Strange Maps
A special series by Frank Jacobs.
Frank has been writing about strange maps since 2006, published a book on the subject in 2009 and joined Big Think in 2010. Readers send in new material daily, and he keeps bumping in to cartography that is delightfully obscure, amazingly beautiful, shockingly partisan, and more. "Each map tells a story, but the stories told by your standard atlas for school or reference are limited and literal: they show only the most practical side of the world, its geography and its political divisions. Strange Maps aims to collect and comment on maps that do everything but that - maps that show the world from a different angle."
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This is what the world will look like, 250 million years from now
In most countries around the world, some jobs are by law reserved for men only and forbidden for women.
Each year, lightning kills 24,000 people around the world. These maps show which regions get hit more than others.
Could social graphing be a way to find the ‘Holy Grail’ of successful movie writing?
West Virginia and Mississippi are at the bottom of the educational attainment table and Massachusetts is the state with the highest share of Bachelor’s degree holders – beaten only by the District of Columbia
For urban exploration with an ironic twist, go ‘bag’ all 32 London Borough Tops
Just how equal in size are the populations of Europe and North America?
A rare counter-example to the flood of Temperance maps, this Prohibition-era chart celebrates alcohol in its many forms
Thought experiment: What if you graft Israel’s borders onto the San Francisco Bay Area?
You can get a pizza even in Pyongyang. But is it Italian?
What’s Eminem doing in Missouri? Kanye West in Georgia? And Wiz Khalifa in, of all places, North Dakota?
The ‘Great Polish Map of Scotland’ is the coolest map story you’ve never heard of.
These sober maps have a chilling topic: the prevalence of lynchings throughout the U.S. from 1930 to 1938.
A map of the coming divorce between Left and Right America.
The Saudi blockade of its tiny neighbour Qatar could soon change the very geography of the region.
You think the collapse of the Soviet Union was chaotic? You should have seen the start.
Three-quarters of tree species common in the eastern U.S. have moved their population centres westward over the last 30 years – an effect not predicted by assumptions about global warming.
Do you enjoy ‘non-traditional sexual relationships’? Then mind where you travel.
From La Rinconada in Peru to South Africa’s deepest mines: the quest for gold drives people to the greatest heights and depths on Earth.
Isn’t the world of dogs about more than (British) bulldogs and (French) poodles?
This is the first-ever database of Europe’s 3,318 remaining synagogues.
Here’s why Latin American cities are the deadliest in the world.
If your BMI is higher than 30, you’re technically obese. These maps show how many people per European country (and U.S. state) suffer from that medical condition.
Every country is unique—but only America is extraordinary
The first rule of Vulture Club: stay out of Portugal.
Half of Holland does not wash hands after going to the bathroom. The Bosnians are the cleanest Europeans.
Should police officers be able to get away with having sex with detainees?
Mapping your daily long john needs since 2011 (Canada only)
If the zouave of the Alma bridge gets his feet wet, Paris knows to start worrying
Musk is about more than Teslas and rockets.