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Since the last time we wrote about Terrible Maps, a project that is dedicated to sharing maps no one asked for or needs, they've kept themselves rather busy. So it's only natural we created a follow-up article about the cartographers who are so bad, they're actually good. After all, what is the Internet for if not to poke fun at politics and our geographical illiteracy?

From hilarious guides on how to find the state of Kentucky to showing how many Switzerlands fit in Brazil, continue scrolling and check out these gems and tell us which one would you hang on your office wall!

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OK. We can clearly see these are bad maps. But how to know you're looking at a good one? Brant Scheidecker, a sales engineer at Cartegraph, highlighted some of the main essentials for accurate and easily interpretable map use.

"Every map should have a title. It allows the user to assess the purpose of the map quickly; allowing them to determine if it meets their needs," Scheidecker wrote.

Next, origin. A fancy name for a compass or the North arrow. "This allows the user to determine the maps reference to the earth. While most maps these days have North being straight up, occasionally you will encounter a map that has a skewed orientation, perhaps to better fit it on the physical medium it's presented on (i.e. paper), or simply because it’s easier to interact with the map in that orientation."

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Aaron W
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dammit, I'm going to see this every time I look at a US map now. Thanks, Bored Panda.

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When it comes to the source, it's a two-fold element. "It allows the map maker to provide the map viewer an idea where the data the map is representing is from; a necessity in determining the accuracy of a map. It also allows the map maker a way to cite the source of their data, avoiding all those pesky cries of plagiarism and the ensuing lawsuits," Scheidecker explained. "You have better uses for your time, like ensuring the rest of the T.O.S.S.L.A.D. elements are on your maps."

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Let's not forget the legend (the area where a user can determine what a particular color or symbol represents on the map). "Without a legend, a user cannot successfully interpret what your map is trying to represent, 'Does the red skull and crossbones over my favorite restaurant mean what I think it means?'"

You should also know when was the map that you're analyzing made. If it was created in 1962 and shows commuter levels in Chicago—it might not be such a valid source for the traffic data you are looking for today, unless you are feeling nostalgic, Scheidecker joked.

There you have it. You may now have become a cartographic genius, but you should be able to tell if you're looking at a terrible map or not!

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Kesam
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm an immigrant in "aesthetically tasteless" country and I totally agree! :D

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Kesam
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I always knew Brazilians are brainy. (But wait, what does that make northwestern Canada??)

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Shelp
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Belgium imports a lot of electricity from France. I wouldn't be surprised if this particular power plant mainly produced electricity for the Belgian market

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karla Meixnerová
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No surprise, if the person with this opinion is a believer, that the Earth is flat...

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Rabbit Carrot
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nah. We see a giant a*s bible for most of those middle states. Oh and guns. Lots and lots of guns.

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Sadie Shapiro
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i don't even want to try saying that one. you know which one I'm talking about.

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Jayne Kyra
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

According to my dots in MS Paint over each: 132. Might be wrong, but I am not doing it again. EDIT: Did it again and Beto River is right, I missed 10 at some point. Thank you Beto!

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Oathbraker
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I understand mistaking it with Iraq or Afghanistan, but how the f**k did they go to Africa and the Balkans? A couple are even in the UK, for crying out loud.

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Tom Hardeveld
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think Japan's flag makes a good point but the Switserland flag is also a big plus...

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Rabbit Carrot
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sadly the U.K. after Brexit is now the direct to video sequel staring the likes of Tara Reed that nobody wants.

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Laugh or not
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I knew about Australia and the emu war, but not about China. I need to find the story.

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Purple light
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Dutch coma is spelled with a c instead of a k, so I don't really trust de rest of this map...

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Martti Laurson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That has changed after Baltic states also got Euro as our currency. But these are funny and still around

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Tiny Dynamine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Weird. It's as if the person is jealous of us having so many historical buildings and interesting places.

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Pamela24
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to represent Togo in the student's model of the UN and had heard this joke about ten times every day. Still funny, though.

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Troux
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you're traveling with someone, you can invite them to see Hamilton, too!

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Kesam
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

France is also the country with the most time zones in the world, even though the main part is all in one time zone.

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Tiny Dynamine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If this map doesn't help you to find the nearest one, just walk down the street and there it is.

