When most of us think about the word “data'' our eyes glaze over as a million Excel cells appear in our minds, putting us to sleep. So clever folks out there rolled up their sleeves and got to work, making visual depictions of data that help us better understand the world.
This online group shares various cool and interesting maps that help put all sorts of facts and figures into context. So get comfortable, prepare to brush up on some geography, and get to scrolling. Be sure to upvote your favorite posts and share your thoughts and observations in the comments section below.
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Good Political Maps Of Oceania Are Hard To Come By
Kiwis breathe a sigh of relief that they are not being overlooked for a change
The Literal Meaning Of Every Country's Name In Africa
Endings Of Places In Poland
This is the result of an old dialectal boundary. and another fun fact: In Northeastern Germany you will find lots of places that end in -ow, showing that the old Slawic Tribes were living in that area, way before any of today's national borders.
If you have ever taken a casual look at an average map of the world, you have no doubt been struck by the sheer size of Russia and, to a lesser extent, Canada. This does make sense, as these are the largest countries on the planet, however, did you know that a little feature of mapmaking called Mercator projection makes them look significantly larger than they really are?
This comes from the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, who created a “cylindrical” map to represent the world in 1569. After all, unless you are looking at a globe, most maps are drawn, painted, or printed on a rectangular surface. Imagine the tube-like maps pirates are always dragging around and you have a pretty good depiction of an early Mercator map.
Average Color Of US State Based On Satellite Imaging
What’s The Most Popular Sport In Each Country?
Correct usage of football ⚽️ /s ☺️ not that I care about sports, just find the wordusage peculiar..
Time Needed To Earn 1€ Million Earning On Average Wage
After all, the real landmasses on the planet, which are spherical, don’t translate 1-to-1 on a rectangular map. Certain sections end up stretched and, as a result, appear to be a lot larger than they actually are. Mercator chose to “focus” the map on the northern hemisphere, where locations closer to the “top” of the map would end up seeming larger. Hence Russia and Canada being absolutely gigantic on so many maps.
Population Density In China
How Many % Of People Would Not Want To Live Next Door To Lgbt People?
World Map According To China In 1799
In fact, at the time, these maps were specifically created to aid in marine navigation. While it’s quite irrelevant to us, early seafarers could use a Mercator map to get a “straight” bearing when sailing to a new location. On a map that doesn’t use Mercator projection, the bearing would be a curve, representing the curve of the globe.
U.S. States That Have Banned The Most Books (In Autumn 2022)
At least it started backfiring in Utah, banning the bible from schools. For content of murder, violence, sexual things etc.
Percentage Of Population (25-64yrs) In Europe That Cant Speak Any Foreign Language
English is mandatory here in Germany, additionally there are usually choices for french and spanish on top
Europe’s National Animals
This sort of map has simply stuck around for hundreds of years, leading many people to draw somewhat incorrect conclusions about the real size of things. We are lucky that Russia and Canada really are the two largest countries, so the distortions don’t seem as bad. Other examples of distortion are the similarity between the UK and Madagascar, despite the latter being nearly twice as large.
Belief In Life After Death In Europe
Average Money Spent On Weddings In US States
This is absolutely wild. Looking at California....this is more than I spent in the last 10 years for various vacations. I'm from Germany, and those vacations included USA & Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, the Seychelles, Mauritius and countless trips within Europe. (Yes, I'm counting my expenses.) I would never ever exchange these experiences with a one-time party. Absolutely absurd!
Roman Coin Hoards, From The 'Coinage In The Roman Empire' Project — 'Hoards Containing Coinage In Use In The Roman Empire Between 30 B.c. And A.d. 400.'
Even more comically, due to its northerly position, Alaska appears to be roughly the size of Australia, despite the fact that the land down under is almost five times larger. You can find an excellent gif depicting the presented and real size of various nations here.
When Is Weekend
Asia's Counting System. How Do You Say The Number 57
Blue and yellow are reasonable, the rest seems overly complicated. Edit: Orange, not yellow ^^
Unemployment Rates In Italian Provinces
Male Body Hair Distribution Of Indigenous Human Populations Around The World
Sex Ratio
And yet, men are treated as the default despite being a smaller percent of the population in the majority of countries.
Percentage Of Light vs. Brown Hair In European Countries
Most Wasteful Countries In The World
Dog Owning States vs. Cat Owning States
Air Polution In Europe
Whoa... What's happening in nort Italy, Poland and around the Balkans? Why is it so bad there?
US States By Violent Crime Rate
Would be interesting to know how this compares to other parts of the world too
The Countries With The Most Island
The islands in Sweden are very very small but numerous. That's why they don't show up on most maps.
The Most Consumed Type Of Meat By Country Including Fish & Seafood
Nope, according to 'The Swedish Board of Agriculture', it's poultry meat (when not including sausages, ham and kassler). When you include them (and assuming they are 100% pork meat, pork is #1 by approximately 3,5x compared to fish.
The Most And Least Happy Countries In The World
Projection Of Water Stress Level By Country In 2040
Highest Temperature Recorded In Europe Countries
These maps are misleading. They should have shown the point where it was reached and the temperature by zones. As it appears on the map it seems that all of Spain reached 47 degrees when it was in the south of Spain and probably in the northern half the temperatures were. By far lower
Note: this post originally had 54 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
When I joined bp, I struggled in comprehending what I was looking at relating to these kind of maps...but when I finally got a 💡 inside my brain, I instantly fell in love with 'em...🗺️🌏🌎🌍🗺️
If you want more stuff like this I believe Visual Capitalist does a lot of them.
Load More Replies...
Well, the etymological map was good. The rest are completely moosecock as far as I could tell by looking at the sources. If they documented them. Oh, FSM, please guard me from taking it seriously again :)
When I joined bp, I struggled in comprehending what I was looking at relating to these kind of maps...but when I finally got a 💡 inside my brain, I instantly fell in love with 'em...🗺️🌏🌎🌍🗺️
If you want more stuff like this I believe Visual Capitalist does a lot of them.
Load More Replies... Well, the etymological map was good. The rest are completely moosecock as far as I could tell by looking at the sources. If they documented them. Oh, FSM, please guard me from taking it seriously again :)
