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Do you remember the days of using physical maps on road trips? Dad's in the driver's seat yelling as mom's in the passenger seat frantically searching the map for the exit we need to take and- oh! We missed it already! Having apps like Google maps in the palm of our hands has made our lives so much easier (and road trips so much more pleasant). Within seconds, we can check how many miles there are between Texas and Lithuania and Taiwan. Although, I wouldn't recommend making that journey a road trip. 

Thanks to one popular Instagram account, maps on our phones can now teach us much more than just distance and directions. Map Central is an Instagram page with over 130k followers that “provides a full perspective of our world” through sharing daily educational maps. These graphics are no simple maps; they share facts about countries’ demographics, information about climate change, examine population shifts and trends, compare countries by size and population and much more. We’ve gathered some of our favorite maps from the page for you to enjoy below, as well as an interview with the creator of Map Central.

Then if you’re looking to learn even more after finishing this list, we’ve got the perfect Bored Panda piece for you to check out next right here.

#1

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Jihana
Community Member
4 years ago

Ok, that is fascinating!

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    #2

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    Some Cool Guy
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    *Sad Australia noises*

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    #3

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    Bob Broadley
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    And I only popped out to get some milk...

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    #4

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    Paul C.
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    A proud list to be on. Mr Putin, may you rot in hell.

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    #5

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    Erik Ivan
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Sweden is missing. Our current prime minister is a woman.

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    #6

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    CapitalDee
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Can just about see my town underneath Maine...

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    #7

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    Tahani
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    So they do...

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    #8

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    Ginny Weasly
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Looks like a really dusty computer chip lol

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    #9

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    Chris Jones
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Where I am in the UK is about 30 mins from the coast and predictions have estimated that one day my village will be able to add 'by the sea' to its name.

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    #10

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    Chich
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 years ago

    Ripe for a communist revolution.

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    #11

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    That other Panda
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Looks like a dude’s head

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    #12

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    JoyfulZebra
    Community Member
    4 years ago (edited)

    Tax billionaires out of existence, and while we're at it, transfer the excessive assets that they have into the hands of the workers

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    #13

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    Beaver boi🦫🇺🇦
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    I note a disappointing lack of beavers.

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    #14

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    Nathaniel
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    The USA has a flawed democracy? Well I never!

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    #15

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    Lord pretzell
    Community Member
    4 years ago (edited)

    We Europeans love our trains!

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    Never miss a story that brings joy to the world. Add us on Google

    #16

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    JoyfulZebra
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Totally legit

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    #17

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    Giles McArdell
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Who knew they had satellite imagery in 1300?

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    #18

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    Remi
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Is YouTube actually still working in Russia tho? I'd be really surprised if that's the case

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    #19

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    Nikki Sevven
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    This is a good example of why our Senate is not representational. With only two Senators per state, the underpopulated areas get far more of a say than the highly populated areas.

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    #20

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    JoyfulZebra
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Dont worry little island, you're not a disappointment to me

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    #21

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    Guinta
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Can anyone find Denmark?

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    #22

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    Nathaniel
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Where you can p..p..p..pick up a penguin.

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    #23

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    Chich
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 years ago

    Little guy in the lower right seems happy about it all

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    #24

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    Nathaniel
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    That's okay, when they start encroaching on land, then I will worry.

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    #25

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    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    because they have socialised health... the horror. next they'll say communism must be brought to usa. /s/

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    #26

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    Colin Matthews
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    There is little but miles and miles of red dirt. Beautiful in its own way

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    #27

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    Bisexual_idiot
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    lol

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    #28

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    Arsenio Alejo
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Hey, let's take a vote to show Russia who condemns their actions! That'll make them stop.

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    #29

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    James016
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    It's the weirdest place I have been to. It has a very strange vibe.

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    #30

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    Nathaniel
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Now I am imagining illegal kangaroo clubs.

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    #31

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    Colin Matthews
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Best skiing ever! Bring your Mammoth...

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    #32

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    Guinta
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Denmark isnt on there, but there is a episode where they go to Denmark.

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    #33

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    Community Member
    4 years ago

    The plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was highjacked, then re-highjacked by the passengers who casted a vote upon the decision to try to gain back control. Sadly, in the process, all of the passengers passed, but they saved so may people lives.

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    #34

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    howdylee
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    WAIT!!! Check out McMurdo Station in Antarctica!!! There is a google street view of it!! A guy had the camera in a backpack and he walked the street view, but still!

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    #35

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    Bry Moore
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    This is really interesting, shows some perspective

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    #36

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    Ece Cenker
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    No-therlands.

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    #37

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    Chris Jones
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Not exactly a surprise - 2050 is when it is currently predicted the planet will hit the maximum population sustainable. Yet look at what we are doing to it now. 😢

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    #38

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    Firefoxy3121
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    America really shouldn't be on the 'first world' list

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    #39

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    Guinta
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Denmark has Dunkin thouugh.

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    #40

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    Shelp
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    dream big!

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    #41

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    Nathaniel
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Is Venus flat like the Earth too?

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    #42

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    Sawyer Kidder
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Thats cool

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    #43

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    Christos Piperis
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    So right. Thats why you can find peace outdside Athens and Thessaloniki. Think of the possibilities.

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    #44

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    Deux
    Community Member
    4 years ago (edited)

    I wish we could swap passports with one another from another country, you know like one for one type thing.

