The joy of French, in a dozen maps

Isogloss cartography shows diversity, richness, and humour of the French language

  • Isogloss maps show what most cartography doesn't: the diversity of language.
  • This baker's dozen charts the richness and humour of French.
  • France is more than French alone: There's Breton and German, too – and more.
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language maps

'Charcoal Australia': This viral image isn't the full story

Viral 'photo' is composite image, but other map shows true and growing size of devastation

Image: anthonyhearsey.com
  • A viral photo shows Australia smoldering like a piece of charcoal about to ignite.
  • The composite image shows all fires over an entire month, which is not the same as all fires raging at the same time.
  • That's not to say the devastation isn't real, and growing–as proven by another map.
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climate change nasa natural disaster Maps

One map to translate them all

European Word Translator: a simple idea adds a cartographic flourish to Google's online translation service

Image courtesy of James Trimble
  • Google lets you translate text into one language at a time.
  • This translator shows you one word in all languages – on one handy map.
  • It's simple, instructive, and fun (a.k.a. móka, Spaß and zábava).
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communication Language Maps

Cyclist draws festive reindeer on map of London

Giant Christmas image took 80 miles and nine hours to make

Image: Anthony Hoyt
  • Anthony Hoyte practises 'Strava art' – he uses the fitness app to draw pictures on maps.
  • Two years ago, he started drawing festive images for the Christmas season.
  • This year's effort, a giant reindeer sprawled across London, took 9 hours to 'draw'.
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Maps

The utopian 1920s scheme for five global superstates

Austro-Japanese aristocrat Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi later concentrated on plans for Pan-Europe.

Image: public domain
  • Unity is strength: This 1920s map divides the world among just five superstates.
  • The map was produced by count Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, who devoted his life to European unity.
  • This utopian map may have inspired George Orwell's dystopian world in 1984.
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europe politics globalization Maps