While most of us use Google Maps and GPS on a daily basis, it’s pretty rare to find real fans of cartography, the study and practice of making and using maps. If you were ever into geography or history as a kid, the chances are you’re not much of a map person.
But today, we’re going to turn this around. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively. And below we collected some of the most unusual, intriguing and informative examples of maps that will put our reality in a whole new realm.
Thanks to this awesome corner of Reddit (whose name we cannot mention thanks to the notorious internet police), there’s a LOT to uncover! Get ready to boost that inner adventurer of yours since we’re about to go places you’ve never even known existed. Psst! More awesome maps can be found in our previous posts here, here and here.
#1 A Map Centered On Antarctica
Image credits: TeroLife
#2 This Map Of All Of The Sunken Japanese Ships Of Wwii Is Mind Blowing!
Image credits: Disastrous_Ratio7510
#3 Atheists Are Prohibited From Holding Public Office In 8 Us States
Image credits: clayagds99
Previously, Bored Panda spoke with the founder of the subreddit named Patrick, who shared some very interesting insights into the wondrous world of maps. According to him, there are many different reasons one chooses to make a map. “Sometimes for navigation, sometimes for showing statistical phenomena, and sometimes for fantasy. While artistic skill helps, it is not absolutely necessary. The important thing is to make it easy for users to glean useful information. Most maps should have a thesis or a story it is going to tell and this needs to be told through the map.”
#4 Is Escape A Crime?
Image credits: Mmaps_interlude
#5 Countries That Have Had Female Heads Of State Or Government In The Last Century
Image credits: marrow_monkey
#6 Made An Ink Map Of The Grand Canyon!
Image credits: _Triangulum
Today, the subreddit of maps is home to 1.7 million devoted members, making it a Reddit powerhouse. But just like any other online community on the platform, changes are inevitable. Patrick told us that the subreddit is doing well, but “Reddit overall over the last few years has shifted towards mobile-friendly content. Reddit used to be only for desktop users. In the early days, the content was mostly large files that were wallpaper-sized. They were great for zooming in and exploring in detail." Those days are now gone.
The moderator also said that nowadays, "Reddit is overwhelmed" with users who only use it on their smartphones and other mobile devices. "For better or worse, that is how it is and that's the trend for the future. The subreddit contains a lot of bite-size Instagram-style statistical maps. The community upvotes this content and if that's what they want, that's the direction the sub will take," Patrick told us some time ago.
#7 The Topography Of Russia
Image credits: boytutoy
#8 Most Common Means Of Transportation To Work By County. [usa] Acs Survey
Image credits: railrod7
#9 The New Longest Possible Train Journey In The World
Image credits: htGoSEVe
#10 Innocent Opinions That Divide Nations
Image credits: atlasova
#11 This Road Trip Will Be The Same Temperature Year-Round
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#12 Each Star Represents A Capital City Of A Country
Image credits: XtremeBurrito
#13 The World If The Sea Level Decreased By 1000 Meters
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#14 15th October 2019 - 1st November 2021: Indian Households With A Tap Water Connection (Data: Jal Jeevan Mission)
Image credits: FrozenJalapeno
#15 The World's Longest Non-Stop Flights
Image credits: behrkon
#16 Comparative Size Of Australia And The Mediterranean
Image credits: totally-suspicious
#17 European Cultural Superiority
Image credits: SpartanKing76
#18 Canada, But Its Just Roads
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#19 A Map Visualizing The Armenian Genocide - Started 106 Years Ago
Image credits: roiaumedejherusalem
#20 Government Request To Remove Content (Google) Since 2011
Image credits: latecomer11
#21 A Phone-Map Of Ireland
Image credits: GriffinFTW
#22 20 Years Of Deforestation In The Amazon
Image credits: crossground
#23 “Lgbtq+ Free” Zones In Poland
Image credits: roiaumedejherusalem
#24 Europe And North America At The Same Latitude
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#25 America’s Beautiful Weather Zones By Mattie Lubchansky
Image credits: Yosemite_Scott
#26 Olympus Mons Compared To France
