iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

As I'm framing a 1949 USGS map of the Pawtucket quad, I notice this stamp in the corner indicating that it originated from EdEx Co, the company The Map Center was spun off from in 1950.

2320

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 29/09/2026

Surprising zero people: The Dymaxion Air Ocean Map. I also had a movie poster of the movie Contact and a photograph of the Eiger in Switzerland. I am my father's son. i.pinimg.com/originals/db...

010

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 29/09/2026

Truly one of the all time great scale bars

082

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 21/09/2026

Woonsocket teacher Tom Kerr-Vanderslice bought his students maps of Rhode Island from AMC and Benchmark and his students have been devouring them. Also note the map of Turtle Island and TWO globes. A+.

1462

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 08/09/2026

Did you know that I was a child model? I was the Empire Vision glasses kid, the Kinney Drug Store kid and I was in a Raymore and Flanagan Commercial where they taught me how to fall into a couch in slo-mo. I've lost a bit of the magic but check out these awesome new sweatshirts.

Andrew awkwardly wearing a dark blue sweatshirt with the name of the great lakes

613717

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 08/09/2026

Bonus: here's a picture of a butterfly fish (it's looking at the camera from its rock crevice in the center of the frame). This is a tropical fish that was blown north from the Caribbean to New England by the current. It's not native but these Gulf Stream Orphans are common this time of year.

1370

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 08/09/2026

I went diving today and I found joy that has been largely absent for me in the past six months. Here's a gay flounder I found. If you want to go diving with me in RI let me know. I want to be underwater as much as I can before winter comes.

$A flounder with a rainbow refracted on its back$

4944

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 04/09/2026

That's not a Spilhaus! THIS is a Spilhaus

280

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 04/09/2026

Yep, I'm a(n Upstate) New Yorker through and through.

5180

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 03/09/2026

Getting to meet Senator Whitehouse was a real treat today. My grandmother loved the guy and would have been tickled to see us hanging out. Maps depict the past but they also help us envision better futures.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien look at a map held by Andrew Middleton

61317

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 25/08/2026

I wouldn't say I'm fixed yet but I feel better. They have you come out to visit every two weeks for the rest of your life like a chiropractor.

110

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 15/08/2026

1952-53? I used @xkcd.com map dating graphic.

2121

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 15/08/2026

"I was on the USS Abraham Lincoln in '26."

Quint and Hooper drunk on the Orca reminiscing.

1332

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 11/08/2026

Being the sole owner/operator of a store means it's rare to actually get out and enjoy yourself. I keep the shop open on weekends so I try to do little solo adventures. Today I went snorkeling at Ft Wetherill and met a crab.

2921

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 01/08/2026

I should just create a bot to repost this every time someone mentions how awful the Harry Potter universe is. From the Guardian interview with Ursula K. le Guin:

"UKL: I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the "incredible originality" of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited."

0122

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 29/07/2026

This is a cat map. A mom seated nearby has a good and safe lap that any cat would find comfy.

1340

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 29/07/2026

Lots of good places to nap. Very considerate to your capybara audience. Wanna see a polar bear map? It's a heat map so the bears know where it will be comfortable and not too hot.

1270

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 29/07/2026

I did a workshop last night in Millbury called A Map for a Cat which invites kids to make maps from the perspective of different animals. Wanna see a capybara map?

4837

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 08/07/2026

Look at that spread! Not bad! (White dots are where other beacons were erected during the War) I don't count Beacon Hill in Boston because it was erected in the 1600s as a navigational aid long before it was used to signal conflict.

290

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 08/07/2026

One of the big beacons erected during the American Revolution was the summit of the Great Blue Hills. (WGBH got its name because their transmission antenna was put up in the same strategic location). The line of sight from those beacons covered a HUGE territory!

Southern New England with red splotches just south of Boston indicating where the Great Blue Hills beacon would have been visible.

2292

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 04/07/2026

A C-17 burns 21,000 lbs of jet fuel per flight hour.

Flight radar view of a C-17 flying over the Washington DC metro area.

0160

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 01/07/2026

I rode my bike around this part of Pawtucket taking bubble view 360 degree images every 2 seconds. I processed the photos using @mapillary and extracted all of the utility poles the computer saw in the photos. Here is a quick map that I generated.

0212

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 01/07/2026

I've been having fun doing streetview scans of Pawtucket with @mapillary and a GoPro. Hoping I can do some feature extraction service for the city DPW and prove that open source, bike-mounted imagery can be a real solution for small cities.

Andrew's ball-capped head with his face obscured, an empty street and an old mill behind him

3434

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 28/06/2026

Max Zawatsky is a comic book artist who came to visit me in the shop yesterday with his partner Raine. They're moving to Vermont and they had to come in to say goodbye. Gonna miss these nerds.

