His philosophy is that he creates paintings that make him feel good. They don’t have to be perfect, but they help him express himself.  I find that this is what motivates me in terms of cartography.  It’s important for me to do work for others because I learn so much.  But I enjoy making maps most when I’m the driving force behind them.

So… I’m also really into the latest and greatest technology.  It is part of what makes work fun.  On Friday, I got the new CS5 Creative Suite after watching Mordy Golding’s Lynda.com videos about the new features.  This is the best Ilustrator upgrade in a long time, and I had ordered it awhile ago.

And… to watch lynda.com video tutorials, what better than to do this on a 3G ipad?  Right now, Lynda is interviewing Bert about the new bristle brush in Ilustrator CS5.  It looks great on the ipad.

In regards to the ipad, I think I’ll use it for web browsing, watching videos, MotionXGPS, and checking email, but not so much for writing. I’m not even bothering to put music on it since an iphone works fine for this.

Finally, last night was the Bicycle Coalition’s Annual Meeting.  This is a great event – always inspiring.

Perkiomen Trail and Single Track around Green Lane Reservoir

• “You’ve got to try out this bike”
• “It’s so quiet”
• “The generator hub and ambient light sensors for the lights totally change my perception of night riding in the suburbs. It’s great. And look how they handled the wiring. It’s in the fenders.”
• “It’s very comfortable”
• “The 8 speed internal hub is nice, though the range could be a little wider.”

Basically, Breezer has paid attention to little details that make for a really nice bike.  It’s the kind of bike you’d want to ride to a business meeting – elegant, functional, and comfortable on a 1 mile hilly bike ride to Starbucks or a 10 mile urban bike ride to Mugshots.  It’s a bike people would admire, but it doesn’t call attention to itself (I’d like to think… though many people have noticed I was riding a new bike).

So… the question is, how do I get one?  My daughters and wife like the look of it.  This is a good start.  But we just bought a tandem last year, so the question becomes how one justifies buying a new bike two years in a row.

Basically, I think it comes down to budgeting about $5 a day for transportation costs.  And then the price becomes less of an issue.  It definitely beats driving a car or riding the train.  And with an awesome lighting system, the Breezer is a great bicycle for riding at night.

Thanks Phil. Sandi and I love the "Amazing Race"

I have so much to write about, and this is the really busy season for me.  Thanks are in order.

First, to Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz and Earl Blumenauer.  I’m excited to see my Congresswoman team up with the esteemed Congressman from Portland, Oregon.  Below is a link of me with Congressman Blumenauer after we talked about bicycling to Baltimore and his upcoming trip to Philadelphia (and Jenkintown, I hope)

Short Video of Steve and the Congressman

Next, is the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and the League of American Bicyclists.  Sarah Clark-Stuart did a fantastic job coordinating things in DC.

Alex Doty, Breen Goodwin, and Hans Van Naerssen (the new League President)

Thank you to the Maryland State Bicycle Coodinator, Michael Jackson, for giving me a reason to bike 50 miles between DC and Baltimore.

En route from DC to Baltimore (a 4 1/2 hr ride)

Here is a link to the route I took:

Thank you to Pennsylvania’s First Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator, Dave Bachman. Brian Sanders is the new Bike/Ped Coordinator. State Representative Rick Geist, from Altoona, presented Dave with a citation. He didn’t read the whole thing, but it probably says, “Dave, you’re a cool dude, and you did a great job” (in official-speak, of course). Dave did bike across the US one summer.

Rep. Rick Geist with Dave Bachman

Thanks to google for coming out with google maps for bicycling. I find it really useful. And I look forward to incorporating this into my projects.

Google maps team member demonstrating the new bicycle routing.

In the winter, stone features like this dam along Cresheim Creek stand out.

Saturday morning, I drove to Chestnut Hill and then biked over to Allen Lane Station.  From there, I met up with four other people and we walked through the snowing Wissahickon back to Chestnut Hill.

Allen Lane Station to Chestnut Hill West Station

Last night, Spencer Finch, at Pennsylvania Environmental Council, told me the Philadelphia Inquirer needed a map for an article.  I emailed the map to John Duchneskie at the Inquirer, and someone there modified it to work in the paper. The resulting  map appeared in a Philadelphia Inquirer Article: New bike paths for region, courtesy of US Stimulus.

The Inquirer did a great job with this map.  Newspaper maps look deceptively simple, but it takes skill to design a good newspaper map.  The end result is to direct the reader to the most relevant information.

Here are some things worth noting about the Inquirer’s map:

• Philadelphia’s white background quickly centers your eye.
• All leaders are horizontal, vertical or a combination of both.
• The shading beneath the trails allows them to show up well over both the gray surrounding counties and the white Philadelphia.
• I like how the asterisk was used for noting funded trail segments.
• Even though text sometimes overlaps trails, it works.
• I like how the smaller text of the trail names stands out, and yet the trail segments for funding are larger.  It’s effective.
• The semicolons separating trails (Boardwalk to South St., etc) are effective
• White frames the map.
• The 5 mile scale makes sense.

It’s refreshing to see our map transformed by someone else.

On March 1, My daughter Jessica and I are going to my cousin’s presentation in New York City. Here’s a video of my cousin David with Matt Lauer from last summer during the Olympics.

While I’m thinking of New York, I’ve got to register for the Five Borough Bike Ride this week.

This weekend at the park is their winterfest.  Locals  are looking forward to snow for this event.

So, I was meeting with a group working on the NE PA six counties of the CLI.  There are 7 areas of Pennsylvania where DCNR and partners are “working on creating a sustainable regional economy based on our natural resources and these links between communities and resources.”
How do you express this on a map?

Let’s take a step back…  What is the Conservation Landscape Initiative (CLI)… I really don’t know much about the CLI, but here’s an article about why it exists, and Ellen Ferretti at Pennsylvania Environmental Council is quoted.  I also found a link to another summary.

When you are involved in an initiative, it’s natural for it to consume much of your energy. I think that stakeholders involved on a day to day basis need to focus on details.  But people who would be supportive of the CLI efforts (such as local communities, state representatives, and Congressional Reps), need a much broader picture.  They need to see what’s most important in a split second.  If you’re advocating for the CLI to a potential supporter, you need to leave them with a summary that, I think is, a map, the mission statement, specific asks, a reason to be feel good, and how these asks fit into a broader context (ie, the projects total investment priorities).

The consequence of driving 4 hours for a 20 minute meeting was that I could consume about 8 gallons of gas, add some carbon emissions to the atmosphere, and listen to Ken Burns’ book  The National Parks.

Looking at the CLI efforts from an outsider’s perspective, I think of all the people in the Philadelphia Area I know who either own properties in the CLI or are looking at buying properties.  And when you romanticize the “cabin on the lake”,  “the mountain house”, or “the farmette”, the reality is that you’re buying into private lands at a cost of maybe $200,000 + $2500/year (taxes and utilities) that could be appreciated by everyone.  I explore these opportunities for fun and then realize how much nicer it is to head to a CLI area and go to a B&B or enjoy a state park campground.  And then we can invest that much more into making our homes and communities, where we live day to day, nicer.

As residents of Southeastern PA, we don’t need to know the details of the Conservation Landscape Initiative.  We do need to support it. It’s a great connection to nature.  I appreciate the efforts of everyone working on what seems a monumentally important task.