"We work not only to produce but to give value to time." - Eugène Delacroix



The personality of the cartographer should not matter much when considering the quality of the maps. The cartographer's maps should not be dismissed because they have runny noses and have their belly buttons exposed with their shirt hanging out of their trousers.

Only the accuracy of the map should be the sole criteria.

The cartographer could be wearing an expensive Italian suit and the map might be higgedly-piggedly and of the wrong shape, looking nothing like the territory that it is supposed to describe.

The accuracy of the map should be the sole criteria; the question should be does the map describe reality? Is this a good map? The truth of the message should override the personality of the messengers.



Cartographic Artist



"A lot of people have something to say and never have the chance to say it," says Carpenter. "I'm lucky. And I like to express myself with maps." Richard Carpenter is mapping every mile of America's railroad system as of 1946. By hand. "It's a story," he says, "that needs to be told." http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/79/pbest.html What gives this particular journey added zest is that Carpenter's maps are so meticulous and engaging--beautiful, really. They are hand-lettered and hand-drawn, even the tiniest place-names done in Carpenter's own careful printing. The maps have a point of view, a voice. It is as if Richard Carpenter is quietly narrating the trip. "No one has ever done this before". The atlas, says Carpenter, "is a record, a way of putting down in one place the totality of the system, the geography, the topography. It's a story that needs to be told." An atlas would seem an unusual vehicle for storytelling, except in the hands of Carpenter. The atlas would be a quixotic venture except for a couple of things; it is being published, and has created a minor stir. "It's a treasure trove of obscure information. . . . It answers questions that you didn't even think to ask." "Carpenter has invented his own style of cartography," says John C. Hudson, a professor of geography at Northwestern University. "Artistically, it's a beautiful product. There are no other maps like this anywhere that I've seen." And then there was Baltimore Sun columnist Fred Rasmussen. "It's the kind of work," Rasmussen wrote, "that only a gang of monks would consider undertaking." His maps are both compulsively detailed and artistically rendered. The skill and judgment are in combining not just the sources for each line and not just all the lines onto a single map. They are also in resolving conflicts. "I'm doing this mainly because I enjoy it," he says. "It gives me great satisfaction."