Atlas Altera posts
Posts: 0
Files: 0
Summer Special
Here's a summer special freebie that I thought I'd share with everyone! For once, I'm posting not about Atlas Altera,but instead, about a one-off idea I had in which North America (ATL Zephyria) is more believably treated with the "losers lose less" alternate history magic wand that I so enthusiastically waived to create the world of Altera.You can read more about the lore of the map in the original posts I made on Redditand Deviantart.You can also dig deeper intocountry profileswith this spreadsheet.Matteo spent some time m...
Initial Community Report Back & First Prize Draw
A couple weeks ago, we launched a community survey to get a better know who was engaging with our maps, as well as how we might be able to improve. This is a quick, initial update on who we've heard from so far. First, thank you for all those who already did complete the survey. We've received nearly90 responses so far. The two winners of the prize draw are from Sinaloa, Mexico and Nailsea, England! They'll be receiving some nice looking Atlas Altera t-shirtsin the mail soon. There's still a chance to take the survey here. I'...
Footnotes for the We Come in Peace Space Map
I've finally had a moment to whip together the footnotes for the most recent feature map, We Come in Peace (Space Age in Altera). Though the map covered a very niche subject while relying more on aesthetics than content, there is still a surprising amount of lore and explanations to cover. I hope you too will enjoy the Wikipedia rabbit holes that I went down.As always, you can read the footnotes in here.
Upcoming feature map takes us to the final frontier
It's been awhile! As I mentioned before, Matteo and I have been working on a few maps concurrently—at least two of which are now completed, and a couple more in their final stages—to buy us time in the summer to take on the daunting task of completing the next patching and update. The first one we want to publish this week. It is going to be a map of human presence in outer space. I thought you might appreciate the sneak peak. Also, regarding footnotes...I have scrawled my notebook the lingering tasks of completing the footnotes for the...
Footnotes for the Ketchup World Infographic
Earlier, I released this feature map,which came more in the form of an infographic reminiscent of the works produced by Visual Capitalist. Now, I'm giving you all the trivial stuff you didn't know you needed to know about ketchup. While the content on the infographic was simple, I've still managed to put together quite the amount of footnotes to compliment it. I hope you take the time to get lost in a rabbit hole or two. Read the footnotes here.
Big Updates / What's Cooking in the World of Altera?
March is always the busiest month of the year for me—both personally and professionally. But this year, it's even more hectic because of a major milestone in life that I'm about to reach.But in anticipation of this year's spring whirlwind, Matteo and I have been busy in the kitchen cooking up a lot of creative maps at the same time, so I thought I'd give you a couple of updates there and some previews.First, Matteo and I have been developing a sort of side project called Atlas Zephyria. Can you guess by its name what it's ...
Updates + Free Handcrafted Merch
Want Mail?I currently have a special offer for existing supporters and new sign-ups for most Patreon tiers (Armchair Academic, Voyager Voyeur ... and up): receive a free postcard in the mail from Altera! These beautiful postcards were first created three years ago as part of the promotion for the launch of the project Patreon, and though I've sent many of them out already, I'm itching to send out more to mailboxes across the world.Each postcard is stamped, postmarked, and includes a handwritten note tailored to the recipient. To make th...
Footnotes for Gaia Polyglotta (the map)
Did you catch all the nuances and details that I smuggled into the last feature map Matteo and I put out? Or maybe you're confused as to why Chinese and Mandarin have their own bubbles in the bubble chart graphic for depicting language influence in Altera?In this next round of footnotes, I dig into the incredibly absorbing references peppered throughout the Gaia Polyglotta feature map. From the idea of a centre-periphery global language system to obscure theories of the existence of a Proto-Mixean liturgical language, I explain it all.As al...
Update & Map Drop Next Week
As we ramp down for the holiday season and get ready to ring in the new year, I've been looking back and reflecting on all the accomplishments we've achieved this year.In 2023, we focused on completing the Sprouting from Babel map series on regional languages. We completed some beautiful maps focusing on SoN lore with an ambitious shift in our usual aesthetics. We also made clever maps to depict seemingly mundane distributions of staple commodities, while also producing classic standalone maps of Altera's biogeography. This was also...
