Each month, Spatial Source looks back on the best of the month’s Best of the Blogs.
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.
If you thought drones were exciting, what about the fact that you can now control them with your mind? How about controlling several robots with your mind while you’re at it? That’s exactly what researchers from Arizona State University are currently doing, as shown by Sensors & Systems. Soon drone mapping may involve nothing more than sitting back and thinking about it.
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.
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.
In celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Esri has published a story map exploring and mapping the rich culture and continuing struggle of indigenous people from the Sami in the Nordic region to the Aborigine in Australia. An interactive map also shows highlights significant “cultural areas of concentration” and the work that needs to be done to support these important cultures.
