Science & Technology,History,Curiosities,Art & DesignAPR 30, 2021

30 Informative Maps People Shared On This Group That Might Change Your Perspective On Things (New Pics)

Mindaugas Balčiauskas and Jonas Grinevičius

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We can’t stop feasting our eyes on gorgeous and interesting maps, and we know that some of you Pandas can’t either. That’s why we’ve put together another list of the coolest content to come from this subreddit that has a dedicated community of nearly 1.4 million fans.

And while we can’t mention the full name of the subreddit (the internet’s gotten a lot stricter in recent years when it comes to certain words! Gosh darn you, internet censorship!), we can tell you all about the project that was started up way back in 2011 by map lover Patrick McGranaghan. What started out as a labor of love has since grown into a dedicated niche for map geeks the world over.

Patrick, the founder of the subreddit dedicated to maps told Bored Panda about how we can improve our spatial awareness and navigational skills. "The older I get, the more I realize that spatial awareness just comes naturally to some people, and for others, it's a struggle," he said, highlighting that practice and repetition are key to honing this skill.

However, just like spell check can make our grammar skills go numb, so can GPS and easily accessible digital maps harm our ability to orient ourselves. "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," Patrick said. Be sure to read on for the rest of our latest interview with the subreddit's founder, Patrick, below.

In the mood for some more amazing maps? We know you are! When you’re done upvoting your fave maps in this list, check out Bored Panda’s previous posts about the cartography-loving community here, here, and here.

More info: Reddit | Twitter | Tumblr

#21 Place Names That Contain The Word 'Peak', 'Mountain', 'Ridge', 'Plain' And 'Field' In The United States

AJgloe

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144points

Patrick was very friendly in sharing some tips and tricks on how we can all make our maps look better. For instance, he drew attention to the fact that plenty of amateurs have great ideas, are overflowing with creativity, but their execution needs a bit of work. That way, the maps can end up looking gorgeous and less “hasty and skeletal.”

"It is not that they are bad, it's just that they don't know that they can make their maps so much better. I'm talking about things like fonts and information boxes, detail and vicinity maps, adding gradients to water features, thoughtful color choices, shadows behind place markers. The subtleties are what make maps exquisite," the founder of the subreddit explained.

#22 La Plata.. Buenas Aires.. Argentina

mitozzzzzz

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142points

#23 Every Roman Settlement, And Nothing Else

ImUsingDaForce

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137points

#24 Ancient Lakes Of The Sahara

ZOODUDE100

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121points

"The best way to learn how to do these things is to look at lots of maps and see how other cartographers solve these problems. Imitate the masters. Read a few books on cartography and design. Some of the books that influenced me are 'Info We Trust' by RJ Andrews, 'Cartography' by Kenneth Field, and 'Things Maps Don't Tell Us' by Armin Lobeck. If you can integrate the ideas in these books you'll be a league above the average amateur cartographer."

Earlier, Patrick shared that he plans to start traveling again once the Covid-19 pandemic dies down a bit. On his bucket list is a trip to the Baltics, specifically, to the Soviet map store in Latvia.

#25 In A Straight Line You Can Go From Belguim To France 11 Times

Percentagon

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118points

#26 In Which State You Can Find The Highest Percentage Of People With Ancestry From Every European Country?

ceskemapy

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112points

#27 The British Empire At It's Territorial Peak

freddyfredric

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111points

Meanwhile, keep an eye out for the subreddit’s upcoming 10th birthday. The community will be celebrating the anniversary on its founding day, May 21. We can’t wait for the big day!

Be sure to give the subreddit a follow to stay up to date with the community’s latest posts, dear Pandas. And we also can’t wait to hear which of the maps featured here were your favorite and why. Got any amateur maps to share with us? Post them in the comment section for everyone else to see.