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#27 How People Call Their Homeland
Image credits: atlasova
#28 Paper Sizes Around The World
Image credits: adorn_mapper
#29 Newest Republic In The World
Image credits: firefly_in_red
#30 Date Formats Worldwide
Image credits: sarnobat
#31 Canada, But Its Just Trees
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#32 Average Color Of Each Country
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#33 Eu Countries Pushing To Label Nuclear Power As Green Energy
Image credits: PepperBlues
#34 Beavers In Europe, 1900 And 2021
Image credits: Mackelowsky
#35 This Was Up In The Bathroom Of A Canadian Company I Was Doing Some Work At
Image credits: loki2002
#36 Cat Map
Image credits: mehdimj_ir
#37 Interesting Map Made In 1996; One Square Equals 1% Of The World’s Population
Image credits: WenlockOlympics
#38 South Asia Is More Populated Than North America, South America, Europe And Oceania Combined (South Asia Is Roughly Half The Size Of USA)
Image credits: syclozend
#39 The Topography Of Ukraine
Image credits: boytutoy
#40 Countries Where More Than 50% Of The Population Is Vaccinated With Two Doses Of Covid-19 Vaccine
Image credits: theworldmaps
#41 Safety Walking Alone At Night Europe
Image credits: micigela45
#42 Countries With The Most Islands
Image credits: magontklas
#43 Europe: Protests: 2020-2021
Image credits: i_make_maps_0
#44 Odd Places In The UK
Image credits: behrkon
#45 My Grandpa Was A Radar Operator During World War Two, Here's One Of His Maps
Image credits: patrickmcgranaghan
#46 Some Really Strange Political Parties
Image credits: atlasova
#47 Amazon Basin
Image credits: Raplord_28
#48 Manhattan Is Less Dense Today Then It Was In 1910
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#49 Biden's Approval In Each State On Inauguration Day vs. Today
Image credits: Unitron07
#50 The Minimum Ages In Which Children In Each Country Can Be Sent To Prison
Image credits: Ancient_Might_5820
#51 The Pakistan-India Border Can Be Seen From Space
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#52 Average Fixed Internet Speed In European Subcontinent As It Was In September 2021
Image credits: srpskicrv
#53 Countries That Drive On The Left Side Of The Road (Orange) vs. Countries That Drive On The Right Side Of The Road (Blue). (Map From Statista)
Image credits: biifinbeedinbooding
#54 Homicide Rate By Country
Image credits: Cantthinkofname1245
#55 Flights Within One Country
Image credits: phaj19
#56 The 38 States Of America, Proposed By George Etzel Pearcy In 1973 Based On Cultural And Economic Relation Of Existing Regions
Image credits: Safebox
#57 Map Of India According To (Un, Pakistan, China And India Itself)
Image credits: adorn_mapper
#58 Paid Leave For New Mothers (Nyt)
Image credits: megachaise
#59 I Found A 1958 World Map While Tearing Out A Basement Interior Wall In My House
Image credits: Stratiform
#60 Map For Halloween - Every Castle In Europe
Image credits: Spatial_Overlay
#61 Countries That Have, Or Have Had, Openly Gay Heads Of Government
Image credits: Porodicnostablo
#62 Percentage Of Population Increase From 1960 To 2020 By Country In Europe (Source: World Bank)
Image credits: Lambda301
#63 Topography Of Africa
Image credits: leonmully
#64 The U.S.' Google Searches Of European Countries
Image credits: xDeserterr
#65 ''snow'' In European Languages
Image credits: vladgrinch
#66 The World At War In 2021
Image credits: No-Ad7595
#67 Map Of The World From Its Flight Routes
Image credits: Onion_Leaf
#68 The Search Querys For "How Do I..." In Europe
Image credits: theybeillin
#69 How Many Billionaires Live In Each Country?
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#70 Life Expectancy By Country In 1965 vs. 2020
Image credits: Cantthinkofname1245
#71 Runic Map Of The Vikings
Image credits: CartographyCraft
#72 This Is The Farthest Place On Earth From Any Ocean
Image credits: MeronDC
#73 Piracy In The 21st Century
Image credits: shashsainik
#74 Us 1956 Nuclear War Plan Targets
Image credits: kernals12
#75 Origin Of Immigrants In Europe
Image credits: Ok_University8781
#76 Poisonous So₂ In Atmosphere Over Northern Africa And Europe Due To Vulcanic Erruption On La Palma
Image credits: kuzyn123
#77 How Much Longer Women Live Compared To Men
Image credits: latecomer11
#78 The Soviet Union For 4 Days
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#79 1987 The World According To Ronald Reagan (Version #2)
Image credits: Yosemite_Scott
#80 Most Common European Ancestry In The Americas. Now With Subdivitions!
