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Maps can look absolutely incredible, but they require a lot of focus and dedicated effort. Whether you’re an artist, adventurer, geographer, engineer, statistician, or just a fan of good design, quality cartography can bring you a whole lot of joy.
The ‘Epic Maps’ account on X (formerly Twitter) is a fabulous project that celebrates great examples of cartography. Many of these designs are unique, creative, and unusual, so we wanted to share the very best ones with you, dear Pandas. Scroll down for a look, and don’t forget to upvote your favorite ones!
More info: X | Instagram | YouTube | Newsletter

#1

Interesting-Epic-Maps

Locati0ns Report

OneWithRatsAndKefir
Community Member
2 years ago

The Earth may not be a perfectly round sphere for space football, but it would be an amazing sensory widget for stimming. What I mean is, I want to touch this map.

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    #2

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

    Locati0ns Report

    rullyman
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    The formidable Andes. Amazing that the rugby team (the ones famous for cannibalism) were able to get out at all. I really recommend the podcast You're Wrong About for learning more about their ordeal. It's an amazing story and testament to the human spirit.

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    #3

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Pyla
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    I’m ready for my 20 second nap.

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    #4

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Catherine North
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    I wish we learned in school that the Mercator projection and the actual size/shape of the Earth's landmasses are often wildly different

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    #5

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Pyla
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    The star parties you could have in North Korea, though.

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    #6

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

    Locati0ns Report

    Pernille
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Looks like a nervous system.

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    #7

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Manana Man
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    And matching rocks, and seafloor spreading rates and directions as determined by magnetic orientations of oceanic rocks. And radiometric dating.

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    #8

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Stannous Flouride
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Living in San Francisco for 48 years and I've seen lightning here less than 10 times.

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    #9

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Rob D
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    The grey areas represent presence of more stuff that will kill you than not.

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    #10

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    rullyman
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    I looked at doing this back in 2019. The plan was to try and get to Japan without flying- you can get the ferry from Korea at the end. However I talked to someone who had done the Trans Siberian express and found it really dull and testing. Day after day of looking at pine trees drives you a bit mad, and I have some dietary issues so would worry about not being able to eat any food they sold. Might be good as a meditation or writing retreat! In the end I took the train from London to Bologna in Italy, visited a friend there, and then flew to Tokyo. This year I did my first sleeper train (London to Penzance) and really didn't enjoy it, so I think I made the right choice!

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    #11

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Pyla
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    It increases my respect for Odysseus.

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    #12

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    rullyman
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Some of those other countries are happier though 🤫 economy isn't everything

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    #13

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Corinna Barrow
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Not quite true. More like no cities, or big towns, in the green zones. But there are lots of little communities or farms in there.

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    #14

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    Fat Harry (Oi / You)
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Africa is a continent, so why would it be in any way surprising that it should fit many countries in it? That's basically what a continent is, after all. (And yes, Europe is also a continent, but it's very small).

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    #15

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    Joelle Jansen
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    It's a straight line on a globe.

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

    #16

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    Tim Pateman
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    No one in Egypt admits this - they're all in de Nile

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    #17

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    General Anaesthesia
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Java has a population of 150 million. Indonesia has a population of 275 million.

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    #18

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    Danielle
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    I thought Steamed Hams was a Simpsons joke

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    #19

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    Colt Winkler
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Micheal Jackson probably visited Heihe

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    #20

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    Ace
    Community Member
    Premium
    2 years ago (edited)

    Largely determined by which countries have bases in those areas, so they stick on the same time zone as their homeland.

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    #21

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    rullyman
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Unforgivable.

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    #22

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    rullyman
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited)

    They are super visible in Tukey and Greece though. Street cats everywhere.

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    #23

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    Tim Pateman
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    This is a fascinating topic. There are several factors that mean in most of Europe more males.are born than females (distance from the equator being one); but differences in migration and life expectancy change that balance when you look at everyone.

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    #24

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Pyla
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Maxican?

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    #25

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    Pernille
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Looks like the map of pubs in the UK.

