The Toronto Star Map of the Week Ends

Patrick Cain, the author of the Toronto Star's excellent Map of the Week feature, has now left the paper, so unfortunately the column has come to an end. The Map of the Week feature launched in mid-2008 and every week published a new Google Map mashup.

The maps ranged from reports of sexually transmitted disease or postal codes of drunk driving suspects, to maps looking at dog ownership in Toronto. Invariably the maps were on subjects important to the lives of those who live in Toronto.

Over the two years the column attracted around 1.4 million page-views. In Patrick's last column for the paper he picks out some of his highlights. Here are just three of my favourites:

Toronto in 1878

Two maps using the Google Maps interface to present detailed 1878 atlas sheets of the east and west ends of Toronto.

2010 Toronto Centre Byelection Maps

A series of Google Maps examining the poll results of each of the political parties in the Toronto Centre Byelection.

Drunk Driving and Subway Location Map

This map looks at license suspensions from drunk driving and at the locations of subway stations. The map shows a correlation between the home locations of drunk drivers and their distance from subway stations.


It has been hard picking just three maps. I've really enjoyed reading Patrick's column over the last two years and I wish him all the best in his new endeavours.

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