Image above: The geography of happiness in the US.
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Maps you really don’t need (or even believe) but love looking at!
I recently came across the term, 'Map Porn' (defined as the feeling of excitement or joy from seeing maps - a creative activity of no or limited value other than to stimulate) to describe the ever growing maps appearing on the web which really serve little real purpose other than provide us with a possible conversation (sometimes not even that but someone just had to make a map on something). These maps visually represent the most inconsequential or non-mainstream things and often use quite suspect assumptions and contentious data to develop the data for representations. However the tendency to create map porn seems to be growing and is a way for people to get across an idea, phenomena or just a thing that they consider of interest ... and it is geography!
This Spatialworlds posting looks at a range of maps which may fall into this category and asks readers to think about what use they could be to you or anyone (let alone a geography classroom). The GLAT (Gee Look At That!) factor is in action here and who is to say that maps must only show serious things which may be used for planning or making the world a better place. The trend advocates that maps can be entertainment and serve absolutely no purpose or maybe a purpose for only a few people. The potential of such mapping to piggy-back on the phenomena of personal geographies is huge. Maybe the worth of a map lies with the beholder, regardless of the need or usefulness. Are such maps are a bad or a good thing? I think not, any excuse to make and/or look at a map. I am amazed by the number of such maps now appearing on the Internet. The following is only the tip of an ever-growing iceberg of map porn - not a bad thing if we want to promote geography as a 'sexy' and stimulating subject for students (being careful with the promiscuity aspect though!).
* The Geography of Happiness According to 10 Million Tweets (see map above)
* Most popular baby names in the US
* Who buys all the jewellery and flowers on Valentines Day
* What your state is worst at ...
* Maps from left field.
A really interesting collection of maps on all things, probably not that important for anything than conversation and/or the 'GLAT' factor!.
My favourites on this site are:
- World’s Population concentrated into a city of the US (number 4)
- New Yorker calls to complain (number 7)
- Most popular sports around the globe(number 16)
- Worst US light pollution (number 19)
- World milk consumption (number 24)
- Most popular surnames in the US (number 25)
- Land locked countries (number 26)
- Countries that share just one border (number 27)
- Countries with a McDonald’s (number 29)
- The world during the last ice age (number 31)
- 7 Deadly sins in the US mapped Lust to greed! (number 32-38)
* Your odds for a White Xmas in the US
* The human head as a Mercator projection (not sure where this fits but!)
* This is what the world’s oceans would look like if the Earth didn’t spin
* How much of the Moon’s surface did the Apollo 11 astronauts actually explore?
* Map of the Pope’s followers on Twitter confirms: Earth is rife with godless heathens
* This is what the world’s oceans would look like if the Earth didn’t spin
* How much of the Moon’s surface did the Apollo 11 astronauts actually explore?
* Map of the Pope’s followers on Twitter confirms: Earth is rife with godless heathens
At this stage I need to suggest that there are levels of map porn. Some really are borderline and actually may serve a purpose beyond the GLAT. For example the map porn borderline US Obesity trends and the world Meteorite falls over time maps may be useful beyond just stimulation (not sure what use but someone would see of use I am sure). However at the other end of the spectrum of map porn, what can I say about the European penis size map! Obviously suspect data origin and application ... and the use would be?
There is nothing new with Map porn; as shown by the 1793 map of England firing .... at revolutionary France. This is shown in a Map of England and France: The French Invasion, or John Bull Bombarding the Bum-Boats, a 1793 cartographic masterpiece that depicts an anthropomorphic Britain launching a tidal wave of ...... across the English Channel at would-be French invaders and revolutionists.
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