Eric Fisher has a keen interest in "understanding the workings of cities." Fisher uses geotagging to get a bearing on how people in urban areas travel from one place to another. more ›

Which do you think are the best beer bars in Chicago? This artistic map offers a guide to some of the best spots to pick up a craft beer. more ›

It's Friday and we know none of you are really into thinking too hard right now (and that you're probably looking forward to an extended liquid lunch) so let's keep things breezy here. This week we're kind of into maps and artistic representations of where we're from. We're self-centered like that! Let's enjoy some art, shall we? more ›

We love food, we love maps, and we love public transit. Therefore, this chart by HartmanSalt gave us a lot of pleasure. It maps out the entire food industry in one place, from chefs (Chicagoans Homaro Cantu, Grant Achatz and Charlie Trotter made the list) to grocery store owners, food media moguls and cookbook authors. It's even interactive! Hover over any name for more information. If someone made one of these for Chicago, we'd have to do a little happy dance. Go forth and waste some time. via The Stew. more ›

The Illinois House is moving forward with their redistricting plan as more objections are raised to it. more ›

Thanks to our friends over at Gapers Block Book Club for sharing Dan Copulsky's "literary things to do in Chicago" map. This little tour highlights literary sites and other bookish places such as libraries and special collections, bookstores, literary nonprofits, a historic landmark, and museums. It's terrifically organized with little blurbs about each location. Red icons are bookstore, blue icons are libraries, green icons are everything else. You download a printable copy as well. Copulsky is also accepting PayPal donations to help distribute more hard copies. more ›

...this comes along. And it can be yours for just $600 from artist Karen M. O'Leary! more ›

Regular Chicagoist Photos contributor Steven Vance, who also is a year-round bicyclist, used IDOT data and Google Fusion tables to map every bicycle accident from 2007-2009. The list is broken down to indicate accidents involving property damage, level of injury and fatalities. The big red tabs on the map are fatalities, of which there were a dozen. Chicago may be more bike-friendly than most cities, but it's still dangerous out there for cyclists. This map provides the sobering reality. (h/t AV Club Chicago) more ›

Former Chicagoisto Todd McClamroch shared this "United States of GOOD Beer" map with us a few minutes ago (via Jezebel) that runs down great breweries by state. We think it's a testament to how fast and deep the craft beer industry in Illinois has grown that a brewery besides Goose Island is recognized with the inclusion of Two Brothers. more ›

Twitter user Eligratz has put together a Google map of BYOB restaurants in the Chicago area. And, while it's comprehensive, it isn't exhaustive. Eligratz is looking for your assistance to add to the map. (h/t Gaper's) more ›

We don't know how many of our fellow iPhone users have complained about the phone's "autocomplete" feature, where the damn thing predicts the next word you want to type. It's led to a staggering amount of embarrassing texts, tweets and e-mails, when all we need to do to rid ourselves of the headache is to disable the feature. Google and your web browser of choice also carry this feature, resulting in searches you didn't want. more ›

With a tip of the hat to my predecessor, who shared this on his Twitter feed yesterday, comes this map of the United States and the movies that best represent each individual state. more ›

Per Grub Street Chicago comes this map created by local artist Vidhya Nagarajan listing some of Our Town's best restaurants. Nagarajan writes, "Some of (the restaurants) I have been to but others are on my list for future visits." more ›

Axis Maps is a company that has combined cartography and art with "Typographical Maps. Simply put, these are maps of the city crafted with continuous use of street names and words. The color map is pretty, but the black and white map is stunning. Now that we're working out of the home, we might have to pick up one of these $30 beauties. more ›

Inspired by Bill Rankin's map of Chicago that laid out the city's racial and ethnic dividing lines, photographer Eric Fischer wanted to see what other cities looked like when mapped the same way (Fischer previously geo-tagged the entire city). Last week, Fischer shared the findings via his Flickr page, also making his own map of Chicago. Both Rankin's and Fischer's maps use data from the 2000 Census, with Fischer matching his map to Rankin's key in which each dot represents 25 people: Red = White, Blue = Black, Green = Asian, Orange = Hispanic. Rankin's maps, created in 2009, also map out race and income. more ›

