The cartographer behind Bostonography, a digital reservoir of original maps that chart Greater Boston, has a confession to make: He’s not actually from the area.
Rather, Andy Woodruff grew up in Ohio, visiting his mother’s family in Boston as a kid. That changed in 2008, when he moved to Cambridge. In 2020, looking to settle somewhere permanently, Woodruff and his wife landed in Belmont.
“That’s a lifetime short of being a real ‘local’ by the standards around here,” he wrote on the site.
The Bostonography blog answers questions about Greater Boston and its history in whimsical, engaging ways, such as creating a map of Boston neighborhoods on handprint turkeys. Especially popular in the early 2010s, the maps resonated with readers in the region. During that time, Woodruff and his co-creator Tim Wallace, now a senior editor for geography at The New York Times, received invitations to speak at events and gained a following on the social media site, X.
Then, Belt Publishing came calling. Anne Trubek, the press’s publisher, had worked on a book about Cincinnati that Woodruff co-authored. Trubek asked if the cartographers behind Bostonography wanted to create a book.
“Yes, definitely,” Woodruff said. “We always dreamed of that.”
Wallace couldn’t join the venture, but Woodruff got to work.
Scratching at the Story
The Belmont resident releases “Boston in 50 Maps” on May 19. The book seeks to answer historical and spatial questions about Greater Boston, such as why are there so many triple-decker apartments in Dorchester and Mattapan? How many Dunkin’ locations can you walk or drive to from various neighborhoods in Greater Boston? And how has the public transit map changed over time?
Other maps in the book discuss whether Norse explorer Leif Erikson visited the area and where Mr. and Mrs. Mallard would have waddled in Robert McCloskey’s classic Boston-based children’s book “Make Way for Ducklings.”
“Scratch at any story about Boston and you’ll find some spatial element under it,” Woodruff wrote in the book.
Many of Woodruff’s maps start with a walk around a new neighborhood. When he first came to Greater Boston, Woodruff would take nearly all-day walks, which brought him to places such as Turtle Pond in Jamaica Plain and the
in Charlestown.According to Woodruff, looking at and creating maps were ways for him to better understand the people, places, and histories of different neighborhoods.
Creating Maps
Once Woodruff decides on his question, he turns to a geographic information system (GIS). GIS data allows mapmakers to quickly and accurately plot a base map, a blueprint of different parcels of land and buildings.
Then, Woodruff begins designing the key and style of the map. As a designer-in-residence at the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library in 2023, Woodruff played with time as well as space. While tracking flood risk due to climate change and sea level rise, Woodruff used a vintage style to tell a very current story — and he digitized it online. Woodruff specializes in factually rigorous maps with meticulous detail and precise design.
Woodruff said he can “sit there for 20 minutes” playing with the width of a line dash.
Garrett Dash Nelson, the president and head curator of the Leventhal Center, thinks Woodruff’s process is exactly what sets him apart as a cartographer.
“I’d say what’s really unique about [Woodruff] is there are not that many map makers today who are both really skilled with computer methods, data methods, geographic data and a richly visual approach,” Nelson said.
Woodruff wants the book to catch readers’ attention and encourage them to look into a topic.
“What I’m hoping is certain maps can be an entry point into exploring something more deeply,” he said. “That’s certainly how I use maps.”
The Leventhal Center hosted a book launch for “Boston in 50 Maps” at the Newsfeed Café on May 20.