Four panel map by Max Zawatsky called "'Shut Up' Map'
1. We were at The Map Center for 2.5 hours
2. Chatting the owner's ear off
3. To shut us up
4. He gave us a 1993 Vermont road map
June 27 2026

3604

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 24/06/2026

I have to introduce you all to Tim. He's a web developer and he A. has an amazing shirt B. makes maps of fictional worlds using @mapbox.com C. goes so far as to make entire election results maps of the fictional elections held in said fictional worlds Tim is basically my ideal customer.

Andrew poses with Tim who wears a buttoned shirt with contour lines on it and holding up a letterpress map of Rhode Island

2725

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 22/06/2026

Right now the streetview imagery coverage in Pawtucket is quite poor. Google spends lots of money driving the streets to collect imagery that they'll charge you to use. Mapillary lets you collect your own imagery and use it for free. All I have to do is go for a 250 mile bike ride through Pawtucket.

Street map with different colored points that represent where the computer recognized signs, utility poles and other infrastructure.

2421

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 22/06/2026

I heard Pawtucket is releasing an RFP to map out street signs and determine where they need to be replaced. Just slapped a GoPro on my new ebike and tested out how @Mapillary can identify infrastructure. Assuming Pawtucket doesn't already have a contractor who's cousins with the mayor I'm gonna bid.

4825

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 18/06/2026

A class about semiotics, design, epistemology and cartographic history but make it whimsical and arts+crafts.

A student stands in front of a chalk board and shows off her group's map of the Yale architectural gallery from the perspective of a stingray.

2261

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 18/06/2026

Last week I was invited to Yale University to lead an activity that I invented called "A Map for a Cat." It's about human-centered design as it relates to cartography and the students immediately got what I was trying to do. They never missed an opportunity to say "yes, and."

Andrew leans on a lectern and watches a student present her group's map creation in front of a chalkboard.

36610

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 01/06/2026

The view from the kids' section:

high ceilinged room with wood floors, light pouring in from tall windows, lots of bookshelves

2441

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 01/06/2026

This is a shot from when I was just moving things in but it gives you the idea of how awesome the lighting is in the afternoon.

Angular shaped room with high ceilings and massive windows with wood floors and sporadic boxes assembled here and there.

3391

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 25/05/2026

Also the theme song is written and performed by legendary straight icon Little Richard.

Little Richard smiling and looking upwards while dancing in a hallway

1100

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 05/05/2026

One of my customers, Miya Frohmeier, took a picture of me with her vintage camera. She just got the film developed.

Andrew is trying to look busy organizing books in the Map Center surrounded by maps on easels, hanging from the ceiling and in several different map displays

61163

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 18/04/2026

Just... one of my favorite places. Full stop. I have been EXACTLY where the protagonist gets swallowed. That dropoff is just epic. This is a map of the area I made.

Just a really good map of Monastery Beach by Andrew Middleton

111

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 18/04/2026

Spent this morning with my friend Julian who unveiled another historic marker in Bristol RI. He's working to commemorate General Lafayette, whose life story reminds us that the fight for Liberty and Equality relies as much on organizing, alliances and good maps as it does gunpowder and cannons.

Two guys cheesing in front of a roadside plaque in Bristol

4862

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 17/04/2026

Who's up for a bibliophillic adventure? 1. Pick up a passport at Charter Books in Newport or Books on the Square and Providence 2. Visit all 20 RI indie bookstores and get stamped 3. Turn it in for 20% off at all participating stores! One lucky winner will get a $25 gift certificate for EACH STORE!

Cute blue passports with a map of Rhode Island on the back.

45210

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 05/04/2026

Today is a great day to remember that rabbits have paws covered in fur. They don't have foot pads. All Easter decorations of rabbits with toe beans are WRONG. My credentials are below. Happy Easter.

White rabbit being held by Andrew is looking into the camera

41015

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 23/03/2026

Pitfall had a health meter in the upper right corner. As you lost health, the crocodile got closer and your avatar looks over his shoulder more desperately until finally he gets eaten and you lose a life.

screengrab from the game Pitfall. It's kinda grainy. The important part is the health icon in the upper right depicting a crocodile with open jaws approaching your character

130

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 11/03/2026

Open Street Map identifies just 2 straits, one of which is named. It's called "The Gut"

OSM screen cap with circles over two straits in the islands south of Falmouth

130

The Map Center @mapcenter.com · 12/02/2026

I saw @laurentgontier.bsky.social online making these amazing maps and diagrams of Providence and I had to know why a guy in France was making such beautiful graphics of my town. He's been working on this incredible Atlas of HP Lovecraft. The copy he sent me is probably the only one in the US.

Black book titled Atlas Lovecraft with a tentacled compass rose on the cover

Open book with diagrams, fake water stains and photos on the pages.

1012615