Sunday, August 26, 2012

World Maps - 696 World Maps


What does our world look like if we don’t measure it in physical terms of miles and meters?  What if we measure our territories by coffee consumption and rainfall volume?  You can see what that looks like by clicking on worldmapper.com, the World Mapper website.  The site has almost 700 maps covering 31 categories  Each one is different.

These maps give us a way to understand statistics –for example how adult literacy compares in almost 200 territories   -  by looking at a brightly colored map.  Want to see changes in population?  Look at maps from 1500, 1960 and estimates for 2050.   The pinks and reds, the colors  of the continent of Africa that were small in 1500 are at the center of the map of 2050. 

Think of any sets of numbers you want to compare and imagine how today's traditional map would change.  Which countries would be large and which would be small, how would our world look?

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