Rich Miller at Capitol Fax presented two interesting maps for comparison yesterday: a graphic showing which states get more than a dollar back in federal spending for every dollar sent to Washington in taxes, and a graphic showing how those states voted in the last presidential election. The rub? Except for eight states, all of those receiving less in federal spending than they contribute voted for Barack Obama, including Illinois. Does this make us in the Midwest exceptionally generous? Or foolish with our cut of federal spending? more ›

did a simple comparison between grocery stores and bars to discover a remarkable geographically [sic] phenomenon. We had expected that grocery stores would outnumber bars and for most parts of North America that is the case. But we could also clearly see the "beer belly of America" peeking out through the "t-shirt of data." Starting in Illinois, the beer belly expands up into Wisconsin and first spreads westward through Iowa/Minnesota and then engulfs Nebraska, and the Dakotas before petering out (like a pair of love handles) in Wyoming and Montana.

Anthony tipped us off Friday, via Consumerist, Fast Company and a host of others, to this intriguing and informative series of maps showing which fast food chains dominate various territories throughout the U.S. more ›

While searching Flickr for some photos, we stumbled across this collection from user Eric Fischer. These are some great old photos and brochures we had to share. Links above go to large versions for easier reading pleasure. more ›

If you've ever looked out the window of the El and wondered what Chicago looked like 25, 50, even 100 years ago, you've no doubt wondered what it would be like to ride the CTA back then as well. In fact, Chicago's elevated train system is one of the oldest in the nation - only New York has an older system, beating us into operation by only a few years. Thanks to the good folks at Chicago-L.org, you can examine, up close and in detail, many versions of old system maps, going back to the late 1800's. So break out the Algren and put on an old-timey movie: we're taking a trip back in time, courtesy of the Chicago L! [via] more ›

Many of us at Chicagoist are biking enthusiasts and rely on the two-wheel (or in my case, three-wheel) method of getting around town. But that's not always an easy task: ever tried biking down Ashland at rush hour? Not a pleasant experience. The city has a comprehensive map that shows which roads have bike lanes and shared lanes, but it can still be difficult figuring out how to get around town on specific routes. Luckily, CitySpokes is here to fill that void and now they've got their Chicago site live. Using a Google Maps interface, the site lets you search for the best bike routes between destinations. At the moment, the site only covers part of the city - from the lake west to Kedzie and from Lawrence south to Cermak - but that's still a good chunk of the city and they tell us expanding the coverage area is their first priority. So go ahead and give it a whirl this weekend while planning your next bike outing. more ›

I'm not sure if this is new or just new to me (and tipster Mark), but Google maps now has little block numbers to help you find your way. Wheee. more ›

The always awesome Kevin Guilfoile put together this map of the Leopold and Loeb case while reading the newly released . more ›

Illinois has the 10th-lowest percentage of federal-owned land of any state, with only 1.8 percent of state territory owned by the federal government. Compare that to 84.5 percent of Nevada or 69.1 percent of Alaska. Wow. The federal government controls about 30 percent of the country's total territory. more ›

Author Richard Florida looks at America's "psychogeography" and says personality types tend to cluster—and that understanding those clusters can help us understand the economies and futures of different regions. more ›

The CTA has teamed up with Google to help riders plan trips (starts playing a video) with Google Maps, and lo, it is good. Google Maps now has a "take public transit" option when giving directions. We've been playing around with it for a little bit, and it seems to work pretty well. more ›

Thomas Jefferson was good for lots of stuff, but Midwest state naming? Let's just say "Assenispia" isn't quite as catchy as "Illinois." This 1784 map shows Jefferson's proposed divisions of the land that eventual came our beloved region. From the amazing Strange Maps: more ›

Who doesn't love the Onion? God knows we do, and hey — even Neil Steinberg sort of likes it. And that guy knows funny! Anyway, there are two big reasons to love the Onion even more: First and foremost, their Google map layer — go ahead and play around with it, above — is twenty kinds of amazing. And the company announced today that they're moving their HQ here. Well, business HQ. While the... more ›

These days, when you’re loathe to drag your ass too far from home, Theater in Chicago has your back. The Chicago theater info source already sorts city and suburban productions by company, neighborhood, production date, and strength of review. Today we got word they’ve just rolled out a nifty Google Map mashup, plotting hundreds of area venues—institution and storefront alike—in one place. The navigation looks familiar enough and the Big G’s search engine allows easy... more ›

Okay, we had so much fun with yesterday's things that were awesome, we figured we'd bust out another list for today. Plus there's a boatload of terrific stuff. Today in awesome: more ›