Nate and Shay's map of Half Dome's Regular Northwest Face

A couple of summers ago, my friends Nate and Shay climbed the Northwest Face of Half Dome. They used a climber's map, or topo, as their guide. I love the way they combined a photo slideshow with a climber's topo. Interact with the topo on their website:

Climber topos are remarkable to begin with because they condense information on thousands of feet of vertical terrain to a single pocket sized page.

How to Look at Modern Art in America

by Ad Reinhardt

Geogreeting

(click on image to create your own)

Time-Space Storytelling

Published in 1869, Charles Minard's eloquent graphic story is peculiarly relevant in an age of geotagging our own personal data.

Minard's graph of Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812:

Through a sort of flow chart imposed on a map, Minard tells a story of time and space, gracefully documenting multiple variables:

• The army's location in Russia
  
• The direction and path the army traveled
  
• Where units spun off and rejoined
  
• The declining size of the army
  
• The low temperatures during the retreat (retreat shown in black)
• The dates

Look what happened when the army crossed the Berezina river. In France, the word "berezina" is synonymous with the word "disastre". For another data "berezina", check out this horrifying government PPT slide - they could use a few tips from Minard.