Happy Mappy Halloween

Maps carved on pumpkins, including a world map, Wisconsin, Georgia, Madison, and the Great Lakes

The first project is a cartographic craftwork during 2020 Halloween. I drew a Robinson Projection world map onto about 1/3 pumpkin (oblate ellipsoid) and carved it. This actually works as a compromise of distortion between an entire 3D globe and flat surface.

Click to view other creative Halloween crafts by UW Cartography Lab artists.

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Before Halloween of 2024, I carved another two maps: 1) Lake Mendota, Monona, and Wingra at Madison, WI, and 2) the Great Lakes. Furthermore, I carved the pumpkin with different depth indicating the lake bathymetry.

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Below are some photos illustrating the making progress of the two pumpkins:

The carved relief of lake bathymetry was said to be hard to notice, so I cut them out and rewrote the labels. Now they look great with real candles inside!