An amazing story of a promising architecture student who loses everything as war sweeps across his country, and restarts life in America, just as the new tech region of Silicon Valley begins to grow. For those interested in the 20th century cartography, the growth of Silicon Valley, or just needing an inspirational story. Here is just a portion of an interview with artist, map maker and enduring creator, Pham Bach Phi. 0:49 Beginning - Life and family in Vietnam 3:40 ‘We are very lucky’ leaving Saigon 6:36 San Francisco 7:48 Making ‘Unspeakable Rancor’ 9:40 Starting over, working up 13:02 ‘You were born to do this job!’ Maps of Silicon Valley 14:41 His map making process

Out of the dynamic growth of Silicon Valley came a new field of Biotech that would begin to outpace its technical field of origin. Even as people speak of the end of Moore’s law and the slowing of tech development, it seems biotech just grows and innovates more quickly. Today’s guest, Terry Guyer, was not only first hand for the growth of these industries, but met and painted portraits of many of the titans of technology, medicine and biology. From the aforementioned Gordon Moore, to Steve Wozniak, or Ray Kurzweil, Terry Guyer has spent time with them all. Most of all, Guyer was  Read More

From a lifetime of practical experience in community work, wrestling with the structures that form and direct peoples, Frank Romo (https://www.romogis.com/)has had an expanding perspective on the human experience. In this conversation we get to discuss his landmark, interactive ‘Black Lives Matter Map’ (https://blm-map.com/), as well as his background and works such as the ‘Murals In Detroit’ ( https://muralsindetroit.com/) He’s passionate about making cartographic works to illuminate the complexities of right now, from the individual to the collective, and impacting our culture’s dialogue. This is just a portion of an energizing and challenging conversation with Frank Romo.

A young employee at the Harris Seybold printing company always loved those framed painting of classic books. They hung in the offices, those original paintings, and were mostly done by artist and illustrator Everett Henry. They were extraordinary in their visual ability to represent the geography, plot and drama of a story in a single visual. Everett Henry literally could convert a book into a type of map. This young employee, Rich Foley, spent years at the company, and as the business changed ownership, he always kept tabs on what happened to those painting. He always made sure new management  Read More

Drawing on a whimsical approach to depicting areas, Kirby Scudder has tapped into a greater depth and continues the tradition of the American Birds Eye View map. Here we chat with him about his early work for the Tech Regions around Boston with ‘Route 128’ as well as his early Silicon Valley. To see more, you can visit him at www.kirbyscudder.com and at https://www.youtube.com/user/TheKirbyscudder

With its roots back to the 1870’s the Kroll Map Company has been a regional mapmaker that adapted and grew, just like its home town of Seattle. Here, we get to speak with John Loacker, the third generation owner of the company about its history, its evolution and its future. In conversation we learn about their work throughout the Pacific Northwest, and their deep ‘Passion for Place’

While you might know him for a series of maps that looked at Sports history from Baseball, Football, Golf, and more. You really know, and believe his work from movies such as ‘Return of the Jedi’, ‘The Goonies’, ‘E.T.’ and more. Here a discussion with Frank Ordaz about his work and how it began with a transcendent moment.

He is your visual guide to understanding the slopes, and his work has taken him around the globe. Here an interview with James Niehues about his history, his process and how to capture the drama of a mountains experience and make it accessible.

He was a artist and illustrator active in the Bay Area as the Silicon Valley phenomena began to bloom, and his map may be one of the first to document it. A discussion with Corbin Hillam about his work and culture of early 80’s Bay Area culture. While you listen, you can review the map through the David Rumsey Map Collection… bit.ly/2Y77Afj