# 40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World



## Edward Campbell (19 Oct 2013)

Maybe this is really just _Radio Chatter_ but there are some useful and interesting data here.


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## pbi (24 Oct 2013)

Very cool. We are a bunch of metric beer and coffee drinkers with lots of water and great maternity leave.


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## Edward Campbell (25 Nov 2013)

And here, from the McKinsey Global Institute is an interesting map which shows an approximation of the shift of the global _economic_ centre of gravity over the last 1,000 years and projects it into the near future.


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## Edward Campbell (19 Jan 2014)

Just a though, about this: 





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It is important to note that:





Posted by Ian Bremmer.


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## Edward Campbell (20 Feb 2014)

A map from the "Holy Sh!t" category in this article which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the _Washington Post_:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/02/19/you-might-not-like-big-cities-but-you-need-them/


> The case for big cities, in 1 map
> 
> BY CHRIS CILLIZZA
> February 19
> ...




I'm going to _guess_ that the data will be very similar for Canada.

It makes one think about farm subsidies ~ the productive people in big cities pay to keep unproductive "family farms" going: Why?  ~ and "regional development" projects. (I understand the politics; it's the economic argument that puzzles me.)


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## Edward Campbell (27 Sep 2014)

Things that make you go _hmmmm_:





Source: http://www.vox.com/2014/9/23/6829399/23-maps-and-charts-that-will-surprise-you

Sorry for the image quality. The crux of it is that is the whole world's population was concentrated as densely (on the map) as:

     Paris            San Francisco

     New York     London 

     Singapore     Houston

... then the whole world's population would fit into the areas shown. Thus if the whole world's population was packed together as densely as people are packed n New York City then the whole world would fit into Texas.


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## GnyHwy (27 Sep 2014)

This is a great vid. 

Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUwS1uAdUcI


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## Edward Campbell (27 Sep 2014)

Yes, Rosling is great ...

Here's another one that makes me go _hmmmm_:






Ian Bremmer, professor at NYU and president of the Eurasia Group, _tweets_ that "Hard to be a Balt"


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## dapaterson (27 Sep 2014)

Most important map: http://lotrproject.com/map/#zoom=3&lat=-1315.5&lon=1500&layers=BTTTTT


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## cupper (27 Sep 2014)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> Most important map: http://lotrproject.com/map/#zoom=3&lat=-1315.5&lon=1500&layers=BTTTTT



Can't wait for the Street View. ;D


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## Edward Campbell (1 Nov 2015)

An interesting "map" from Ian Bremmer, CEO of the Eurasia Group:





Source: http://howmuch.net/


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## Edward Campbell (9 Nov 2015)

Two interesting maps: here, in the China superthread.


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## Edward Campbell (28 Nov 2015)

This video from _dailymotion_ is interesting and well produced.


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## daftandbarmy (28 Nov 2015)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> This video from _dailymotion_ is interesting and well produced.



The English Channel: the World's Largest Tank Trap  :nod:


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## Kirkhill (28 Nov 2015)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> This video from _dailymotion_ is interesting and well produced.



See you and raise you 5000 years - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxDyJ_6N-6A

Keep your eye on the bottom right hand corner.  

"Borders? Which borders?"  [


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## Edward Campbell (1 Jan 2016)

Some interesting maps and charts abut languages, from _The Independent_.


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## Kirkhill (1 Jan 2016)

> 4. Many popular languages are spoken in more than just one country
> 
> The reason why English, French and Spanish are among the world's most widespread languages has its roots in the imperial past of the nations where they originate.



They forgot some.  Arabic is an imperial language as well.  As is Persian.  As is Chinese, but that is more arguable.


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## FSTO (1 Jan 2016)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> A map from the "Holy Sh!t" category
> 
> I'm going to _guess_ that the data will be very similar for Canada.
> 
> It makes one think about farm subsidies ~ the productive people in big cities pay to keep unproductive "family farms" going: Why?  ~ and "regional development" projects. (I understand the politics; it's the economic argument that puzzles me.)



The vast vast majority of farm subsidies go to Dairy and Poultry with the marketing boards. Grain and Beef producers get very little of that subsidy pie.

As for the "family farms" there are no longer any places that raise a family on a 1/4 section (160 acres) like they were doing 50 years ago, but that still seems to be the opinion of the highly uninformed mainstream media these days. Today's family farm can range from 3,000 to 50,000 acres, and is a highly mechanized and technologically advanced entity but is stilled owned by a family corporation.


