Grasshopper Geography

~~~ Artistic, yet scientifically accurate maps from a geographer. ~~~ Grasshopper Geography actually grew from some hobby projects and maps I shared on Imgur, ages ago. Becoming an independent artist was quite a rollercoaster, involving lots of sitting in cubicles, some traveling and volunteering, even working with whales and orangutans. For a short history and my works visit www.grasshoppergeography.com. Also, commissions are open, send an ask/message if interested. Cheers, Robert, a GIS Analyst / Digital Cartographer from Hungary

[grasshoppergeography]

Globes!!

So yeah, this happened. Took us 2 years, but we are finally here: we're selling globes with our very own river basin maps!

The globes are handcrafted in Germany, by the oldest globe manufacturer in the world. (It still feels really weird to say this. Like... my maps? on globes? made by Columbus Globus? no way!)

They are also the first ever globes that show all river basins of the Earth, nobody has made these before. And as we decided not to include any text or political borders, you can make sure they'll never get outdated, as other globes tend to.

Here is one of them in the making:

They also have a lightbulb inside, so they can be illuminated and used as an atmosphere lamp (or whatever you call those lamps that are not really / not only lamps).

It's been quite an effort to put everything together for this project, mostly because we had to work on it besides all the other stuff we've been dealing with in the last couple of years (like the ocean drainage basin maps you all liked so much, or moving and restarting our life and business in a new country). I'd appreciate if you could take a look at them, and share them with those you think would be interested in buying one. But no pressure, I'm already happy that you've stopped to read this post :)

My website | Buy globes | More about the collaboration

[fuzzyghost]

[grasshoppergeography]

One of the recent ones: river basins of the Baltics. Colours represent individual catchments.

Not sure how to read a river basin map? Our blog post is here for the rescue.

[michaelnordeman]

You may have noticed I always include a place, like “Värmland”, with my pictures. Sometimes it’s the name of a nature reserve or a specific area, but I always try to include the landskap as well.

These landskap (literally “landscapes”) are Sweden’s old historical provinces. They no longer have any administrative role, but they’re still very much alive in our cultural and geographical identity. We use them to describe places, nature, and even dialects.

Värmland, for example, is both the name of a landskap and a modern administrative region (län), with almost, but not quite, the same borders. The län are made up of municipalities (kommuner), and they don’t always follow the old provincial lines. Some regions combine several landskap, others split them - it's a bit messy.

Most of my photos are from Värmland, where I live, but I regularly visit nature reserves all over Sweden. To give you a better sense of where the pictures are taken, I’ve added a map showing all the Swedish landskap. Even a rough idea of the geography can make the images feel more rooted in place.

Both maps are from Wikimedia and are used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported licence. Sources: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sverigekarta-Landskap_Text.svg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sweden_in_Europe_%28-rivers_-mini_map%29.svg#filelinks

[michaelnordeman]

I thought it was time to reblog this piece of information.

[levsharapov]

[grasshoppergeography]

this is everything to me

[grasshoppergeography]

Visiting one of the geodetic marks in the municipality. The goal is to find them all!

[grasshoppergeography]

Show Your Stripes

It's #ShowYourStripes day!

Created by Ed Hawkins, the warming stripes are "visual representations of the change in temperature as measured in each country over the past 100+ years. Each stripe or bar represents the temperature in that country averaged over a year. For most countries, the stripes start in the year 1901 and finish in 2021."

One of the best ways to fight climate change is to talk about it, and these stripes are clearly great conversation starters. If not today, then when?

Check your own country and cry. Then show it to the world, so they can cry too.

[mapsontheweb]

River basins of the Pacific Northwest.

[grasshoppergeography]

Oh look one of the first ever commissions I made for an organization :)

Also, a correction is needed here: it is a map of the Cascadia Bioregion specifically, not one of the PNW. The Pacific Northwest has no universally accepted definition, and Cascadia is definitely a huge part of it, but the map was made of the Cascadia Bioregion which is a very well defined area.

This map cannot be found in my webshop, it is sold only through the Cascadia Department of Bioregion’s website and 10% of earnings support the Alaska Whale Foundation (where I also had the chance to volunteer two seasons as a GIS specialist back in 2015 and 2018).

I think I can say that this is a map that has a very special place in my heart.

[grasshoppergeography]

It's Cascadia Day today!

Cascadia Day — Cascadia Department of Bioregion

Cascadia Day - May 18th https://cascadiaday.org

[victusinveritas]

[ellanmwebb2]

Land of fire and ice.

[franciscolemos]

Some OSR style hexes I made just for fun.

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

"Earth's Treasure"

Streams of blue and yellow braid across Iceland’s volcanic landscape in this award-winning photo from Miki Spitzer. Glacial water shows an icy blue and sediments glisten in gold. Together, their interplay creates an arresting delta viewed from above. (Image credit: M. Spitzer; via WNPA) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Melting Permafrost Stains Alaskan Rivers Orange

The swiftly melting permafrost of the Arctic is releasing toxic metals like zinc, cadmium, and iron into Alaskan waterways. The contaminant levels are so high that it’s staining many rivers orange – a feature that can be seen from space. (Image credit: K. Hill/National Park Service; research credit: J. O'Donnell et al.; via LiveScience; submitted by Emily R.) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Sediment Swirls

Turbulent flows feature swirling eddies over a range of sizes – the larger the size range, the higher the Reynolds number. In this satellite image, sediment highlights these eddies in shades of turquoise, showing off the complexity of the flows created where rivers, ocean, and tides meet. (Image credit: L. Dauphin; via NASA Earth Observatory) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

"Colors of Glacial Rivers"

As glaciers flow, they grind down rock, creating fine sediment that dyes waterways a milky color. In Jan Erik Waider’s aerial film, we get a bird’s eye view of the result, watching pockets of sediment move downstream in pulsating waves and swirls.  (Image and video credit: J. Waider; via Colossal) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Who Killed the Colorado River?

From its source high in the snowy Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River runs through two countries and five states on its way to the Gulf of California. Or at least it used to. The river hasn’t met the sea in decades.  (Video and image credit: PBS Terra) Read the full article

[grasshoppergeography]

If you want to know more about the Colorado River and its watershed or if you're interested in helping, LIVING RIVER is a good starting point:

The Colorado River is one of the most critical and controversial ecosystems in North America. Can we band together to restore and nurture th

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Growing Downstream

This astronaut photo shows Madagascar’s largest estuary, as of 2024. On the right side, the Betsiboka River flows northwest (right to left, in the image).  (Image credit: NASA; via NASA Earth Observatory) Read the full article