The Map Center, Pawtucket Rhode Island

09/19/2026

At the GPN conference, geographers take on their most daunting challenge yet: imagining a map of an auditorium as if it was made by animals.
This Pigeon Map (pic #2) imagines a floor plan for ambulatory pigeons on the ground and a ceiling plan for roosting spots!
This is a goofy activity for kids but in the hands of adults it's a mind bending opportunity to reinvent why we make maps in the first place. Who is our audience? What assumptions have we been relying on for years without challenging? I have so much fun facilitating this activity and I look forward to bringing it to NACIS in Milwaukee next month!
Thanks to the Geospatial Professional Network New England chapter for inviting me!

09/17/2026

3 year Rhode Islandiversary party October 1, 6-9.

09/12/2026

Have you been curious about how to make your own map? Join us at Map Time RI for some community map making. Bring your laptop and I'll provide the prompt that we'll all follow to make our own maps together using
October 15, 6PM to 9PM at The Map Center, Pawtucket Rhode Island

09/08/2026

This is my attempt at a fashion video. I think I'll stick to cartography. Nevertheless!
Great Lakes sweatshirts are available at The Map Center just in time for Fall. Show your love for your favorite enormous body of freshwater.
Cheers to Lat Long Shop in Madison WI for putting these together.

We may not be on the Great Lakes here in Rhode Island but we love a great beach wherever we find one.

09/08/2026

Did you know I used to be a child model?
I'm a far cry from my 11 year old, McCauley Culkin-esque peak doing eyeglasses ads in the regional paper but for these new sweatshirts, I think I still got it. They're thin, extraordinarily soft and so perfect for Fall. Share one with your favorite map nerd! Order at www.mapcenter.com


Made by the inimitable LATLONG.SHOP

09/08/2026

Just had to check out the navigation gear aboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle while I was out and about today.

09/03/2026

Thank you Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and City of Pawtucket - Mayor's Office Don Grebien. It was a pleasure to show off this Rhode Island original business!

It was a pleasure joining Pawtucket Mayor Grebien today for a tour of The Map Center, New England’s oldest map store, and the second oldest in the country.

What an impressive collection.

08/26/2026

How do and people use maps? The answer is with special tactile maps made with raised braille writing and embossed lines.
We check out an subway map of Boston from the 1980s that uses braille and we talk about the Lighthouse Foundation in San Francisco creates standards to make it easier for a visually impaired or blind person to quickly get where they need to go.
Read "Tactile Mapping" by Vincent van Altena and Jakub Wabinski by Esri Press

08/26/2026

Andrew Middleton drove across the country to help preserve a one-of-a-kind map shop in Pawtucket. FULL STORY⬇️

08/14/2026

NERDS NERDS NERDS