being to blame is a myth!)

A map of "Storrowing" crashes where over-height vehicles strike overpasses or signs on Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road, and Memorial Drive in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Each overpass and sign has dots indicating the number of crashes at that location, and there is also a timeline showing crashes by date, which are spread throughout the year, with no particular concentration around university move-in dates.

1199

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Daniel Huffman @pinakographos.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I have often felt a bit out of the loop because I don't celebrate the two major cartographic holidays of Hurricane Season and Electiontide.

041

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Cartographers are secretly delighted when some body of water name bullshit is in the news. That’s the real scandal!

190

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

You guys I’ve recently returned from my first visit to Portugal and can’t get over the francesinha sandwich. Bunch of meat, draped with melted cheese, drowning in a beer-based sauce… how did the entire state of Wisconsin fail to invent this first?

Photo of a sandwich in a bowl of brown sauce with a fried egg on top.

3110

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The Spanish town Sigüenza, where we saw last week’s eclipse, has a lovely pair of tiled maps in its train station. Hard to capture in a photo, but they have a lot of 3D detail. But railway construction meant bus substitution, so we spent more time figuring that out than looking at the maps 😭

Wall map of Sigüenza, Spain, made of wall tiles.

Wall map of the region around Sigüenza, Spain, made of wall tiles.

Detail from a tile wall map of Sigüenza, Spain, showing some raised elements.

1155

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Six year old has really got the hang of Mad Libs

Photo of a child’s hand writing words in the blank spaces of a “Mad Libs” story: every space is filled with the word “poop”

150

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Here’s a bad photo from today of the 8th total solar eclipse that I’ve seen!

2190

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Wake up babe, new Great Lake just dropped

Photo of a map showing an eclipse path across the United States, with an extra body of water near the Great Lakes.

1191

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

This was a fun one. Pretty sure we could have stretched this into like 3 hours of just being map nerds. Thanks for inviting me, Jake!

042

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

💯 Some of the best mapmakers in the world are regularly at the NACIS conference, and in addition to being eager to share their wisdom, they're all super friendly and want to hang out with you and learn from you too.

1201

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Okay I was wrong about the flight time so we ended up at a suburban Skyline, but still: meat slop accomplished ✅

110

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

I’ve been buying these for the kids lately and can’t get past this picture on the box. Why would you open a box of Cheez-Its outdoors on the moon? There’s no way to eat them!! Very wasteful.

Picture from the back of a cheez-it box: an astronaut in a space suit lounging in a chair apparently on the moon, with an open box of cheez its which are floating away.

070

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

This important map will help us plan a lunch stop on the way from CVG up to the Dayton area for a visit back some soon. Own this map and at least 49 others in the book Cincinnati in 50 Maps! www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/cin...

Map of “pioneer” and other chili parlors in the Cincinnati area, from the book Cincinnati in 50 Maps.

240

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Oh no, we’re doing the daylight saving time thing again? Have you people learned nothing from me? There is no universal solution but to overthrow the clock and live by the sun.

A map of the USA showing the most satisfactory plan to have reasonable sunrise and sunset times: abolish daylight saving time, use it permanently, or keep the current twice yearly time change. On the western side of time zones it’s best to abolish DST; on the eastern side it’s better to have permanent DST.

5217

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Big news from Maine: it is the only state to share a border with exactly one other state, and it is the only one-syllable state name! Unclear at this time how either of those will affect the 2026 midterm elections.

050

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Can’t believe we made it so deep into the tournament before a photo of Garvey appeared in my feeds

130

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

This map is done enough to make prints available. If anyone you know spends time around the White Mountains, Lake Winnipesaukee, or in between, I'll be grateful for you passing the word along! 🙏 (No vacation house in the area is complete without this map!) andysmaps.bigcartel.com/product/moun...

A map titled "Mountains and Lakes" featuring shaded relief around the White Mountains and Lakes Region of New Hampshire

Photo of the map showing some detail around the southern White Mountains and northern lakes area.

1156

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

It’s cool how they’re bringing tyranny back for a 250th anniversary tour 🤘

030

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

😤 Simply drawing a line on an existing map 🤩 Entire weird AI map with your line on it cc @transitmap.net

092

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

⚠️ Father’s Day self-promo warning: Just signed a second shipment of Boston in 50 Maps at my local bookshop, after the first sold out in 10 days! I have it on good authority (the store owner) that as a Father’s Day gift it is NOT boring. www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/bos...

Photograph of an adult (me!) holding a small child and a copy of the book Boston in 50 Maps, in front of a stack of the same book.

4281

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Hot off the presses, a map I worked on w/ the Community Geographics team, a gravel bike route in Vermont/Quebec. The trick to a nice map is having @margot-carto.bsky.social start the file, then just using the same styles she designed for another map in the region. 😉 www.nekgravel.org/lacs-et-fron...

