{"id":1788486,"date":"2020-02-27T14:14:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1788486"},"modified":"2020-02-27T14:14:41","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:14:41","slug":"whimsical-drawings-hide-in-punctilious-swiss-topo-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/02\/whimsical-drawings-hide-in-punctilious-swiss-topo-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"Whimsical Drawings Hide in Punctilious Swiss Topo Maps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swiss topographic maps are legendary for their precision, but that hasn\u2019t stopped cartographers from having a little fun. As Zoey Poll reports for AIGA<\/abbr> Eye on Design<\/em>, whimsical little drawings can be found hidden in some editions of Swiss topo maps<\/a>:<\/p>\n

But on certain maps, in Switzerland\u2019s more remote regions, there is also, curiously, a spider, a man\u2019s face, a naked woman, a hiker, a fish, and a marmot. These barely-perceptible apparitions aren\u2019t mistakes, but rather illustrations hidden by the official cartographers at Swisstopo in defiance of their mandate \u201cto reconstitute reality.\u201d Maps published by Swisstopo undergo a rigorous proofreading process, so to find an illicit drawing means that the cartographer has outsmarted his colleagues.<\/p>\n

It also implies that the mapmaker has openly violated his commitment to accuracy, risking professional repercussions on account of an alpine rodent. No cartographer has been fired over these drawings, but then again, most were only discovered once their author had already left. (Many mapmakers timed the publication of their drawing to coincide with their retirement.) Over half of the known illustrations have been removed. The latest, the marmot drawing, was discovered by Swisstopo in 2016 and is likely to be eliminated from the next official map of Switzerland by next year. As the spokesperson for Swisstopo told me, \u201cCreativity has no place on these maps.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article suggests these drawings are a coping mechanism, an opportunity to blow off a little steam. I can believe it. [r\/MapPorn<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swiss topographic maps are legendary for their precision, but that hasn\u2019t stopped cartographers from having a little fun. As Zoey Poll reports for AIGA Eye on Design, whimsical little drawings can be found hidden in… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[1429,258,287],"class_list":["post-1788486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-map-errors","tag-swisstopo","tag-switzerland","tag-topo-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1806409,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/03\/the-people-who-draw-rocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788486,"position":0},"title":"‘The People Who Draw Rocks’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 March 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Melting glaciers are keeping a special team of cartographers at Swisstopo, Switzerland\u2019s national mapping agency, busy: they\u2019re the ones charged with making changes to the Swiss alps on Swisstopo\u2019s maps. The New York Times reports: \u201cThe glaciers are melting, and I have more work to do,\u201d as Adrian D\u00e4hler, part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Geology"","block_context":{"text":"Geology","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/geology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1380,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/03\/new-national-maps-of-switzerland\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788486,"position":1},"title":"New National Maps of Switzerland","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 March 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Switzerland is updating its official map series. The new maps\u00a0are digitally based and use new fonts,\u00a0symbols\u00a0and colours\u2014railways, for example, are now in red. They replace the 1:25,000 series that dates back to the 1950s; all\u00a0247 sheets\u00a0should\u00a0be replaced by 2019. You can compare the old and new map designs on this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"swiss-topo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/swiss-topo-1-1024x614.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/swiss-topo-1-1024x614.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/swiss-topo-1-1024x614.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/swiss-topo-1-1024x614.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1808215,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/07\/review-the-cartographers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788486,"position":2},"title":"Review: The Cartographers","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 July 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"I bet you\u2019ve been wondering what I thought about Peng Shepherd\u2019s novel The Cartographers (William Morrow\/Orion, March 2022). After all, it\u2019s a literary fantasy about maps: is it even possible for a book to be more relevant to my interests? Well, wonder no longer, because I\u2019ve reviewed it for Strange\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Book cover: The Cartographers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/the-cartographers-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3969,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/02\/the-maps-cartographers-made-as-kids\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788486,"position":3},"title":"The Maps Cartographers Made as Kids","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 February 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Maps made by children are interesting enough; maps made by children who went on to be professional cartographers\u2014that's something else altogether,\u00a0as All Over the Map's Betsy Mason shows. Because you know they all did that, when they were kids.\u00a0(And no, before you ask, I don't think any of my childhood\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1809358,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/10\/eduard-a-new-mac-only-relief-shading-app\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788486,"position":4},"title":"Eduard, a New Mac-only Relief Shading App","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"13 October 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Launching at NACIS, which is next week, but\u00a0available on the Mac App Store now, Eduard is a Mac-only application that generates relief maps by \u201c[using] machine learning to match the aesthetics and details of relief shadings created by Swiss cartographers.\u201d (The name is a pretty obvious reference to Eduard Imhof.)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GIS"","block_context":{"text":"GIS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eduard app logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/eduard-app-logo-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1790248,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/02\/how-black-cartographers-have-mapped-racism-in-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788486,"position":5},"title":"How Black Cartographers Have Mapped Racism in America","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 February 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Writing at The Conversation, geographers Derek Alderman and Joshua Inwood explore African American examples of \u201ccounter-mapping,\u201d from maps made by the Black Panthers proposing new police districts to modern interactive maps of lynchings and police violence. \u201cBlack Americans were among the earliest purveyors of counter-mapping, deploying this alternative cartography to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Human Geography"","block_context":{"text":"Human Geography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/human-geography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lynchings-tuskegee-1024x817.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lynchings-tuskegee-1024x817.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lynchings-tuskegee-1024x817.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lynchings-tuskegee-1024x817.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788486"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788489,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788486\/revisions\/1788489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}