Image credits: _neokolasoX69
#81 Referendum To Join The Eu
Image credits: JoeFalchetto
#82 Countries Where Military Service Is Mandatory
Image credits: shashworthy
#83 Europe's Railroads
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#84 Uncontacted Tribes In The Deep Amazon
Image credits: HerrFalkenhayn
#85 Political Positions 2021
Image credits: No-Ad7595
#86 Ethnic Map Of Yugoslavia If It Would Reunite Today
Image credits: Dull_Care5303
#87 A Man Made Of Countries
Image credits: BLIZZARDr7
#88 What Is Your Religion?
Image credits: Saptadvipamaps
#89 Gay Marriages
Image credits: No-Ad7595
#90 An Small Riminder That This Country Exist(Im From Czechia)
Image credits: Certain-Status-8963
#91 Laws Against Animal Cruelty
Image credits: shashsanyal
#92 What Gasoline Is Called Around The World
Image credits: King_Lunis
#93 Where People Still Practice Open Defecation
Image credits: topcat5
#94 The Scariest Thing In Every European Country
Image credits: atlasova
#95 The World According To Bhutan
Image credits: stupid_guy_2007
#96 Relief Map Of Western Europe And Northeastern Africa
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#97 A Map Relating To When Counties Will Achieve Net Zero Emissions
Image credits: myfriendohs__
#98 Each U.S. State Split In Half By Population
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#99 A Peculiar World Map From 1581
Image credits: skan76
#100 Civilian Gun Ownership Per Capita In 2017. Data From Small Arms Survey
Image credits: HerrFalkenhayn
#101 On Blacks, Asians, Muslims And Jews Across Europe, 2017
Image credits: Homesanto
#102 What Greenland Would Look Like Without Its Ice Sheets
Image credits: skan76
#103 Abortion Law In Europe
Image credits: geo_global
#104 Which States In The US Are Actually City States?
Image credits: SerperiorFox
#105 Countries Where Covid-19 Vaccinations Are Mandatory For Everyone
Image credits: Successful-Grab2760
#106 Cousin Marriage Rates In Nations With Significant Muslim Populations
Image credits: BLAZENIOSZ
#107 Tomorrow Night, We Will Have Aurora Borealis At This Time Of Year, At This Time Of Day, In This Part Of The Country, Localized Entirely Within The Area In Green On This Map. Whether You Can See It Depends On How Far North You Are As Well As Cloudiness
Image credits: kernals12
#108 Channel Tunnel Between France And The UK
Image credits: stc420
#109 Africa, But It’s Just Roads
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#110 A Map Of Italy Made Out Of Pizza. By Modernist Cuisine (2018)
Image credits: SteO153
#111 Share Of Europeans Who Have Travelled At Least Once Outside The Eu (2014)
Image credits: Creative_Gur_4159
#112 Alaska And Its Territorial Waters Compared To The Contiguous Us
Image credits: oglach
#113 Us States To Entire Countries Gdp
Image credits: behrkon
#114 European Languages By Grammatical Gender Treatment
Image credits: MauricioGalvis
#115 The Probability Of A White Christmas In The United States
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#116 New York State Stereotype Maps
Image credits: Live-Error98
#117 Dalai Lama's Escape Route From Tibet (1959)
Image credits: Petrarch1603
#118 The Greatest Walk
Image credits: Homesanto
#119 How Much Money You Need To Retire Comfortably Around The World
Image credits: Karansakharelia96
#120 The South — According To Self-Identified Southerners
Image credits: Hstrike
#121 If The US Was Split Into Two Halves With Equal Population
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#122 What Is The Game ‘Red Light, Green Light’ Called In Various Languages?
Image credits: atlasova
#123 Every Country Invaded By France
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#124 Percentage Of The Population Fully Vaccinated (Dec 2021)
Image credits: Peakay100
#125 Countries That Once Hosted The Largest City In The World
Image credits: burgerking_foot
#126 Europe In China View
Image credits: No-Ad7595
#127 A Globe Without The British Isles In Sarawak State Library (Former British Colony Until 1963)
Image credits: drunkturtlelord
#128 Texas - Hand-Drawn Fantasy-Style Map
Image credits: HandDrawnFantasyMaps
from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/3stxhbA
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