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chi-wei shen
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In 60 million years it would be recognizable, but in 200 million years it's going to look really stupid.

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Fred and George Weasley
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i get the joke. so, if yall need it explaining: sin/cos=tan (sin cos and tan are on most scientific calculators but idk what they do)

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DE Ray
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the subtle genius of this? Mosquitoes are more attracted to people wearing darker clothing - most of the South (ignore Florida, we try to) has light colored jeans.

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SoozeeQ
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, it didn't turn out to be an April Fool's joke, that's for sure.

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Dave P
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At can also be the green is Liberal, the red is mixed, and the Yellow is GOP parts of Cali

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Shelp
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No, because every country still exists, they just re-drew them with silly borders. Europeans, while conquering Africa, actually suppressed a lot of former states and protostates.

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Kesam
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

HAHA, I love this one! :D And well done, Equatorial Guinea, for providing some data for a change! ;)

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Steve Barnett
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is there like some Lizard-proof border there? Do lizards know when to stop going north?

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Tiny Dynamine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is where I live! (Not in the harbour, but the city) I'm proud of us being the catalyst for this.

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Aahzmandus Pervect
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Scarborough Reef is a country? It is a disputed territory with claims from The Philippines and China, and it has a population of exactly 0.

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MiniMaus
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is so funny. Years ago we did a small plane journey thru the US. I swear we hit a dozen or more Springfields.

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Tiny Dynamine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The good old days when the country was made entirely from minced beef.

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Martha Meyer
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Makes absolutely no sense. Southern Europe is often nowhere near the green zone in data such as economy, unemployment etc.

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Daria B
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This would be funnier if they considered the languages spoken in each country. (Yep, not fun at parties ♡)

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Laugh or not
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nooo, we (EU) want Scotland back. Anyone can have England and Wales, though.

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Leo Domitrix
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So many of these look like regular phenomena experienced by someone with the worst hangover...

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Tiny Dynamine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Did someone drop this map on the floor? France has broken off, Africa has acquired an extra bit on the west coast, America seems to have been eaten by the dog.

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chi-wei shen
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Jakub Marian makes a lot of good maps, but this one was posted a few years ago on April Fools' day.

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Vic
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Damn! I just wrote this about India, a few posts earlier, I should apply for a job at TerribleMaps :)

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Myrtille rat
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

yup spent 40 years in the right start and now being in the left one it often lead to a weird "dance" when I'm saying hello and even ended once with a stealthy one on the mouth... but hey corona has solved the issue

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Oathbraker
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Two continents. I'm pretty sure South America was also pillaged. And don't put this on white people. War and slavery have been parts of humanity throughout history. Ignoble, terrible parts, but still parts.

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Tiny Dynamine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's a nightmare trying to get across Europe as you're always disturbing matches on the way.

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Jace
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The USA has been utterly complacent in this, yet no one else decided to take up the mission either...

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DE Ray
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Possum pie isn't weird - it's like the bottom half of a cheesecake and the top half of a chocolate chiffon pie. We just call it that so nobody else wants it and we can keep it to ourselves.

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Tiny Dynamine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ask an American to say 'squirrel'. You'll be laughing for the rest of the day.

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SoozeeQ
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They forgot Antartica! Which is technically a continent, not a country, but they have a lot of penguins.

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Julie C Rose
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m still not over the lazy, lazy research that brought us “mahoutokoro”. She literally just found out what the Japanese for “magic” and “place” was.

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Tabitha L
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Funny. But could be a bit more nuanced. North East - Iggy Soda. South East - Iggy Coke. Mid West - Iggy Pop. Louisiana - Iggy Soft Drink (or Iggy Coke).

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Tiny Dynamine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The kind of thing where you think it's a good idea at first, then when you've finished it, you think you've just wasted two hours of your life.

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Mangoes'nRum
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No. There are a few hanging about in orbit. They're the ones who see the world like this map. Black lines and giants words and everything.

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Kim
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All I can think seeing this is "Moisturise me!" Any Whovians around?

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SoozeeQ
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those Romans. Brilliant with their Infantry, not so much with their Air Force.

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cassiushumanmother
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3 years ago

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That's just really sad. And there is a huge mistake with Hebron, it must be shared as well as Jerusalem.

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