![](\"https:\/\/img0.etsystatic.com\/166\/0\/5765521\/il_340x270.1139403330_m4hp.jpg\")
From then on, I became an obsessive collector of maps — of the Philippines (1:250,000 and even 1:5,000 scales), of global regions, of historical places, and so on — a real hopeless case. I bought books on physical and cultural geography and cartography, and compiled my own digital Philippine map from Arcview source files because I felt that Encarta sucked in this respect (this was in 1996, long before Google Maps).<\/p>\n
Of course, now in the era of Google Earth and Street View, I need to hold back this obsession. Otherwise, I would consume most of my\u00a0waking hours exploring the vast spaces and complex terrains of the Earth’s digitized surface.<\/p>\n I have a growing bookmarks collection of websites that traffick in ?<\/a>e Olde Maps. Sample: did you know that the US Army prepared a very detailed set of Philippine maps in 1944? The digitized maps are available for download at the Army Map Service archives at the University of Texas Libraries<\/a>.<\/p>\n So what can I say? I’m crazy about maps. That’s all there is to it. Enough said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My first remembered encounter with maps was a full-page colored map of the Philippines, a clipping from the defunct Sunday Times Magazine that was pasted by my mother on her big scrapbook. The crazy thing about this particular map, which hooked me into a lifelong obsession, was that each island was drawn like a familiar … <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.lib.utexas.edu\/maps\/ams\/philippines_city_plans\/txu-pclmaps-oclc-6611496-calbayog.jpg\")