60 New States, or What's in store for 2024?
The other day, Frank dropped a spreadsheet onto my lap. He had cross-referenced our Altera GaiaPolyglotta spreadsheet with Glottolog's inventory of language families to see if we had any gaps on our end. He came back with nearly 200 potential gaps.Altera's main purpose is to use a fictional map of the world to represent as much linguistic diversity as possible. So we set out to see how many language families and divergent genera we might have to add...So I set out to manually check whether the gaps were due to Glottolog's conservati...
Finally...New video to go with your morning cuppa!
After a long hiatus, I've managed to put together this next video on staple steeps. The video is linked to the feature map, A World Steeped in Drinks, which we did not too long ago.I'm super excited to see how this video lands. It's a brand new format, where I step out of the map room and put on a more simple educator lens. So let me know what you think about it.Also, I couldn't have done it without the help of the talented F.T. Winckless, who put it all together professionally. Check out their work on FT Cartography.
New YouTube video out on Monday
I'm excited to announce that, after a long hiatus from doing videos, I'm finally releasing a video that the talented F.T. Winckless helped me produce! This one's been a long time coming.We're experimenting with quite the change in style, so I'm curious to hear what people think.Look out for the video on Monday! You'll be able to catch it on YouTube.com/@AtlasAltera and don't forget to subscribe (and ring the bell) if you haven't already done so!
What's cooking: an Expansive Language Family Map of the World
It's been a while now since I've posted an update. Here's a quick check-in to see where Atlas Altera is at!As we move into the thick of fall in the northern hemisphere, it seems we things cooking left and right. Work on the backend database continues, thanks to the hard dedication of Frank. The long-awaited YouTube is basically ready to be released--hopefully in the next couple of weeks.And apart from all that, the next little while seems to continue to have a linguistic theme! I have one Sprouting from Babel map left to go--do you ...
Follow Atlas Altera on Patreon for Free
Here's a quick update for everyone in the community: I've turned on the new membership feature that Patreon just released, allowing people to additionally follow Atlas Altera on Patreon for free. People who do this can see public posts I make here, mostly the project update posts and some free bonus content.The the same tiered paid membership options will also remain as they are.
What's in store for the fall?
Though the autumn shift seems nowhere near in sight, I thought I'd take the time now to highlight some of the things we're working on for the fall.The goal of this next season is to get all language-related map content produced. This means we will prioritize the completion of the Sprouting from Babel series of maps, which outline what is the predominant language (colour-coded by language family) of each state within a continent. Africa, Crucea, and Septentrea are already done, so now all that remains is Cisantarctica, Gandrasea, and Bor...
Footnotes for Major Initiatives of the SoN
It's been another summer of crisis for most of us in the northern hemisphere, and yet, this year seems like another series of first have been broken—including whacky high temperatures in the Andes and the Southern Cone! Perhaps then, the recent map we made on SoN responses to major conflicts and crises around Altera may be on the cusp of being a bit too close to home for some. Nevertheless, there is a bit of optimism woven into the lore here. I hope you'll take the time to explore it.With just under 60 footnotes for this map, the amou...
Footnotes for Katesh (SoN Heart of the World)
It's been a while, but I give you the footnotes and additional lore for last month's map/infographic on Katesh! I really appreciate you patience on this one. It took me a while to complete the footnotes, because I wanted to cover a lot of content referenced in the map, but I promise that this one is full of intrigue and rabbit holes worth going under.There is a lot more lore covered in these footnotes than I normally would, since this map almost functions as a map plate for Katesh but has no dedicated narrative published for it.As alway...
Guess the location for this month's feature map!
Matteo and I have been hard at work with producing this month's feature map. This time, we're zooming in on the scale and focusing on a particular location within a hotly contested corner in the world. Based on the screenshot from Google Maps, can you guess where this is?In any case, I hope you enjoy poring over the world map to try to pinpoint where all those natural harbours are. We were quite impressed by the topography and natural features we got to work with for the map. Stay tuned for the map drop next week.Oh, and also, in terms ...
(Belated) Footnotes for Dentists Fight a Global War
I finally got a chance to update the footnotes for last month's feature map on staple chews. There wasn't much content to cover, but I've been busy with work lately, as well as with tending my garden...Anyway, for all those who care to even read the notes, I'm sorry for the tardiness! I hope you go down some interesting rabbit holes.As always, you can access the footnotes here.
Sneak Peak at Next Week's Map Drop
Following last month's map on staple smokes, I thought it'd be fun to do another map in the realm of ethnobotany. I don't know why, but I love thinking about the world based on our base consumption habits, our daily staples, even if some of them may be bad for us...Can you guess what the upcoming map is going to be about?I'll be dropping the map next week. Stay tuned.
