28 Unusual Maps That Offer New Insights Into Geography and Society

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.”

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.

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