It used to be a job to drive around the country, constantly, driving and measuring every road, grade, elevation, and distance, in order to keep road maps updating accurately every two weeks. “Road scouts” would drive enough miles in a year to make multiple trips to the moon.
maps
There is a fictional island…
There is a fictional island in the South Atlantic, off the west coast of Africa called ‘Null Island’. Although it doesn’t exist in reality, it serves as an error trap for map systems. Map enthusiasts have given the island its own history, geography and even flag.
In 2010 a man was rescued while attempting…
In 2010 a man was rescued while attempting to sail around the United Kingdom. Using only a road map for navigation the ‘sailor’ had been keeping the coast to his right and in error ended up sailing in circles around the Isle of Sheppey until he ran out fuel.
US: Most common language spoken at home rather than English or Spanish
“This map shows the most commonly spoken language in every US state, excluding English and Spanish”, by Andy Kiersz and Ivan De Luce, Business Insider (1/18/20)
In 1968 a Syrian Air Force…
In 1968 a Syrian Air Force MiG accidentally landed in Israel. The pilot had been navigating with a map published in the 1940s.
The soviet military mapped the entire world with an extreme…
The soviet military mapped the entire world with an extreme accuracy. They created more than 1 million maps and some are still used today. It remains one of the most ambitious cartography project till today.
There is a website that allows you to ch …
There is a website that allows you to choose any location in the world and then shows you how much damage would be caused if a nuclear bomb were dropped on that location.
A man, named Jerry Gretzinger, has been …
During the Cold War maps distributed in …
During the Cold War maps distributed in the US utilized distorted map projections to make the USSR and Vietnam seem larger, closer and more “menacing.”
