Media and Press

This is the Slate article that put my cartography on the map!

"Can one paper wall map really outshine all others - so definitively that it becomes award-worthy? I'm here to tell you it can."

Article by Seth Stevenson

Slate / online magazine; New York, New York

This interview is my mission statement. It's fitting that the radio station that interviewed me was in Madison, Wisconsin. In the 1950's at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Author Robinson became the first person in our hemisphere to move cartography out of an engineering department and to start teaching it as a sub-discipline of geography. I consider my work to be an advancement of Robinson's cartographic revolution.

WORT / Community Radio; Madison, Wisconsin

Slate's article was about the map. This video is about the artist.

“Artists...are people who see beauty where other people don’t see it,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing with maps, trying to show people the beauty that I see.”

Video by John Rosman

OPB / Oregon Public Broadcasting; Portland, Oregon

This article focuses on my artistic process. 

"I find that when I take the time to arrange the type with as much care as a graphic artist would arrange the type on a wine label, all of a sudden -- the land and everything -- just comes alive."

Article by Christine Sherk

The Register-Guard / newspaper; Eugene, Oregon

"If we think about maps as art rather than science we'll be able to relate better to our surroundings"

Video by BBC World News; London, England

Kind words from across the Atlantic.

"The Essential Geography is loved as it has led many to hail it as a rebuttal to claims that the paper map is on its way out."

Article by Jamie Stevenson

HERE 360, the official HERE blog; London, England

"Dave stresses that his is the work of an illustrator, rather than a cartographer. He places an emphasis on his kinship with botanical illustrators, whose artistry is as important as their scientific nous."

Article by Jamie Stevenson

HERE 360, the official HERE blog; London, England

Cartographic philosophy 

“From across the room, the 4−by−3-foot Essential Geography looks like most any other U.S. map: 50 states, punctuated by cities and towns and crisscrossed by rivers and roads. But studying the image more closely, I’ve realized the map is not remotely standard fare.”

"He's well recognized as a guy who really does it right," says cartographer Stuart Allan, founder of Raven Maps in Medford, Ore.

Article by Christina Cooke

High Country News / print and online magazine; Paonia, Colorado

"As modern drivers replace paper maps with navigation systems, one artistic cartographer’s creations help remind us of our connection to the physical world."

Article by Danielle Taylor

"Many of us at Here & Now were mesmerized recently when we unraveled a new map of the U.S by Dave Imus. We ogled at the details! Pointed out familiar landmarks. Marveled at our utter lack of geographic awareness. OK, we're public radio nerds, but we aren't alone in our appreciation of a good map."

Radio interview with Robin Young

Here and Now / Public Radio International; Boston, Massachusetts

"Mapmaker Dave Imus looked at the maps he could find of the country and set out to create a better one."

Radio interview with Dick Gordon (begins at about 25 minutes into the program)

The Story / American Public Media; Durham, North Carolina

"So how does a man working in his Eugene farmhouse beat out monumental institutions like the U.S. Census Bureau, Central Intelligence Agency Cartography Center and National Geographic, which have all won the prestigious honor for so many years? It's simple  -  with clarity."

Listen to interview with Dave Miller

OPB / Oregon Public Broadcasting; Portland, Oregon

In this 15-minute interview with Living on Earth's Bruce Gellerman, I talk about why we needed a new United States map.

"Before I started making this map I surveyed all the other U.S. maps that have been on our walls forever. And my conclusion was it was no wonder that Americans are really very geographically disinterested, because on these maps, there was really very little geography. And so I thought I could do a better job."

Radio interview with Bruce Gellerman

Living on Earth / Public Radio International; Somerville, Massachusetts