Interesting Maps by Jack Nelson The Green Areas represent census blocks where reported population is zero Much of America in uninhabited This map, by Nik Freeman, pulls out the 4,871,270 census blocks — covering 4.6 million square kilometers — where no one lives. That tends to mean one of three things: the first is that the land is uninhabitable, perhaps because it’s covered by a lake. The second is that laws or other kinds of sanctions prevent settlement, for instance on national parks. The third is that it’s a commercial or industrial zone where people work, but no one actually lives. Human geographers spend so much time thinking about where people are, Freeman writes. I thought I might bring some new insight by showing where they are not. Africa is much bigger than you think Most maps you see are based on the Mercator projection, so named for Gerardus Mercator, who came up with it in 1559. The Mercator projection is excellent for sailing, as it shows constant bearing as a straight line. But it’s terrible for estimating the size of large masses of land — particularly when they’re close to poles. Under the Mercator projection, for instance, Africa looks to be about the same size as Greenland; it’s actually 14 times larger. The Economist — building on work by Kai Krause — made this graphic showing Africa’s true size: bigger not just than Greenland, but than China, the United States, India and Western Europe put together. Jack Nelson | October 10, 2014 at 8:19 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: wp.me/p24gNt-4rr
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 03:20:04 +0000
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