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    #26

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    DeoManus Argentem
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    It was originally called the "IV League" because of football - Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth - that played together.

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    #27

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Bobby Edler
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Russia.....also a repressive communist dictatorship...(USSR) Nothing has changed since the 60s.

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    #28

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    DowntownStevieB
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    They're actually taking off in the US now.

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    #29

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    rullyman
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited)

    Why did they take England off? Rude. (And don't say it's EU countries only, because Scotland and NI aren't EU and neither are some of the other countries here)

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    #30

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    Fishpanda (fish/panda/it)
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Somehow I feel like urban areas should be a bit larger. Or is this just counting large cities?

    #31

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    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Mmm. In the UK, it's illegal to collect wild flowers and other wild plants. Even picking up fallen sticks on the ground is technically theft. Whoever produced this map doesn't seem to have paid careful attention, although admittedly the UK does have more than two forests...

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    #32

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    Catherine North
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    I don't disagree with most of the choices. I'm mostly just curious how each was chosen. What criteria was used to select the most 'iconic'?

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    #33

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    Oerff On Tour
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Good that they don't show Afghanistan. It's 0.0%

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    #34

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    JayWantsACat
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    I don't know why (well, ignorance, of course) but I always thought of London as flat.

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    #35

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    that_gay_snake
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    the fact people feel the need to flee their own country is sad. why cant we have a semi-peaceful world where you don't have to be scared in your own home?

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    #36

    Interesting-Epic-Maps

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    Ace
    Community Member
    Premium
    2 years ago

    Wow. I had no idea that so many were so ill-educated. But it explains quite a lot, now I come to think about it. Now I want to see a correlation between education level and Trump supporters.

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    #37

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    rullyman
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    It's why the kebabs are good

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    #38

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    Roan The Demon Kitty
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    and i want to eat them all.

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    #39

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    JoNo
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    What? How is this measured and how is the data collected? I call bullsh*t on some of the information shown on these maps.

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    #40

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    Colin Matthews
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Also true in Australia if you are a learner...

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    #41

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    that_gay_snake
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    just want to run my fingers across this image ( don't make this dirty please!)

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    #42

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    Locati0ns Report

    Kat Lineker
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    That's because in some places, people whine about paying taxes. But the jurisdiction has to get money some way, so the main occupation of the cops is catching speeders. Those are also the places where you pay a fee for every fricking thing you do.

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    #43

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    Fishpanda (fish/panda/it)
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited)

    Truely this is most interestingest map

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    #44

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    James016
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    All the Domino's in Italy have closed.

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    #45

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    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Whatever the source for this map, it's got it horribly wrong - because it suggests that the industrial revolution hadn't reached Scotland or much of northern England by the 1880s - hadn't even reached Liverpool by the look of it. The first intercity railway opened in 1830 between Liverpool and Manchester and was a bit of a significant landmark in the industrial revolution, which arguably began in around 1705 in Cornwall (Newcomen's pumping engine, with a bit of help from France), which according to this map only got the industrial revolution in the 1850s. And never mind what was going on in Italy and Spain... Basically, the map's nonsense.

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    #46

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    Fat Harry (Oi / You)
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Cricket is a tricky one because there are three main formats and you can have a separate champion in each. Australia are the Test and ODI champions, but India are the T20 champions.

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    #47

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    Michael MacKinnon
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    [Puts up hand] Colour-blind here: which is the red area?

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    #48

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    John Cole
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    I'd love to see countries David Attenborough has visited...

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    #49

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    howdylee
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    It'd be nice if this was legible

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    #50

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    DowntownStevieB
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    To be fair, for most of the country, businesses are kinda far from homes. We did have a culture of walkable businesses before the turn of the century. Now, not so much.

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    #51

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    MargyB
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    And New Zealand

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    #52

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    Krispiechiken (she/her)
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    How do you measure that?

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    #53

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    rmandevi831
    Community Member
    2 years ago

    Better? Worse? Without metrics, this just looks like somebody's opinion.

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