{"id":8,"date":"2015-12-30T18:09:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T23:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/?page_id=8"},"modified":"2025-11-17T16:33:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T21:33:41","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Map Room<\/strong> is a blog about maps that covers everything from antique map collecting to the latest in geospatial technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“One of the finest map blogs on the Internet.”
\n\u2014Mike Parker, Map Addict<\/em><\/a> (2009)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Crowe<\/strong><\/a> started The Map Room<\/strong> in March 2003 as an exercise in self-education. He wasn’t a map expert\u2014he didn’t even own a GPS receiver until 2008\u2014but liked them all the same, and thought blogging about them would be a good way to learn more. Now, more than two decades later, people insist on calling him a map expert, to his continuing befuddlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Map Room<\/strong> ran for more than eight years\u2014between March 2003 and June 2011\u2014and amassed more than four thousand posts before Jonathan wrapped it up in June 2011. After a hiatus of four and a half years, Jonathan brought it back in January 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

About the Author<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Crowe<\/strong> blogs about maps at The Map Room<\/a>. His nonfiction has been published by AE<\/a><\/em>, The New York Review of Science Fiction<\/a><\/em>, the Ottawa Citizen<\/a><\/em>, Strange Horizons<\/em><\/a> and Tor.com (now Reactor<\/em>)<\/a>. His sf fanzine, Ecdysis<\/a><\/em>, was a two-time Aurora Award<\/a> finalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His other web projects include DFL<\/a>, a blog about last-place finishes at the Olympics that made him world famous for 15 minutes in 2004, and Gartersnake.info<\/a>, a website for garter snake keepers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan has been interviewed or profiled by Agence France-Presse, the BBC World Service, the Boston Globe<\/cite>, CBC Newsworld, CTV Newsnet, Folha de S\u00e3o Paolo<\/cite>, the Hamilton Spectator<\/cite>, the National Post<\/cite>, the Ottawa Sun<\/cite>, Reuters, RT\u00c9, Sports Illustrated<\/cite>, the Toronto Star<\/cite> and the West Quebec Post<\/cite>, among others. He has also appeared as a panelist and presenter at science fiction conventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former political operative, history graduate student, civil servant, small-town newspaper reporter and snake breeder, Jonathan lives in Shawville, Quebec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Copyright<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All content is copyright \u00a9 Jonathan Crowe or their original contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To reuse or reprint material that first appeared on The Map Room<\/strong>, please contact him<\/a>. To reuse or reprint material linked to or featured by The Map Room<\/strong>, please contact the originating website; please do not contact Jonathan for permission to reprint material created by a third party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Colophon<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Map Room<\/strong>\u00a0is hosted by DreamHost<\/a>. It’s currently powered by WordPress<\/a>\u00a0(it used\u00a0Blogger<\/a>\u00a0in 2003 and between 2004 and\u00a02011 was powered by several incarnations of\u00a0Movable Type<\/a>) and currently runs a modified version of the Toujours<\/a> theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Map Room<\/strong> is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk.\u00a0The Map Room<\/strong> also participates in Google AdSense (on legacy pages from 2011 and earlier) and the Bookshop and iTunes affiliate programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Map Room is a blog about maps that covers everything from antique map collecting to the latest in geospatial technology. “One of the finest map blogs on the Internet.” \u2014Mike Parker, Map Addict (2009) Jonathan Crowe started… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1620,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/fantasy-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":0},"title":"Fantasy Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 April 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"For the past few years, I've been working somewhat diffidently\u00a0on a research project that combines two obsessions: science fiction\u00a0and fantasy, and maps. The end result of this project will be\u00a0a few semi-scholarly articles, and convention presentations, as well as materials on this website. I\u2019m interested in the following questions: First,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":224,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/about\/subscribe\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":1},"title":"Subscribe and Follow","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 January 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I post new material to The Map Room as often as several times a week. If you don\u2019t want to miss anything, you should subscribe to the email digest or the RSS feed, or follow The Map Room on social media. Email Digest The easiest way is to sign up\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1992,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/blogroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":2},"title":"Blogroll","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Adventures in Mapping (John Nelson) Atlas of Ice and Fire (Adam Whitehead) BostonGIS Canadian GIS Cartoblography (Kenneth Field) A Cartographer\u2019s Tale (Miguel Garc\u00eda \u00c1lvarez) La Cartoteca (Alejandro Polanco Masa) [espa\u00f1ol] Digital Geography Free and Open Source GIS Ramblings (Anita Graser) GeoAI Unpacked (Ali Ahmadalipour) GeoHipster Geography Realm (Caitlin Dempsey) geoMusings\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1632,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/map-books-of-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":3},"title":"Map Books of 2016","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 April 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are the books that have been published or are scheduled to be published in 2016.\u00a0Clicking on the title, if it's a link, takes you to a\u00a0blog post about the book. Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"miami-map-fair-thumb","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/miami-map-fair-thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1827,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/archives\/older-book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":4},"title":"Older Book Reviews","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"These book reviews were posted on The Map Room during its earlier incarnation (2003-2011). OpenStreetMap: Using and Enhancing the Free Map of the World by\u00a0Frederik Ramm, Jochen Topf and Steve Chilton (1 June 2011) Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas by Rebecca Solnit (28 April 2011) In Maps and Legends\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":523,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/fantasy-maps\/fantasy-maps-nonfiction-bibliography\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":5},"title":"Fantasy Maps Nonfiction Bibliography","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 January 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Abercrombie, Joe. \u201cThe Role of Maps in Narrative: \u2018The Heroes,\u2019\u201d in\u00a0Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer (Abrams Image, 2013), pp. 227-230. Acks, Alex. \u201cTolkien\u2019s Map and the Messed Up Mountains of Middle-earth.\u201d Tor.com (now Reactor), 1 Aug 2017. \u2e3b. \u201cTolkien\u2019s Map and the Perplexing River Systems of Middle-earth.\u201d Tor.com (now Reactor), 10\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"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=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845160,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions\/1845160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}