Each week Spatial Source highlights the best that the internet has to offer.
In a digital world, the location of the internet infrastructure is arguably more meaningful than the locations of natural features such as coastlines, mountains and rivers. Maps Mania this week featured the New Cloud Atlas which presents the world as the internet would see it.
According to the engineers behind Google Maps, we are seeing a move towards a trend known as “agnostic cartography.” With disputed territories and boundaries the world over, how does a mapping company like Google map Palestine and Israel or the disputed Indian borders with Pakistan and China? The Guardian explains that the idea of a globally standardised map sounds nice, but politics have often proven too complicated.
Fantasy novels, video games and board games all rely on maps of fictional locations to bring a sense of realism to an experience. But mimicking reality can be fraught with dangers and creating a fantasy map that appears different, yet relatable is a true challenge. National Geographic spoke with one fantasy map cartographer who uses programming and a few “magic numbers” to do just that.
Music and place go hand in hand. That’s why the world’s most popular music streaming service Spotify went ahead and mapped key musical locations the world over and the most streamed songs in each area. Clearly, what you listen to depends on where you come from.
Finally, with the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics now behind us, Esri went and mapped all the scandals of the Olympics – of all time. It gives some much needed perspective to Rio’s heavily criticised hosting of the event and the Ryan Lochte’s controversially fabricated robbery. The above photograph, for example, is from the devastating massacre in Mexico that took place in the lead up to the 1960 Olympic Games.
