I was curious to find out what personal projects Patrick has been working on recently. "Lately, I've been learning Blender. It is more of a 3-D animation program used by video game developers, but I believe that there are ways to use it to display maps," he spoke about the innovative way of using the program.
"You might have seen some beautiful maps by Sean Conway and Scott Reinhard showing old maps with digital elevation terrain underneath. These are often made in Blender. Blender has a great ability to show light and shadow patterns that are almost photo-realistic. I think there are ways to use this program beyond showing maps with realistic terrain. I'm still a novice now, but I'd like to explore other ways this program can visualize maps," Patrick spoke about his ongoing adventure to learn Blender. If you Pandas haven't already, you really ought to take a look at Sean and Scott's work as well.
#2 The Baltic Way. On 23 August 1989, Two Million People Joined Their Hands To Form A Human Chain Spanning 675.5 Km Across The Three Baltic States. The Protest Was Against The Soviet Occupation, And To Support The Independence Movements Of The Three States
The founder also told Bored Panda about the current state of the subreddit and how Reddit as a whole has changed recently. Changes in tech are also driving changes in content. "The subreddit is doing well. Reddit overall over the last few years has shifted towards mobile-friendly content. Reddit used to be only for desktop users. In the early days, the content was mostly large files that were wallpaper-sized. They were great for zooming in and exploring in detail."
However, these days are long gone. Nowadays, "Reddit is overwhelmed" with users who only use it on their smartphones and other mobile devices. "For better or worse, that is how it is and that's the trend for the future. The subreddit contains a lot of bite-size Instagram-style statistical maps. The community upvotes this content and if that's what they want, that's the direction the sub will take."
#4 No One Lives In The Green Part Of New Zealand,the Population Density There Is 0 People Per Km And That Is About 78% Of New Zealand Land
Patrick, the founder of the subreddit, was kind enough to go into detail about the online group, map-making, and his passion for maps on a number of occasions.
“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,” Patrick previously told Bored Panda about seizing the day and starting your adventure today, instead of putting these things off indefinitely.
“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," Patrick said that we have to seize opportunities to live (really live) as they come.
#7 Territories Where Married Gay Couples Can Buy Rifles To Protect Their Marijuana Plants
Recently Patrick had been working on pixel maps that are bound to get the attention of anyone who’s got a penchant for video games, retro items, or pixel art. "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 revealed a bit about his projects.
"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,” the founder told Bored Panda.
#10 The Easternmost Point Of Brazil Is Closer To Africa Than To Its Westernmost Point
#12 Existence Of Pangaea Proven With Evidence Of Similar Fossils Across Continents
According to Patrick, moderating the subreddit is all about keeping a delicate balance and staying realistic: the fact is that you can’t keep everyone happy all the time. Nor should you try to when questions of quality are involved. “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,” he said.
#15 After Tokyo 2020 This Map Remains The Same. All Men’s Water Polo Gold Medal Winners Since 2000 Were Born Inside This Circle
However, being too strict is also not an option. “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," Patrick explained.
Some people are naturally more skilled at navigation and using maps than others. Though, of course, navigation is a skill and you can get better at it so long as you’re patient, dedicated, and spend enough time honing it. “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 said. “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.”
