David Ramos
@imagineterrain.bsky.social
Designer/design educator in Washington, D.C. Making maps/systems to help us imagine landscapes past + future. Lost streams,🚲🛶🌊 On the web — imaginaryterrain.com
Was talking w. DDOT team at tonight's event—MoveDC does show Irving + Columbia as transit priority streets. I note that Harvard and Kenyon/Park are the bike priority streets going all the way through, though there are stubs of bike facilities on the plan btwn 14th and 16th.
November 5, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Was talking w. DDOT team at tonight's event—MoveDC does show Irving + Columbia as transit priority streets. I note that Harvard and Kenyon/Park are the bike priority streets going all the way through, though there are stubs of bike facilities on the plan btwn 14th and 16th.
Columbia and Irving are narrow in Columbia Heights, 28' and 30' curb-to-curb for most of the neighborhood, so there's little room for bus lanes, adequate sidewalks, and bike lanes, plus a travel lane, even if DDOT's willing to remove street parking.
November 4, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Columbia and Irving are narrow in Columbia Heights, 28' and 30' curb-to-curb for most of the neighborhood, so there's little room for bus lanes, adequate sidewalks, and bike lanes, plus a travel lane, even if DDOT's willing to remove street parking.
Houses here came close to the riverbank and even hung over the edge, and the 1950s flood control channel took away the margins that remained.
November 3, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Houses here came close to the riverbank and even hung over the edge, and the 1950s flood control channel took away the margins that remained.
Looking up Wills Creek toward the Narrows, Cumberland, Md. We're on the former Western Maryland line.
November 3, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Looking up Wills Creek toward the Narrows, Cumberland, Md. We're on the former Western Maryland line.
Little Seneca Lake on Sunday. We have no naturally-occurring lakes in Maryland or Virginia, so I appreciate these freshwater environments with rushes along the fringes of a still body of water.
November 3, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Little Seneca Lake on Sunday. We have no naturally-occurring lakes in Maryland or Virginia, so I appreciate these freshwater environments with rushes along the fringes of a still body of water.
TIL that the Oxbow, in Northampton, Mass., no longer exists as painted by Thomas Cole — just a few years after Cole finished his painting, the Connecticut River cut through the meander's neck, leaving an oxbow lake.
November 3, 2025 at 2:59 PM
TIL that the Oxbow, in Northampton, Mass., no longer exists as painted by Thomas Cole — just a few years after Cole finished his painting, the Connecticut River cut through the meander's neck, leaving an oxbow lake.
The Potomac River at Great Cacapon, W.Va.
November 1, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The Potomac River at Great Cacapon, W.Va.
Mt. Pleasant. I like to think that the squirrel has been waiting politely.
November 1, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Mt. Pleasant. I like to think that the squirrel has been waiting politely.
[Deleted earlier post; uncivil.] It's hard to walk the line between big idea and gimmick once there is no client involved.
October 31, 2025 at 4:24 PM
[Deleted earlier post; uncivil.] It's hard to walk the line between big idea and gimmick once there is no client involved.
Just noticed, the Underground cranks make some wild claims that just flatly contradict the 2011 drainage study and later reports.
October 31, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Just noticed, the Underground cranks make some wild claims that just flatly contradict the 2011 drainage study and later reports.
When I talk about lost streams, people go to thinking about flooding from underground rivers — but there aren't any underground rivers! It's the legacy of those streams, the valleys that they leave, that puts you at risk.
October 31, 2025 at 2:13 PM
When I talk about lost streams, people go to thinking about flooding from underground rivers — but there aren't any underground rivers! It's the legacy of those streams, the valleys that they leave, that puts you at risk.
A year ago, the account featured earnest and slightly unpolished account takeovers by individual units, who showed the work that they did and the enormous trust that the USCG put in its people's skills and professionalism. Now it's operators in masks w. M240s.
October 31, 2025 at 2:01 PM
A year ago, the account featured earnest and slightly unpolished account takeovers by individual units, who showed the work that they did and the enormous trust that the USCG put in its people's skills and professionalism. Now it's operators in masks w. M240s.
