I found this among archived pages. Unless it is revamped with a new name, I can't find it still active. Too bad. It would have been very creative and quite something to learn to create a good map. They may have been hand drawn. But, would likely all be digital, made with software, now. Kind of a shame. Nothing digital can be as unique and creative as hand drawn. In my opinion. You don't really need to be a great artist for a hand drawn map, just pick out the locations and draw the shape of the land around them. As easy as that, not quite, but kind of.

The OSMMC originated in the Geography Department at Trent University in 1969. Professor Al Brunger was the Director of the competition from 1969 to 2009. On his retirement, responsibility for the competition was taken by a group of Guelph Geographers. That group, under the direction of David T. K. Dagg, conducted the competition until a new home was found at Laurier in 2011.

In 2011-2012, the OSMCC was relocated in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. Thank you for your patience during this transition.

Ontario Schools Map-Making Competition

I found this map for sale in an Etsy shop, civicatlas. With shipping, it would cost over $50 to have a print copy. Sure, it would be a nice size but more than I can spend. If you have the resources I recommend getting it for any Toronto history explorers. As you can see, there are excellent images of old architecture, likely gone or very different looking now. To see more of it myself, I searched online and found it Historical Maps of Toronto, with a link to the source for the full map at the University of Toronto. Here are screenshots, to give you a preview. I would like to have this covering an entire wall of my house. But, I will settle for keeping it as wallpaper for my desktop computer. Meanwhile, I did download the full file and I can see what it would cost to get it printed. Possibly a local business where the photographer reprints and fixes old photographs, might be just the place. Bird’s Eye View of Toronto, by P.A. Gross, 1876.

Have you ever made a hand drawn map, simply a way to show someone how to get from here to there? There's something special about a real hand drawn map. It's the closest we get to feeling like an old fashioned, early explorer - before GPS.

I like to explore, mostly old places. I don't mind getting lost, usually you find the most interesting places when you turn down the wrong road. What activity has more freedom, creativity and ingenuity than being an explorer? If you're athletic, that's nice, but not essential to getting out there, finding new places, things and people. You can even be an armchair explorer, to some extent but it loses some of the adventure if you really don't leave your known world and set sail for the unknown, the mysterious and the possibly risky world out there.

My Experience as a Map Maker

Drawing or making maps requires some science, and patience. Luckily, you don't have to be an exceptional artist in order to create a map. Use rules for straight lines if you want. But you can just as well draw them by hand. A hand drawn map feels more authentic and personal.

As an explorer I have drawn maps for other explorers. Maps have always been an important part of exploring. Making a map is like blazing a trail so other people can see where you have been and how you got there. Then, they can follow and choose other paths along the way.

From Here to There: A Curious Collection from the Hand Drawn Map Association A book from the Hand Drawn Map Association. Will you find inspiration for your own map making adventures? Or just wonder why, or who, made that strange map?

How to Make a Hand Drawn Map

Write the location or destination at the top of your page.

Orient your page to due north and draw the N for north with an arrow pointing up. You can go all out and draw a compass rose with all four directions and those in between.

Draw lines for the connecting streets from where currently are to where you are planning to go.

Sketch in landmarks at street corners or along the route. Try to find landmarks at any place you will need to change direction or turn down a different street.

• The Hand Drawn Map Association

My Adventures as a Map Collector

I don't have a big map collection myself. The maps I keep are functional for my exploring of the local area. I've got footnotes and margin notes and I've circled areas where I found something or want to go back and get a better look. Sometimes you find a place you really want to see but you spent the day searching and now it's too dark to really see what you found. So I mark the place on my map.

I used to keep my maps more pristine. But, I couldn't remember what all the tiny circles were for. As there got to be more and more of them I lost track of what each of them had started out being. So, it's better to make notes on the map - even though my first instinct as a book lover is to never harm the book, or the map. But, when you're an explorer you have to change some of your standards and theories in favour of the adventure.

• MapHist Discussion Group
• CartoTalk
• Fantasy Mapmaking
• Community Walk

I enjoy maps. I don't know why but I've liked maps since I was a kid and started seeing them in school. Physical maps showing the landscape are my favourite. They aren't as practical as the political maps with cities and roads but they are prettier.

You may think the whole idea of being an explorer is to be the first to see something never before discovered. This isn't really what we do as urban explorers. Even the rural explorers are following past human settlement, construction and demolition. We explore in old footprints.

It helps to have a guide to where you might start. Then, when you have explored enough and the adventure of being lost is less fun than the idea of a fresh, hot coffee... the map book or guide book will show you which way to go.

My favourite is the Back Roads of Ontario, by MapArt Publishing.

Would you Doodle on Your Map?

A new map (in book form) is published each year. I don't buy a fresh book every year. Mine has notes, doodles, and marks where I found great treasure (a really unique, weathered and detailed old house). Also, the maps don't change so often that you need updated too often. But, it is nice to start again with a fresh map when my old one is getting dog-earred.

The MapArt book is an actual map, roads, rivers and all. But, I love to find a book like the one by Ron Brown pictured here. This is more than just a road map, it's reading someone else's findings, experiences and some forewarning about what you may or may not find when you look for the same places yourself. You also get to see photos someone else took. It's nice to see if you can find a better angle, maybe different light or see more than the than the author of the book noticed.

Ron Brown is one of a few people who write great books for anyone exploring Ontario history. Whether you are on the road with your camera or just want to read the history and see the photographs, the books have a lot to offer. They aren't all available on Amazon however. Some are out of print, some were published by small press and some are just plain old and forgotten.

If you want to explore take a great map book. One which shows you the roads and the back roads. But, take a look for other guide books for local history and backroad traveling.

I live in Ontario so I've shown the books I know (and have on my bookshelves) as a guide to letting you see what is out there when you start having your own adventures on the road with your trusty backpack, camera, boots and a map book!

What Does your Road Trip Map Look Like?

How do you treat your map?

• It's in pristine condition, like new.
• I took a course about map folding in school, my map is almost perfect.
• It's a bit dog-eared with the odd rip or tear.
• I've made a few notes on it and it shows some wear and tear.
• I doodle on it, make notes, circle places I want to see again.
• It's pretty marked up - but I just think of it as personalized.
• My new map or the old one I couldn't really use any more?
• It think it had enough of me and walked away on it's own one day.
• I can't find my map.
• Map..? We were supposed to bring a map?
• It's at that stage where the paper is kind of fluffy now, almost like fabric.
• I was attacked by aliens, they took a few chunks out of my map... they really did!
• I don't own a map. They are too much responsibility and map folding scares me.
• I just don't own a map. A map should be free, unowned.