30 Unusual And Fascinating Maps That Might Teach You Something New About Our World

Some believe that geography is boring or ‘dry’, and think that looking at amapwill never catch their interest. Well, chances are that their mindset can be changed with the maps on today’s list.

If you scroll down, you will also findBored Panda’sinterview with assistant professor of geography at University of Oregon and an academic expert in climate change communication, cartography, map design and mapping environment-society interactions,Carolyn Fish, who was kind enough to delve deeper into the topic of maps with us.

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Enter Capri, an island and popular tourist destination in Italy’s Gulf of Naples. Noted as one of the world’s strangest laws, it’s illegal here to wear excessively noisy footwear (particularly flip flops ) as locals value their ‘peace and quiet’

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Started in the very end of 2021, ‘Very Useful Maps’ has already amassed nearly 100k followers. In the Q&A section of the account’s Instagram highlights, the creator—a person with Czech and Italian roots—shared that there was nothing in particular that inspired them to start the account, they simply wanted to give it a go.“I knew that map accounts existed and, well, on New Year’s Eve, I decided ‘yeah, let’s do it and see how it will go’,” they wrote.Discussing where they draw inspiration from for their maps, the mastermind behind the account revealed that it varies; sometimes an idea would pop up randomly and they would note it down for later use, but sometimes they would have to try and come up with something as they were working on the project.“Sometimes it’s hard to come up with something, so I go for something that has been done [already], but I try to expand it,” they shared.

“I knew that map accounts existed and, well, on New Year’s Eve, I decided ‘yeah, let’s do it and see how it will go’,” they wrote.

Discussing where they draw inspiration from for their maps, the mastermind behind the account revealed that it varies; sometimes an idea would pop up randomly and they would note it down for later use, but sometimes they would have to try and come up with something as they were working on the project.

“Sometimes it’s hard to come up with something, so I go for something that has been done [already], but I try to expand it,” they shared.

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Only at Trinity college though and according to their own laws

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Seeking to learn their significance, Bored Panda turned to an academic expert in cartography, map design and mapping environment-society interactions, Carolyn Fish, who agreed to share her insight on all things maps, starting with a little bit of history.“There are a lot of arguments about when the first maps came to be, with some scholars arguing that maps in some form have existed since ancient Mesopotamia and others arguing that they are a more recent invention that goes back still hundreds of years, but not millennia,” she told Bored Panda.

“There are a lot of arguments about when the first maps came to be, with some scholars arguing that maps in some form have existed since ancient Mesopotamia and others arguing that they are a more recent invention that goes back still hundreds of years, but not millennia,” she told Bored Panda.

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“There are generally two types of maps: reference and thematic,” Fish continued. “The maps on the ‘Very Useful Maps’ Instagram account are thematic maps which are focused on showing data about a particular topic or theme, while reference maps are more general and are designed to help people navigate a place or identify where places are in relation to other places.“The old road atlas you might have kept in your car, or the newer Google or Apple maps on your phone, are both examples of reference maps. Reference maps, I would argue, have existed for millennia. People have been taking their own mental maps of their world and putting that spatial information down in the dirt or later on paper for thousands of years.“Thematic maps are considered far more recent inventions, and these maps have grown in popularity, especially in recent decades because we have access to so much data that it makes sense to represent that in a spatial form, i.e., a map,” the asst. prof. of geography explained.

“The old road atlas you might have kept in your car, or the newer Google or Apple maps on your phone, are both examples of reference maps. Reference maps, I would argue, have existed for millennia. People have been taking their own mental maps of their world and putting that spatial information down in the dirt or later on paper for thousands of years.

“Thematic maps are considered far more recent inventions, and these maps have grown in popularity, especially in recent decades because we have access to so much data that it makes sense to represent that in a spatial form, i.e., a map,” the asst. prof. of geography explained.

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“First, the data needs to be interesting. In the ‘Very Useful Map’ Instagram account the maps are primarily of thematic data, so assuring that the data that you are showing is something people would be interested in knowing is important,” Fish suggested.