Footnotes for A World Enshrouded in Haze
And here's my discussion and sources for the last feature map. I thoroughly enjoyed investigating these four commodities/cash crops, and especially enjoyed thinking about the alternate history implications of unprocessed coca-based smokes and tax-incentivized marijuana cultivation in a large swathe of the world.As always, the footnotes for feature maps is found here.
US Elections Map + Sneak Peak at Other Map Drop for this Week
Matteo and I goofed around to produce this US presidential elections map, which you can enjoy for free here.Later this week, we'll be releasing this month's feature map, which is a sharp turn from this kind of a map. It will still be an infographic. Can you guess what it's going to be about based on the preview below? I'll give a hint: it's about a group of things people used to consume everyday, a staple of sorts...kind of like how we did a staple steeps map.
Can You Spot the New Additions? - Spring 2023 Patch & Update
We're finally done with patching and updating the main political and chorographical map, as well as all the connected backend datasets! Attached to this post is the comprehensive Patch log. Over 20 new states have been added to the map this time around, and there are also half a dozen state name changes.You can already download the print-ready political and chorographical maps (same links as before) if you have access to them on Patreon, or view the maps on the website or on Deviantart.We've also finished patching maps like the time zon...
Footnotes for Phytogeographic Map of Altera
And here are the footnotes for the the Distribution of Terrestrial Flora, that is, the phytogeography map of Altera. As stated for the zoogeography map, a lot of the content comes from what I already wrote for the footnotes for the Factbook, but I also made additional comments and updates in the footnotes entry dedicated for this feature map.If there is anything you can take away from these footnotes, it's that, as one person on the Discord said, "Alexander von Humboldt was a chad." He was a highly productive mapper, and he was basi...
Map Drop - Phytogeographic Map of Altera
Here's the print version of this month's feature map, the Distribution of Terrestrial Flora, a phytogeographic map that showcases the distinct landscapes of Altera through the lens of plants—flora distribution patterns.As mentioned with the fauna map, a map like this helps you picture what kind of vegetative landscapes and worlds you might encounter in different parts of the world due to shared evolutionary constraints—barriers in physical geography, climate patterns, insularity/isolation, ancient plate tectonics etc.The landscape p...
Sneak Peak at this month's feature map + updates
Here's a sneak peak at one of the landscape paintings Matteo used to crown/frame this month's feature map. We're drawing inspiration from the intersection of a few fields/disciplines that came together in the 18th and 19th centuries to give us a boost in knowledge production in a certain field. Can you guess what the map is going to be about? I'll be posting the map on Friday, so stay tuned!In other news, we're now working on patching the map for the Spring, 2023 update. This update will have a handful (or maybe a little mor...
Footnotes for Zoogeographic Map of Altera
I just finished whipping together the footnotes for the the Distribution of Terrestrial Fauna map on the zoogeography of Altera. A lot of the content comes from what I already wrote for the footnotes for the Factbook, actually, though I've also polished some areas and added more links and examples of potential extinct animals that might persist in ATL. Anyway, hope you enjoy reading the nerdery...Read the footnotes for the map here.
February Update & Introducing tomorrow's Map Drop
I hope you are all well.I just returned from spending two weeks in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, and though it was great to be with friends, it was disheartening to witness the real and very dramatic results of climate change. While Venice's canals have dried up, and Ottawa's famed Rideau Canal was closed for skating for the first time in its history, we in Vancouver have been experiencing a drier but colder winter. It has all been very disorienting, for both tourists and locals alike. I can only imagine how local wildlife are struggli...
Footnotes for American Nations
As promised, here are the footnotes for the recent American Nations feature map Matteo and I produced. You can read the footnotes here, along with all the other footnotes for feature maps. If you want a bit more lore, there's always the lengthy lore posts I made in the comment threads of the original Reddit post.Other footnotes: Footnotes for map plates Footnotes for the factbook
Teaser Map for Next Week's Feature Map & Postage Improvements
This month, I decided to move away from the global scale and put focus somewhere not too far from home. Can you guess where? I'll be releasing the feature map sometime next week, so stay tuned. In anticipation for the feature month, here's a slightly low-effort and tongue-in-cheek infographic that's full of tear-away style maps of ATL America to show some basic but also quintessential regional differences in the country.This style of infographic is supposed to be comical and in jest, but at the same time, it is also serious. You can...
