Obsessions with maps?

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One of my fondest childhood memories was looking at the atlas with my dad. We'd play this game where he'd say the name of a town then I would scan the map and try to find it. I learned a lot of geography that way. I used to sleep with the atlas next to my pillow because I thought maps were endlessly fascinating. I learned the 50 states in alphabetical order because that's the way they were listed. My teachers thought it odd. I thought it odd that any teacher would question a person's methods in learning anything.

Yes, absolutely!! !
My friends cannot understand how I can just sit and stare at a map or atlas. However, I usually have a [u]reason[/u] for looking at a map. A map is not just a bunch of lines and numbers. I especially like reading the "key" that shows elevations, points of interest, etc, on a map.

I can stare at maps for hours. I used to draw imaginary cities as a kid using architectural styles of different countries... I even named all the streets. It's one of my biggest obsessions - so much so that I got into the travel industry.

It's not that I'm obsessed with maps, but I also always liked very much to lose myself between the pages of a good atlas, .. I also use them now quite often, as I'm studying the GEOGRAPHY degree right now, lol !

Just wanted to say that I also, love maps, as a child would happily read the "Rand-McNally Road Atlas" for hours. My favorites have always been the old "maps of the heavens", I really love those, Also like Google maps, went back to where I grew up and its WAY different. When my National Geographics come, when they include maps, I staple gun them to my ceiling so I can look at them whhen I lay in bed. (Usually sleep on the couch through)

Phantastic thread !

Aaaah - maps ... as a very young child I discovered the primary school atlas of my older brother and just got obsessed with it. Luckily the school bought new ones and all the childs could keep their old ones, so that one got grabbed by me
I drew shipping lines from island to island or to cross the oceans, I followed mountains crossing the continents, followed the fine net of railway lines and streets on the maps ... and I discovered a fascination for land elevations. I studied elevations for hours and hours!
This atlas gave me so many joyful hours - and I still have that atlas. Although, I have to admit that I mostly use a new one these days, which a friend gave me for birthday a few years back - I am not sure if he knew what he really did to me, but that atlas for sure was one of the most beautiful presents I ever got.

I used to like drawing maps of pretend countries and then setting boundaries for them. I think that was probably started off by a trip to Cyprus when I was young. I also like looking at maps and having a reasonable idea of where countries and populated islands are.

One of these days when I have a better command of how to use some of
my graphics software I'll put together a collage desktop of old and new maps....
Here's something I cobbled together for use as an avatar/signature combo on a
different forum:

It shows some of my interests old and new.

Ph.D. in geography, work in GIS/RS, was co-captain of the winning World Geography Bowl team at the AAG national meeting. Came up with some interesting algorithms in grad school, work now is boring production stuff - work order comes in, make a map, close the work order, rinse and repeat for 8 hours.

Fell in love with St. Lucia around 1980 when I read a book on it - Under the ??Mabry?? Tree, not sure of the species. It was a brief fling - maybe a year before I moved on to another island.

I love maps and atlas. I've always been easily engrossed in them from time to time. Like others I've had my times drawing my own maps of real and fantasy places. Google Earth can keep me occupied for for quite a while if I let it. They have a new star map feature now that I get engrossed in a couple days ago with lots and lots of good pics of far away stuff.

You can add me to this list!



Unfortunately, I was adopted into a strictly blue-collar family that thought that all of my map stuff and so forth (as ably described by the other posters in here) was nothing more than a 'sickness' to be aggressively treated, because it did not fit with a 'career' in the bowels of a local paper mill, rather than a legitimate career path to be nurtured.

I don't see myself ever recovering from that.



Mike

I know this is an old thread and I don't even know if I have Asperger's or not but...

I LOVE MAPS.

I have an old Bartholomew map framed on my wall, map bunting, an ancient map calendar, a book called Map Addict and the Innocent Smoothie M magnet which is a map... I also got 2 books about maps for Christmas. The Marauder's Map is amazing.

I used to draw imaginary plans of towns for fun. On the hiking trips at school I'd just look at the map when we were all in our tents at night talking. I can look at a map for AGES. In church, I'd just look at the maps at the back of my mum's bible while listening to the sermon. I'm hoping to study Geography at university next year so that I can become a cartographer.

I LOVE MAPS.

Just saying

I used to love staring at the Rand MacNalley Road atlas when I was a kid. I still do, plotting out a relaxing weekend drive before I head out. I also look at it afterwards and it helps me visualize where I have been, (in recent years augmented by Google Earth.) Must be an instinct from our hunter gatherer days for how to know where all the resources you need are over a vast track of land. If you were a roaming band, having one member of the tribe be a geography obsessed Asperger type could definitely have it's advantages.