30 Unusual Maps That Might Change How You See The World, As Shared In This Online Group (New Pics)
Interview
The map might not be the territory, but gosh darn it both aren't fascinating to look at! We’re pretty big fans of maps and we can’t wait to set our eyes on even more unusual and peculiar ones in order to expand our minds and feed our imaginations which are hungry for aesthetic designs. Luckily for us, there are tons of like-minded internet users who are nearly bursting with their love of maps.
This subreddit about maps has nearly 1.5 million members and probably has more creativity than I’ve personally seen anywhere else on Reddit so far. Even though we can’t mention the subreddit’s full name because we'll get censored, the community is truly friendly and has stood the test of time since May 2011. And the person to thank is land surveyor Patrick McGranaghan, the founder of the entire project, whose passion for maps is beyond measure and keeps the online group together.
Patrick and I had a wholesome chat about how to get ourselves moving outside our comfort zones and on adventures, what maps he's recently been working on, as well as the ins and outs of moderating the subreddit.
"I've noticed, especially as I've gotten older, that you only have so much time on this planet and every day that is wasted is a day that you'll never get back. If you want to get out and explore the world you just have to do it. Some adventures will cost time and resources, but the real question I ask myself is can I afford not to do some goal I have my heart set on. There are so many opportunities in this world that it may be hard to choose, but if you wait too long those opportunities will be gone forever," he told Bored Panda to seize the day and really start living.
Bored Panda has featured the subreddit extensively in our previous articles. When you’re done upvoting and commenting on your fave maps in this list, keep in mind that there’s a whole land of adventure waiting for you in these earlier posts right here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
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This Is A LEGO World Map I Designed! I Spent Many Hours Staring At Google Earth And Topological Maps To Make This
Map Of Africa's Borders If Divided By Languages and Ethnicities
Hello! I Was Told You Would Enjoy This- Took Me 3 Years!
I was interested to hear about Patrick's recent cartography projects as well. He told me that recently he's been focusing on pixel maps which are bound to get some of you Pandas nostalgic. "This spring, I was making a lot of pixel maps that looked like old video game graphics. I picked some exotic places like Botswana and Mongolia to make these maps," he shared with Bored Panda.
"I think a great way to learn about an exotic place is to make a map of it and really give some hours and care into making the map look as good as possible. You really get a connection for a place as you're putting labels on and making decisions about what to include and where to lay everything out."
World Map Of Borders
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Now I want to know what caused the sediments to be laid down in this pattern to start with. We need to go back further.
As for moderating the subreddit, which continues growing, it's always been about finding the right balance. Patrick also told me that moderating things, just like doing anything in life, means that there will always be someone who's unhappy with your decisions.
"Moderating is always a delicate balance. It is impossible to please everybody. If you are too laissez-faire you get a lot of low effort and ugly submissions and the users complain. If you are too strict, then you risk alienating those who supply the content for the sub. I try to find a balance between these two extremes. Overall, I'm satisfied with the moderating and I don't foresee any changes in the immediate future," he said.
As for the future? Patrick's finally traveling to Europe again and plans to have a grand old time in Italy soon.
I Am Working On A Picture Book With Each State Drawn With One Line. I Finished My 7th State Last Night
Does anyone else find it easier to read the word whilst actively scrolling?
Hand Drawn Map Of China And Neighboring Countries With Placenames In Mandarin (I Drew It As An Exercise To Memorise All The Provinces)
Antarctica Without Ice, U Don't See That A Lot
Previously, I had a couple of in-depth chats with Patrick, the founder of the subreddit, about the project, learning to navigate better, and the state of travel during the pandemic. In the decade since its founding, the subreddit has blossomed into a welcoming niche for cartographers—professional and amateur alike—all over the globe. Everyone’s welcome, so long as they stick to the rules and stay polite. Patrick developed his love for maps very early in his childhood as his family traveled and moved a lot.
"The older I get, the more I realize that spatial awareness just comes naturally to some people, and for others, it's a struggle," Patrick pointed out to Bored Panda that just like with any other skill, getting good at navigating requires patience, dedication, and repetition.
“In a way, reliance on Google Maps has made us dumber. We let the navigation app do all the work for us and don't engage with making the decisions," he said.
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"If you live in a place with a tall hill or some viewpoint, go up there some time and look around. Try to identify as many landmarks as you can. Notice where they are in relation to each other. Look for new landmarks that you've never noticed before and keep them in mind as you navigate your hometown. If there are rivers or other features that cause chokepoints on bridges or highways, memorize all the bridges and where they go. In this way, you'll know the layout of your city and how to get around," the subreddit’s founder, Patrick, gave us some pointers on how to up our navigation game.
With mass vaccination programs continuing to gather steam, global travel and adventure are nonetheless still in a very confusing situation right now. On the one hand, lockdowns had ended in some countries (and in the case of the United Kingdom will end on ‘Freedom Day’ on July 19, though with some confusion over mask-wearing going forth).
However, the quick rise in new cases after ending restrictions (e.g. in the Netherlands where cases soared by a whopping 500%), along with the continued spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, mean that these same regulations are returning. And the rules keep changing very quickly, so it’s a nightmare to follow if you’re traveling, even if you’re double-vaxxed and immune.
Average Number Of Languages Spoken By The EU Population
The extra 0.6 in the UK is definitely from immigrant families and their descendants, plus those Brits that continue to use Welsh/Gaelic/Irish after school. The average indigenous Brit doesn't speak more than English with anything approaching fluency.