    Marco Hub-Dub
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Nothing is black or white. The laws are very detailed with some on a nation by nation basis.my paternal grandparents & father are Dutch/EU citizens. My maternal grandparents & mother are US & Dutch/EU. As am I. I don’t have US consular representation in the EU as an American, because I have freedom of movement as Dutch. In the US, I have all freedoms of an American with representation and Dutch consular representation. I had to register for Selective Service in the US, but I wouldn’t be drafted if it came to that. I can only enter/exit US or EU on one passport. I’ve made that mistake. I left US on US passport via British Air to Schipol w/layover in London. Entering Netherlands I used Dutch passport. Exited with my US passport in Netherlands with no issue. Upon landing in San Francisco, automatic held me for half a day to verify my multiple citizenship because I had no entry stamp into EU/Netherlands.

    Donkey boi
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    I'd say most of Europe is a bit more complicated than one or the other. For example, In the UK, if you were born while your parents were on a visit, you would not be given citizenship. However if at least one of your parents were here on a working visa, you would most likely be given a British birth certificate, giving you entitlement to a UK passport (but not your parents). The EU made thing a little more complicated with the whole open borders thing meaning some people would qualify just by being born there, whereas others would not.

    Daniel Marsh
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Blue countries: colonizers vastly outnumber indigenous people. Red countries: indigenous people vastly outnumber colonizers/immigrants.

    Geralt of Rivia
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Colonizers are long dead. The current population have every legitimacy to the land.

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    Arieke
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Not true about the Netherlands....

    Bart
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Not true about Switzerland either...

    not_at_school ;)
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    thats basically the same thing, but also completely different!!!

    Yoyo
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Not true about Sweden.

    Daniel Marsh
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    According to Wikipedia: A child born after 1 April 2015 acquires Swedish citizenship automatically if: (1) one of the parents is a Swedish citizen at the time of the child's birth or (2) a deceased parent of the child was a Swedish citizen upon their death

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    #45

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    Zoe
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    This is so cool

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    #46

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    Nathaniel
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Guessing that area in Africa is pretty much all desert? Or have the honey bees been banned?

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    #47

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    Joey Marlin
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Can't read quite a few of these...

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    #48

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    Chinmayee Kalghatgi
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Mars used to have all this water billions of years ago before earth did

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    #49

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    Colin Matthews
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Wasn't there a chapter on Vegas?

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    #50

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    Shelp
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    this is also interesting because there are a lot of countries I had absolutely no idea of the population of

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    #51

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    Squilmo
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Keep fighting the good fight, Minnesota!

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    #52

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    Kona Pake
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Where is the entrance and exit?

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    #53

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    El Dee
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Palestine is an 'Observer State' at the UN. To be such you must actually be recognised as a state..

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    #54

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    Joey Marlin
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    It actually is in the UK. A Bill, passed by the House of Lords on Apr 28, has received Royal Ascent formally acknowledging British Sign Language as an official language in the UK. Not surprising that something THAT recent isn't here though.

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    #55

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    Lyone Fein
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    It's so much colder on the western rim

    #56

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    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    And the sad part is that 2.6 trillion is mostly three countries inside Africa.

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    #57

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    Metalhead Turtle 🇺🇦
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    TIL about the Georgian alphabet and the Armenian alphabet

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    #58

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    Ian Webling
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    No homeless people living under the bridges?

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    #59

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    Joel Foxall
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Didn't realize Ohio was a country...

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    #60

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    Frances M
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    It would be interesting to overlay (or colour code) all those countries with ones that gained independence under the current Queen Elizabeth II.

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    #61

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    Sawyer Kidder
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    That’s really sad

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    #62

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    Lyone Fein
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    There's something wonky about this

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    #63

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    Chinmayee Kalghatgi
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Why is kashmir a part of china?

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    #64

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    Olga Aftyka
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    If Poland didn't go and switch capital somewhere mid 18th century (Russians happen) it would be in orange

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    #65

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    Lyone Fein
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Blue shows up in some odd spots.

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    #66

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    Mtownmick
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    You forgot United States, or am I get ahead of myself.

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    #67

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    Frank H
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    for educational purposes... sea-line-6...59-png.jpg sea-line-627ea315e7259-png.jpg

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    #68

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    Metalhead Turtle 🇺🇦
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Tax the rich.

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    #69

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    Rod Egret
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Never forget that the Walton family wealth is well over $200 billion!!! The way they treat their employees is a shame....

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    #70

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    Cowws
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    another map that leaves out new zealand! Honestly...

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    #71

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    Sara G
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Not much going on in the top 3 states. Trust me, I'm here now.

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    #72

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    JB
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Anyone else annoyed by the Caspian Sea over there?

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    #73

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    Chloe *Leah* Pheonix
    Community Member
    4 years ago (edited)

    The middle is giving the creeps idk why

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    #74

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    Chinmayee Kalghatgi
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Isn’t spotify availible here in India? All of my friend use it

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    #75

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    David A Paterson
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    The Soviet Union didn't put a flag on their Lunokhod?

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    #76

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    MacKenzie Moore
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    perspective is wild..

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    #77

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    John L
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    It should be noted that this map would be very, very different if it counted a US military presence vs military bases.

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    #78

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    Bellatrix Lestrange
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Is this including Alaska and Hawaii in the data?

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    #79

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    Metalhead Turtle 🇺🇦
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    Benin isn't in Europe, nor is it a city

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    #80

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    Chloe *Leah* Pheonix
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Japan

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    #81

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    Sue Hazlewood
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Florida hates Florida?

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    #82

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    Owen
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Try California.

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    #83

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    MagNat
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Uff, my country lands in Canada.

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    #84

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    Mtownmick
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    0 points for color choice.

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    #85

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    John L
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    I'm not seeing the "paradox". Of course if you use smaller increments to measure, the more area you cover.....

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    #86

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    Yoyo
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Nope.

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    #87

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    Eastendbird
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    What in the heck does this all mean?

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    #88

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    Chich
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 years ago

    In case you missed it the first time

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