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## Edward Campbell (12 Apr 2016)

A very interesting map, again from Ian Bremmer, CEO of the _Eurasia Group_, who says it's the best map he's seen that shows just how big Africa really is:


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## Oldgateboatdriver (12 Apr 2016)

Well, that's a bloody useless map: Comparing countries to continent.

Try the same map, but put the US, Canada and Mexico into Africa, it's about equal in size, Whoops, we just compared two continents with one another, and funny enough, they come out about the same (N.A.= 25 millions Km2 to Africa 30 millions Km2). Woopdy do.


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## Edward Campbell (12 Apr 2016)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> Well, that's a bloody useless map: Comparing countries to continent.
> 
> Try the same map, but put the US, Canada and Mexico into Africa, it's about equal in size, Whoops, we just compared two continents with one another, and funny enough, they come out about the same (N.A.= 25 millions Km2 to Africa 30 millions Km2). Woopdy do.




The point is that many people, partially because they think the familiar Mercator projection is an equal area map, don't understand how big Africa really is and, therefore, might not even begin to suspect how diverse it is, in every way.

My_ guess_ is that we will, before Prime Minister Trudeau is tossed out of office, be taking casualties in Africa ... maybe we should start thinking about it, just a wee, tiny bit, starting with the fact that it's bigger than the USA, China, India and most of Europe, combined.

Edited to add:

Somewhere here, a few years ago, I posted the _factoid_ that one of the great big American football stadiums (Dallas, maybe?) uses more electricity on a game night than some African countries produce, but those same African countries could be immensely rich if they could only get organized and could exploit their mineral wealth for their own benefit.


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## Edward Campbell (21 May 2016)

Here are more maps, 18 this time, that help to explain what's happening in the South China Sea, in particular, and Asia in general.


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## Edward Campbell (27 May 2016)

Another map that may help to explain ...







... why parts of Africa and Asia remain stubbornly underdeveloped. "Development" is going (changing, evolving) faster than they can manage.


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## Jarnhamar (28 May 2016)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> A very interesting map, again from Ian Bremmer, CEO of the _Eurasia Group_, who says it's the best map he's seen that shows just how big Africa really is:



That's really cool thank you for posting that.


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## Edward Campbell (2 Nov 2016)

An interesting new map that has just won a design award: http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88138/more-accurate-world-map-wins-prestigious-japanese-design-award


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## jmt18325 (2 Nov 2016)

I just realized that the McDonald's map shows no restaurants in Iceland, and displays the price of a McDonald's burger there..


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## Scott (2 Nov 2016)

jmt18325 said:
			
		

> I just realized that the McDonald's map shows no restaurants in Iceland, and displays the price of a McDonald's burger there..



They had one until a few years ago and, IIRC, the place that took over from them has some mimic items.

Can't go to Iceland and not have Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur! One of the cheapest food items, for sure, and great after a bunch of beer.


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## Edward Campbell (3 Nov 2016)

jmt18325 said:
			
		

> I just realized that the McDonald's map shows no restaurants in Iceland, and displays the price of a McDonald's burger there..



Two factoids about McDonald's:

1. Way back when, in a book entitled '_The Lexus and the Olive Tree_,' "Thomas Friedman came up with his “Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention”. No two countries that had McDonald’s restaurants would go to war. The idea suited the heady post-cold war 1990s when people thought humanity would turn to post-ideological goals, like ending hunger. It offered the prospect of ‘_homo economicus_’ replacing its appetite for war with a Big Mac and fries ..." and

2. To this day _*The Economist*_ uses the price of a _Big Mac_ as a (maybe not too surprisingly) fairly accurate currency comparison tool. That newspaper explains that "Burgernomics was never intended as a precise gauge of currency misalignment, merely a tool to make exchange-rate theory more digestible. Yet the Big Mac index has become a global standard, included in several economic textbooks and the subject of at least 20 academic studies."


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## brihard (3 Nov 2016)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> Two factoids about McDonald's:
> 
> 1. Way back when, in a book entitled '_The Lexus and the Olive Tree_,' "Thomas Friedman came up with his “Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention”. No two countries that had McDonald’s restaurants would go to war. The idea suited the heady post-cold war 1990s when people thought humanity would turn to post-ideological goals, like ending hunger. It offered the prospect of ‘_homo economicus_’ replacing its appetite for war with a Big Mac and fries ..." an



An enjoyable and informative book, nonetheless.


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## Edward Campbell (24 Dec 2016)

Another interesting map (from Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group) based on UFI:


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