“Second, aesthetics are really important, especially on platforms like Instagram. While the platform has changed a lot over the years from moving away from static photos, the accounts that still focus on those static images have always been thinking about how aesthetics are key to getting followers. Maps can be beautiful and I think focusing on sharing beautiful maps is vital to growing a following.”

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“I’m definitely biased, but I love learning how all sorts of topics vary across space. And how something varies across space is typically best represented in a map,” Fish told Bored Panda. “I also think that one of the more interesting things to map is the connection between human geography (how things involving people vary across space) and physical geography (how the natural world varies across space). For instance, human settlement often follows natural features, and I think that is fascinating.”

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“Whenever I tell people I study maps, I usually hear one of two responses. Sometimes it’s ‘Hasn’t the whole world been mapped already?’, but more often it is ‘Whoa! That’s cool! I love looking at maps!’ I think this tells me that there is a large untapped population out there who would love to follow accounts on social media that show spatial information in a beautiful way,” the expert said, addressing the popularity of map-related content online.

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Czech 🇨🇿 taxis have three rates: the average level 1, level 2 which is usually used for tourists and level 3 which is the Government’s rate that must be used for all taxi rides after a nuclear e*plosion

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While some of the maps on this list, such as the one depicting Europeans’ views on pineapple pizza, for instance, are more of a source of entertainment rather than geographic knowledge, information presented in fun ways can actually be a pretty great way to learn.Thanks to technology, people nowadays have access to all sorts of engaging ways to learn new information, from games to cartoons, and beyond. While for some people, reading a book can be equally exciting, for those finding it easier to focus on something more colorful, vivid or interactive, it can be a game changer inlearning.

Thanks to technology, people nowadays have access to all sorts of engaging ways to learn new information, from games to cartoons, and beyond. While for some people, reading a book can be equally exciting, for those finding it easier to focus on something more colorful, vivid or interactive, it can be a game changer inlearning.

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Be it in a digital form or not,mapscan help people learn not only all about certain geographic areas but about links between different cultures, too.“While personal experience with other social groups and cultures is the pinnacle of building mutual understanding between groups, maps are a great way for people to begin to understand the world around them, including the differences (and similarities) across different cultures and groups. And getting access to maps, especially for those of us in the Global North, is easier than traveling all around the world, nevermind that it is more climate friendly,” Asst. Prof. Carolyn Fish suggested.

Be it in a digital form or not,mapscan help people learn not only all about certain geographic areas but about links between different cultures, too.

“While personal experience with other social groups and cultures is the pinnacle of building mutual understanding between groups, maps are a great way for people to begin to understand the world around them, including the differences (and similarities) across different cultures and groups. And getting access to maps, especially for those of us in the Global North, is easier than traveling all around the world, nevermind that it is more climate friendly,” Asst. Prof. Carolyn Fish suggested.

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While all sorts of maps can clearly be great ways of learningnew information, according to Fish, it’s important to view them with a healthy dose of skepticism. “Just like we need to have a healthy skepticism of the news we read, we also need to maintain that skepticism with maps as well.

“My research has shown that typically there is not ill-intention on the part of the mapmaker, but we, as map readers, should all be looking at maps and thinking: about where the data comes from, who had a stake in creating it, what mistakes could have been made in the creation of the map, and how was the data made into information that is viewable in this type of graphic.”

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Globally in 2018, just 18.4 percent of total renewable freshwater resources were being withdrawn. Regionally though, there are already places experiencing serious issues. Northern Africa has critical water stress levels, while Central and Southern Asia were classed as having high water stress. On the other end of the scale, 31 percent of the global population remained at the “no stress” level

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n 1995, the Albanian Parliament 🇦🇱 passed a law requiring all citizens to pay taxes on traffic-lights in their home towns. You may discuss the soundness of such tax but the story goes even more absurd: once adopted, the residents of Shkodra – one of the oldest cities in Europe and the fifth largest in Albania – staged a protest. Their reason? Shkodra has no traffic lights

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