Maps for NCAA Football

We've been busy, but we've been lax in keeping up with the blog. So over the rest of the summer, we'll try to catch you up on what we've been up to!

IMG, the company contracted to market NCAA Football, hired us in 2008 to create a map showing teams in the Football Championship Subdivision (Division IA) and Football Bowl Subdivision (Division IAA), including team information and a complete season schedule and postseason bowl games. We did, and it was successful as part of their work building brand identity, while providing a handy reference for college football professionals across the country.

We created a new version of the printed map for the 2009 season, which was released to selected NCAA football professionals recently just prior to the kick-off of the 2009 season. To get a version of the FBS map with branding elements removed, see our Division I FBS Football Teams 2009 wall map with schedule available for sale in three sizes: 37.875 x 27", 50.5 x 36", and 67.3 x 48". The new maps for 2010 are in preparation now...

We also made an interactive map as a gateway to NCAAFootball.com's stadium guide. We're very pleased with how it turned out: a quick and compact visual way to explore the geography of the game.

We've experimented before with Flash, and worked with an outside developer to create an interactive campus map for Winona State University. We're looking at opportunities to do more. We think that for all the talk about interactive mapping, there are very few really good, fully thought-through interactive maps out there. We're looking for more projects to explore ways of bringing our work with static maps into this brave new world... contact us if you have a project in mind!

Harvard Square

We came out with the first edition of our map of Harvard University and the surrounding area fourteen years ago, and it's been a great seller for us ever since. Not long after, the Harvard Square Business Association asked if we would make a new map of the Square for them. So we did. We've made a new edition of map every year or so since then. The newest edition is out now, and available at various Harvard Square locations. You can also view it online at www.harvardsquare.com. We also offer it through our web store as a wall map.

Three New Editions: Twin Cities Metro, Northern Minnesota, Iowa City

They just arrived from the printer! New editions of three of our laminate titles:

Twin Cities Metro Area has been thoroughly updated and field-checked, including the new alignments of US 12, US 212 and MN 36. We've revised all the point of interest and hotel locations, and noted (with a sigh) the loss of a handful of par-3 golf courses.

Northern Minnesota is the first major overhaul in 3 years, and reflects changes in all of its many maps, both city and regional.

Finally, University of Iowa and Iowa City includes new campus buildings and notes the closures due to the 2008 floods (for up-to-the-minute information, see www.iowa.edu/floodrecovery). On the other side, a thorough revision of local streets, including the new Coralville riverfront development, is shown.

Edina and St Louis Park Bike Map

We've been busy, and now we need to catch up on our blog entries!

First up, the Edina and St Louis Park Bike Map is the second Minnehaha Media title, focusing on trails and street routes in those two Minneapolis suburbs and surrounding areas. It shows clearly how to access the Grand Rounds in Minneapolis, including the Chain of Lakes parks, and also the Cedar Lake Trail/Southwest LRT Trail loop through St Louis Park and Hopkins. It includes mileages both on trails and on approach roads.

The map is available free from our sponsors and other locations in the area, or for purchase in quantity from us. Single copies are also available from us for purchase if you are unable to get to one of the free distribution points. Finally, wall versions of the map are available in two sizes: 24 x 36" and 36 x 54".

We plan on more of our free-distribution titles in the coming months. Watch this space, or better yet contact us for more information, or to tell us your idea for a map project supported by your organization!

Minneapolis Trails Map new edition out now

The new edition of our Minneapolis Trails Map is out now! Soon it will be available for free throughout the Minneapolis Parks system, and at our sponsors' locations. Please support our sponsors and thank them for their support.

Our new edition is a little larger than the fall edition (12" x 18" instead of 11" x 17"), and goes north to the city line, and east and west a little further as well. We're happy with result and hope you will be too.

Limited quantities are available for sale in quantity or as individual copies (for our out-of-town friends).

Interested in becoming a sponsor for our next edition? Interested in a custom print run to promote your business or event? We'd love to hear from you.

Berkeley Path Wanderers Map 2009 released

Since 2002, we've been publishing the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association's guide to the stairs and walking trails of Berkeley, California. We've just printed and they've just released the revised 5th edition of the Berkeley Pathways map. Besides perennial revisions as paths are repaired, we have added Berkeley's Bicycle Boulevards.

If you've never walked Berkeley's Hills, it's a great experience. We encourage anyone visiting the Bay area to take the time to buy one of these maps (available in stores all over Berkeley) and explore! You can also use our Professor Pathfinder's Berkeley map to explore the University of California campus and the commercial area around it.

We welcome all sorts of custom map projects—see our custom services pages, and see our featured project page for the Berkeley Pathways maps.

NY Times Cover – pretty cool

Well, not exactly the photo my friend Ben Olk had last year capturing him shaking then candidate Obama’s hand at a rally, but still pretty cool anyways.

First a plug for Ben: Ben has a great story of how he maneuvered himself within a handshake range at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul last year – maybe his luck as Ben is President of another St Paul instituition, 100+ year old National Checking Company. National Checking makes those ubiquitous green “GuestChecks” (shown at left). Those are the pads that a waitperson writes on so that they can be more accurate and efficient. I’ve seen them at coffeeshops and recently at a Buffalo Wild Wings – I always make a point of complimenting the use of GuestChecks!

Now, on to the Hedberg Maps NY Times experience… a small photo, but still on page 1. On March 31 about an inch and a half square photo included the cover of our U.S. College and Unviersity Reference Map. The version shown was a custom print run for the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA). We’ve long been told by educational counselors and consultants that this map is one of the most used counseling tools, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it showed up on the top of the stack of materials in the photo, but I was still thrilled.

The article focused on the financial end of the college search process. Frequently quoted was Diane Geller, current president of IECA. IECA members are a great way to go for a family to work through the daunting college search process. They have completed extensive training and are well versed in all aspects of the college search. We were fortunate that they chose to utilize our map with IECA branding and included a number of the benefits of working with one of their consultants.