PRISON BREAK

Did you know that 2.3 million people in the USA alone, are in prison! Collectively, this represents not only a substantial challenge to law-enforcement officials, but also land-use planners. After all, all those inmates still require the same infrastructure that any 'normal' suburb requires, yet in a location that is annexed well away from the usual easy provision of said services. This collection of google map's aerial images of Prisons in America does make one wonder if perhaps this whole system isn't just a little dis functional?

EARS A CHOICE IDEA

I cant help myself from satisfying women lately... cause heres another hot fashion accessory for all the ladies of the world - just wanna do a little something special for ya; like tell you about meshu's customisable map jewellery!

NAILED IT

Hot tip ladies; apparently all you need to do to achieve this look is paint your nails white, then soak your fingers in alcohol for 5 mins (I know right, soaking your mouth in gin for a few hours sounds way better, but...) hold them against a map or newspaper etc to transfer the image onto your nails, coat them in a clear protectant and voila - instant glamour!.. so I've been told

LICHEN THIS

Whilst Florent Morellet's mapping of the micro worlds around (such as lichen spread) may seem inconsequential, fractal theory maintains that his work may just be valuable for modelling larger patterns eg human population spread on islands. Perhaps the words of mother Teressa may help convince you here; Don't look for big things, just do small things with great love...

UNIFIED MAP OF EVERYTHING

There is a lot of stuff in the universe yet most maps seem only to deal with things at the scale of streets, cities or countries. Rarely do we consider how, for example, mountains actually have an atomic structure or indeed a spatial position relative to our galaxy. Like a game of 3D chess, the tricky bit in considering ones relative place in the universe is  actually visualising all the scales of the universe?!

STICK FIGURES

Are you one of those people who when you get asked to draw a person; you inevitably draw a stick-figure?  The experience can be rather humiliating. The maps of Greg Coulson approach a similar level of simplicity, yet somehow evoke a more skilled construction. Perhaps the use of draftsman's rulers instead of 'sticks' or the lofty pursuit of the map, elevates that ostensibly 'novice' attempt. Whatever the reason; I like these stick maps - they are good. 

BEFORE AND AFTER

So, you wake up late one night and you can't get back to sleep. You turn on your TV in the hope that it will anaesthetise you. Cruelly, the only thing on at that hour is infomercials. At first, the ab-flex pro seems like a ridiculous idea, but after 5 minutes of zombie-like consideration of the before-and-after photos, you're like 'well, maybe I could do with some rock hard abs!'. Brain washing works, so why not utilise this idea to wake people up to land management issues? Check out these interactive before and after land use map images.

POPULATION INKLING

The spread of humanity has sometimes been referred to as an ugly blot upon the planet, but after you look at this interactive global population distribution map; you really see what they were getting at.
click here to view

MAP-O-PHILE

Despite this particular work being entitled Flat File Globes and looking pretty much identical to an old-school map filing cabinet, it is according to the artist; actually, a metaphor for the human body and consecutive time-streams! No, I have no idea what that means either, but Noriko Ambe's topographic forms carved out of paper are quite intriguing and do somehow evoke a perception of glacial time unfurling

8-BIT IS BACK

I hate to be blunt, but if you're reading a blog about mapping, then you're also probably interested in fantasy games & novels, and you are therefore my friend, a nerd - Nerd! So instead of denying the truth, you might as well click on the latest April fools day stunt by the good people at google maps... similar to a previous Choice map post a few years back called retro get it yo, google has gone and turned our world into an 8-bit fantasy quest. Nerd!