In that case Germany should be at least 2.5 We have a lot of immigrants and lots of people speak very good English here. So it's German, English and whatever other language for us..... and some even learn up to 3 languages at school
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Luxembourg : 3.6 - The two official languages of the country are German and French. School is the first 6 years in German - the other 6 in French. Next to that everybody speaks Luxembourgish and English. With a huge portugese population, this is the only country I know where you start a conversation with : "which language"??
Language is a "use it or lose it" sort of thing. I learned French in school, but with nobody to practice with, the skill just disappeared after a while.
You could have practiced with yourself tough. Reading, watching movies, frequenting frensh websites...
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Totally cool. I have such respect for people who can speak more than one language.
Hahaha Finnish people do not like to speak Swedish atleast, sure they may be good at English but Swedish they seem to hate xD
It's because what we learn isn't the real swedish, it's the mangeleg finnish-swedish the real swedes have a hard time desiphering, so english it is.
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This can´t be right. I´m portuguese and people here learn french and english in school....
Learning it at school doesn't necessarily mean you speak it. I guess the definition of what speaking it means is missing here.
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Funny 2.6 in Belgium? The place where people gets offended and yells at you if you dont speak flemish or french? Where the south and north cannot talk because they cant understand each other? A lot of people lied in that survey
I am Belgian. Learned Dutch, French, English and German at school. Learned Spanish in Spain. I never yell at anybody when they don't speak French or Dutch (btw, Flemish is not a language, in Flanders we use the same dictionaries as they do in The Netherlands). Please do not believe everything you read in newspapers. Politics ...
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Why don't you mention Rheto-Romanic a.k.a. Romansh, Romantsch or Rhaeto-Romance?? http://official-swiss-national-languages.all-about-switzerland.info/rumantsch-language.html
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One the Netherlands has the highest number is, as a Dutch person told me many years ago, nobody else speaks Dutch
Wooo Slovenia. I speak only two but understand some German, Spanish and Italian. (Fluent in English and Slovenian)
3 languages in Slovenia that's actually quite right. We were so impressed by how multilingual Slovenians are!
Why is Ireland included with the UK in red? And why only 1,6 languages when there are far more (Scot, Welsh, English, Manx, Irish, et al)?
Its the average of languages a eprson speaks. So even if in a country there are 4 languages but most are not bilingual the number will be ariund 1
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Immigration and also some bilingual areas.
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sorry, but I'm sure the Netherlands has less languages than Belgium (Belgium already has Dutch & French as country wide national languages + German for a small part and in some schools + English as extra for most + all the immigrants from all over the world= if you don't speak three languages in Belgium you're an exception) Netherlands has dutch + English for most + immigrants ... this would make at least 1/2 of the country immigrants (I doubt that very much)
I'm a little bit surprised that the Netherlands is higher than Belgium.
In Belgium the majority speaks flemish (like Dutch), English, French and German. In the Netherlands they speak Dutch, English and German. So there is something fishy with this map
I'm Dutch and we learn French in school. I speak 5 languages, as I'm also Italian. Many Dutch study an extra language like Spanish or Italian if they often go to those countries on holiday. And don't forget about Papiamento and Frisian, which is an official language. And all the other languages like Arabic, but I guess that counts for many countries.
Load More Replies...How To Read A Topographical Map
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“I think we all have to take precautions, get vaccinated, and avoid risky behaviors. That said, I think we need to remember that we're fighting to eradicate this disease and get back to a normal state of affairs. I really miss the freedom of travel. We're losing years of potential happiness to the lockdowns and at some point, we need to open up. Those are issues above my pay grade though and I hope it's sooner rather than later," Patrick told me in late spring.
According to Patrick, who makes maps for a living, he’s heard tons of people say that everything has already been mapped. However, he points out that there will always be a need for new maps as time goes by.
"People say, 'Hasn't everything been mapped?' The world is constantly changing and accurate spatial data is a fleeting thing. Google Maps certainly gives the impression that everything is mapped, but there is selection and generalization in their data," he said.
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"Infrastructure is a key thing that we all rely on and don't realize it. The electricity to turn on your lights, the fiber that carries this message, the water that you drink. All those things are traveling to you above and below ground. Construction is constantly happening along this route. Knowing where to safely build is critical,” Patrick told Bored Panda about the need to map and remap the world that surrounds us.
"There are other themes that have spatial data too. Municipalities pass zoning and other restrictions all the time. Cities like London have an umbrella of rules about the preservation of old buildings, view-lines, noise nuisances, and other regulations. Making accurate maps is a constant struggle that is going to stay with us for a long time. As more things get built, knowing where these are located is important. Maintaining the world's databases of spatial information is the task of the modern map-maker." There will always be a need for maps and, we hope, for the entire subreddit as well.
What Are Your Thoughts On This Breggsit?
My Son’s (12) Map Of The Balkans
Speaking as a guy from the region, great job (My country's name has a tiny spelling error, but let's not make a fuss about it :-) ).
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![Why Is [country]...? - Google Autocomplete Results (European Countires, 2021)](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/60ed4c9f3fb4d_k1ny4f29b1871-png__700.jpg "Why Is [country]...? - Google Autocomplete Results (European Countires, 2021)")
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Note: this post originally had 130 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
