This week I wanted to discuss maps and the internet; a very broad topic, but I wanted to see what would grab my attention with this general topic after a quick internet search.  The very first search, “maps” in google, brought an article from the Washington Post with 40 maps that explain the world from a range of time periods across the last millennia.  This struck me as the epitome of what it means to have maps on the internet.  One link got me to 40 maps about the world, many of which I had not seen before.  Each map a high density information delivery system on its own, but with 40 of them I can learn an immense amount of information about the global economy, cultures, social issues, and history.  I imagine it would take me most of my day to learn the same amount of information if I were to read articles describing these maps in detail. However, maps offer visual and spatial relationships that allow absorbing new information to be efficient and timely.

 

A few examples of the maps within this article include: how humans spread across the world, major shipping routes in the colonial era, north american languages before colonialism, and Europe as mapped by tweets.  One that stood out to me was a map of the Happiest and Least Happy Countries.  The link to the original article was provided and I was able to quickly get into the details of how happiness was assess including the individual parameters that make up happiness, according to this study, and the data collection methods.  The original article even showed a table of happiness per country comparing surveys conducted in  2005-2007 vs. 2010-2012.  This on top of the original map provides the extra dimension of time to an already impressive data set.  Adding the extra data dimension of time is when maps and data sets can become truly powerful, hopefully fostering learning and inspiring change.

 

This spoke to me of why I love mapping and, even more  specifically, the power of maps.  In today’s internet, social media connected age, quality is becoming ever more important than quantity.  The maps presented in this article had links leading to other articles and videos, providing more information, links, and hopefully source information.  For me quality, source information, and details about data collection are just as important as the final map.  Attention to detail and quality data collection can make or break a map.  Presumably the maps of today will live on indefinitely. Therefore, the difference between a good map and a great map could make all the difference for communicating information and influence change.