Strange maps: say goodbye to your lunchbreak

Three websites to bring your attention to this week. The first is the excellent Understanding Uncertainty, in particular the post on 2,845 ways to represent risk (more on that later this week). The second is Ask E.T. which, rather than letting you tap into extraterrestrial advice, is a forum in which the great Edward Tufte answers your questions on data visualisation. Check out the strands on Excel charts and maps.

Third, and finally, is a website recommended in the last of those strands: the one and only Strange Maps. This is probably the most exciting website I have discovered this year (excluding this), and is absolutely choc full of delights. It’s not just for those of us with an unhealthy map obsession - it’s brilliant for those looking for striking .jpeg images with which to abuse their colleagues’ inboxes. Just to whet your appetite, check out these three examples (clicking on the links on the site itself for full explanations):

• This very strange map shows travel times from London as if they were distances (made in the 80s, it would be great to see an updated version):

• This is not so much strange as a neat visualisation of the languages spoken in Ireland:

• Oh, and they cover allegory too:

Read more here:

• 15 stunning examples of data visualisation
• A strange map and a ghostly tale
• Europe learns a new position: inverted cartography

About the author

Dave Bevan is an Interim Analyst working mainly in the Education Team at FreshMinds Research. He previously worked for the G77 (group of developing countries) at the Rome Chapter of the United Nations, and before that was a dessert chef, a tour guide on London’s open-top buses and an inconsistent stand-up comic. Dave’s interests include this, this and this.