Image of a map showing a bike route near Lac Memphrémagog, Quebec.

060

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Short visit to Chicago, but I ate a hot dog and a beef, so that’s enough and I’m ready to head back home to my tofu and vegetable life.

340

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Stentor Danielson @chefstentor.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

If you're in Chicago, come on down to the library and hear us talk about maps at 3! #awfest2026

Schedule for American Writers Festival, with my finger pointing to the session "Writing Maps" with Stentor Danielson, Andy Woodruff and David Weimer

041

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Someone bought Boston in 50 Maps from Amazon—where there are actual images of the actual maps—and thought they were getting a street atlas for getting around town. But still found it interesting enough to give it three stars. So, uh… success?

070

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Okay, about 4700 labels later I might declare this map done soon. Then again, it surely could cross 5000 if I just take a few years to track down names for every tiny pond etc. 🤔

Shaded relief map of the White Mountains and Lakes Region in New Hampshire.

3251

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Jake Steinberg @jakesteinberg.com · 02/06/2026

I'm thrilled to announce that I will soon be an author! My book, The Twin Cities in 50 Maps, is a cartographic portrait of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The book includes 50 painstakingly designed maps and deeply researched essays that trace the Cities' urbanity, history, ecology, and culture.

815537

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Intense day here in Massachusetts. Rain, damaging winds, meteor exploding in the sky, we went to ikea… just a lot, really.

0183

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Sarah Bell @sarahbell.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

I think we mappers need a name for this phenomenon. I’m proposing “The Tin Slag Effect” or “Prominence quirk.”

0113

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Okay, mostly took a week off book promo but am ready to get back into it tomorrow morning by embarrassing myself on live TV (well, streaming) news! 💀

050

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Can confirm that the new Map Center space is indeed beautiful, and not to spoil it too much but oh man you guys are going to love this one wall in there. BS-free, floor to ceiling.

060

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Big thanks to @bplmaps.bsky.social for hosting the Boston in 50 Maps book launch tonight! A delight to see a little crowd of people excited about maps, new faces and old friends alike. Plus this fun combination drink ticket/bookmark they made using my Storrowing map, which I promptly lost.

Photo of a bookmark containing the title “Boston in 50 Maps” and a map of so-called “storrowing” crashes in Boston.

3302

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Today I am officially a "my book" guy!

1252

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Searching my photos for “map” this morning—as one does on Sunday morning—and studying @aasmith.bsky.social’s Prudence Island map which was labeled as “map inspiration” in my photo. 🔎🗺️ antonioantoine.com/product/prud...

Photo of a section of Antonio Smith’s map of Prudence Island, Rhode Island.

151

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Pretty solid evening as a carto-parent! Overheard the 5 year old making maps for a while (FYI fellow cartographers, apparently the rule is that maps cannot use colors besides blue and green), and then one of the bedtime "books" with the 3 year old was a map of Spain in a guidebook.

040

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Guess I’m not a Travel Guy but I did not realize that I could fly—in the sky! an affront to god!—from Boston to Chicago, then back again, and then make a second round trip, for about the same price as having a decent bed to sleep in for one (1) night in Chicago.

110

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

From our relentless book promo email campaign, I'm glad that one of the bites was by @clovettboston.bsky.social! It was fun to talk, and I really enjoyed the article that is about, yes, my maps, but amid greater context and musings on Boston geography and history. www.dotnews.com/2026/05/06/f...

dotnews.com

From Landmaking to Placemaking: How Maps Tell a Story of Boston - Dorchester Reporter

If Boston is a “city of neighborhoods,” their boundaries are neither fixed nor uncontested, let alone waterproof. Or so it appears in Andy Woodruff’s book, “Boston in 50 Maps.”

000

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Nothing refreshes you on a warm spring day like the taste of Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Photo of a can of Chelmsford golden ginger ale, and a glass into which it has been poured.

091

Reposted by Andy Woodruff

Anne Trubek @atrubek.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Guess what the dots are…

121

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

My 3 year old asks “are we gonna have dessert?” like 30 times per day, but also loves walnuts? The nut that I’m pretty sure was invented specifically to ruin desserts? 🤨

130

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Told my kids this morning that I’d be taking a bus ride (for a meeting) while they were at school, and they were sad that they wouldn’t get to ride the bus too. Children yearn to be pro-transit radicals!

2100

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

This is the most important map I’ve ever made.

1207

Andy Woodruff @awoodruff.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Okay @universalhub.com I guess I need to learn how to pronounce Mattapan. I frequently see/hear MATTapan (emphasis on the first syllable) but often enough—and somewhat consistently from old-timers from its Jewish days—MattaPAN. What are the locals saying?

721