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Is this Danish island soon coming to a coast near you?
In 1991, Denmark constructed the world's first offshore wind farm.Now they're building an entire 'Energy Island' in the North Sea.As the U.S. catches up, Danish know-how could soon come to...
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How Atlantic City inspired the Monopoly board
The streets on a classic Monopoly board were lifted from Atlantic City.Here's what it looks like if we transport those places back onto a map.Monopoly started out as its opposite: a game explaining...
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How the Yazoo Land Scandal changed American history
Few people today are familiar with the Yazoo Land Scandal, which broke in the mid-1790s.Yet it sent shockwaves through American public life, influencing politics, law, and even geography.Without it,...
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How Europe will beat China on batteries
China produces 80 percent of electric vehicle batteries.To achieve battery independence, Europe is ramping up production.And the U.S.? Action is needed, and quick. Tesla's Gigafactory near Berlin,...
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The Christian church so holy that Muslims hold its keys
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is not just the holiest site in Christianity; it is also emblematic of the religion's deep divisions.As the map below shows, six denominations each control part of the...
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This map is alive with the beauty of lighthouse signals
Many of the world's 23,000 lighthouses feature a distinct combination of color, frequency, and range.These unique light signatures help ships verify their positions and safeguard maritime traffic.But...
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Catacombs of Paris: The city of darkness finds its new raison d'être
People have been digging up limestone and gypsum from below Paris since Roman times.They left behind a vast network of corridors and galleries, since reused for many purposes — most famously, the...
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The ‘Lost Forty’: how a mapping error preserved an old-growth forest
In 1882, Josias R. King made a mess of mapping Coddington Lake, making it larger than it actually is.For decades, Minnesota loggers left the local trees alone, thinking they were under water.Today,...
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Why Swiss maps are full of hidden secrets
The Swiss are not known for their sense of humor, but perhaps we've not been looking hard enough.Over the decades, Swiss cartographers have sprinkled plenty of "Easter eggs" across otherwise serious...
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Sea cucumber crime is a thing, and this is where it’s happening
Long a delicacy in China and East Asia, sea cucumbers are now also becoming a rarity worldwide.India has outlawed the trade, inaugurated a marine reserve, and put together a law enforcement task...
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Turn any place on earth into a New York street corner
Manhattan's street grid is famously regular and predictable. What if you extended it across the globe?This web tool does exactly that, and in the process, turning New York into the world's first,...
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How a “flying circus” gave us the first aerial maps of Earth
In the 1780s, as humanity mastered flight, a "balloon craze" swept across the world.Thomas Baldwin had just one sky-trip, but he wrote an entire book about it — Airopaidia.At times lyrical and...
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These 1,000 hexagons show how global wealth is distributed
On these maps, each hexagon represents one-thousandth of the world's economy.That makes it easy to compare the GDP of regions and nations across the globe.There are versions for nominal GDP and GDP...
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Welcome to the United Fonts of America
Here's one pandemic project we approve of: a map of the United Fonts of America.The question was simple: How many fonts are named after places in the U.S.?Finding them became an obsession for Andy...
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Why Africa’s newest super-bridge is in the continent’s weirdest border zone
The Kazungula Bridge has turned a cartographic near-miss into a geopolitical marvel.It's where maps show the world's only quadripoint, and the bridge is built across the world's second-shortest...
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Mysterious dodecahedrons of the Roman Empire
In 1739, a strange, twelve-sided hollow object from Roman times was discovered in England.Since then, more than a hundred dodecahedrons have been unearthed, but their purpose remains unknown.The only...
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How much does it cost to start a business? There’s a world map for that
As the old adage goes, you must spend money to make money.Just about anywhere, setting up shop requires a significant bit of cash.But as this world map shows, the cost varies greatly by country....
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Free speech? Not everybody loves it, this map shows
In green: where people like free speech the most. In red: where free speech is not popular.Despite continued strong support, this recent survey shows approval of free speech declining in the U.S.Free...
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More than half the world is still unmapped — but not for long
About 56 percent of the Earth's surface has not yet been mapped.The uncharted area corresponds to 80 percent of the ocean floor.But that area is shrinking fast. By 2030, the entire ocean will be...
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Android has won the phone world war
When Android was launched soon after Apple's own iPhone, Steve Jobs threatened to "destroy" it.Ever since, and across the world, the rivalry between both systems has animated users.Now the results are...
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American imperialism: fat-shaming Uncle Sam
In the years before 1900, the United States was experiencing a spectacular spurt of growth.Not everyone approved: many feared continued expansionism would lead to American imperialism.To illustrate...
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Why the U.S. and Belgium are culture buddies
This map replaces geography with another type of closeness: cultural values.Although the groups it depicts have familiar names, their shapes are not.The map makes for strange bedfellows: Brazil next...
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One man visited all 2964 bus stops in San Francisco — for science
In three months last year, Marcel Moran visited all of San Francisco's bus stops.His aim: to map the quality of their signage, seating, shelter, and other amenities.Correcting the imbalances he found...
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German street names still echo Nazi, Communist, and even Roman past
There are more than a million named streets and squares in Germany.Quite a few of their names say something about the country's history.The East's recent communist past still reverberates, but that is...
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Just four colors are enough for any map. Why?
Rule of thumb: four colors are all you need to distinguish the countries on any map.But why? It's a simple question with a difficult answer, eluding scientists for a century.In the end, the four-color...
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Famous map of a woman’s heart tells only half the story
Early 19th century heart-shaped map remains a popular allegory of love.Looking beyond its shape, the map shows the social restrictions of its time.Its lesser known male twin reveals an even more...
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Here’s how early school begins – and why it is bad for students
This map shows when school starts across America — way too early according to specialists.Due to early school starts, America's students are "chronologically sleep-deprived."California is spearheading...
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Peak foliage map: where and when are leaves changing color?
September's here, and the leaves are starting to change color.Dependent on latitude and altitude, the process is fairly predictable.These maps show the progress of fall foliage from now until...
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Europe’s oldest map shows tiny Bronze Age kingdom
In 1900, a local historian discovered a curiously engraved stone slab in a Bronze Age grave.It took researchers almost a century to realize that it might be a map — but by then, the stone had gone...
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Did dark magic conjure up the British Empire?
An unremarkable stone circle in Mudchute Park is said to have a wild and dark history.Legend has it that this is where John Dee used magic to conjure up the British Empire.As incredible as that...
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