The US Coast Guard Instagram account's another loss. A year ago, the account was distinctive, characterized by its attention to the service's 11 wide-ranging missions, incl. environmental protection and aids to navigation. Now it's all drug busts and skeezy "be on the lookout for narco boats" posts.
October 31, 2025 at 1:54 PM
The US Coast Guard Instagram account's another loss. A year ago, the account was distinctive, characterized by its attention to the service's 11 wide-ranging missions, incl. environmental protection and aids to navigation. Now it's all drug busts and skeezy "be on the lookout for narco boats" posts.
Good news from the National Weather Service forecasters, though — they anticipate an end to coastal flooding as the wind shifts to the west. (Not great to be out on the water, though, as there's a gale warning.) forecast.weather.gov/product.php?...
October 31, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Good news from the National Weather Service forecasters, though — they anticipate an end to coastal flooding as the wind shifts to the west. (Not great to be out on the water, though, as there's a gale warning.) forecast.weather.gov/product.php?...
"Interim park is a temporary condition." Toronto waterfront, 2023.
October 28, 2025 at 8:57 PM
"Interim park is a temporary condition." Toronto waterfront, 2023.
The planners do propose widening the sidewalks on Irving between Mt. Pleasant St. and 16th. They don't currently propose improving the block east of 16th, whose sidewalk is too narrow for two pedestrians to meet—that is worth pushing for.
October 24, 2025 at 5:28 PM
The planners do propose widening the sidewalks on Irving between Mt. Pleasant St. and 16th. They don't currently propose improving the block east of 16th, whose sidewalk is too narrow for two pedestrians to meet—that is worth pushing for.
DDOT's concept development presentation is out, for the Mt. Pleasant–Columbia Heights bus priority project. The agency's proposing a roundabout at the lunatic intersection of Harvard, Argonne, and "Little Harvard"!
October 24, 2025 at 5:23 PM
DDOT's concept development presentation is out, for the Mt. Pleasant–Columbia Heights bus priority project. The agency's proposing a roundabout at the lunatic intersection of Harvard, Argonne, and "Little Harvard"!
"When you need to move fast" — "As quiet as a whisper." Böcker, which makes the ladder/lift trucks used in the Louvre robbery, decided to embrace their machine's new notoriety and run with an ad campaign. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
October 24, 2025 at 2:24 PM
"When you need to move fast" — "As quiet as a whisper." Böcker, which makes the ladder/lift trucks used in the Louvre robbery, decided to embrace their machine's new notoriety and run with an ad campaign. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
High water in Church Creek, Annapolis. Over the weekend, tides were of moderate height, but the heavy winds were pushing 1–2 ft. more water up the Bay.
October 21, 2025 at 4:44 PM
High water in Church Creek, Annapolis. Over the weekend, tides were of moderate height, but the heavy winds were pushing 1–2 ft. more water up the Bay.
A big willow oak and the Ontario.
October 21, 2025 at 3:18 PM
A big willow oak and the Ontario.
US Park Police helicopter circling by the White House and then at Walter Reed, now returned to base, and busy HMX–1 helicopter traffic to and from the northwest. Don't get too excited, it's probably nothing.
October 10, 2025 at 3:03 PM
US Park Police helicopter circling by the White House and then at Walter Reed, now returned to base, and busy HMX–1 helicopter traffic to and from the northwest. Don't get too excited, it's probably nothing.
This is unusual: there are 4-7 aircraft in the air around DC, likely helicopters, with ADS–B off but transponders on.
October 10, 2025 at 2:05 AM
This is unusual: there are 4-7 aircraft in the air around DC, likely helicopters, with ADS–B off but transponders on.
This is the very best use of zebra stripes in any visualization.
October 9, 2025 at 5:47 PM
This is the very best use of zebra stripes in any visualization.
Compare the EPA/CEC ecoregions. Physical geography is not destiny, but it has a heavy hand in steering culture.
October 8, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Compare the EPA/CEC ecoregions. Physical geography is not destiny, but it has a heavy hand in steering culture.
Really, maps of cultural affinities need to have overlapping layers; to show different cultural streams overlapping one another as they move through space. Or to have more than one layer, like wind roses.
October 8, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Really, maps of cultural affinities need to have overlapping layers; to show different cultural streams overlapping one another as they move through space. Or to have more than one layer, like wind roses.