FIFA FUNDS

The international football association (FIFA) does more than just host World Cups - they invest serious amounts of cash into development programs and facilities around the world. But with great wealth comes the need for great mapping. Check out these maps that show what FIFA has been up to [scroll down the page to watch the vimeo video clips].

SANDBOX

This is the coolest little interactive mapping display idea I have seen in a while... It combines projection mapping, hydro-dynamic modelling, contours and a Kinect! This is such a great way to play around with complex flooding scenarios or the impact of landscaping alterations. However, this version which uses real sand (instead of thematic terrain) might just be more fun!

UNDERGROUND MAP MUSIC

I'm not sure what music you listen to on the radio, but I bet it probably isn't sweet sweet map music! Unless, of course... you're listening to Yuri Suzuki's fully functional circuit map-radio of the London Underground

WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

According to the song; it's good for absolutely nothing... uhh! - so why then, do we keep having wars with each other? Stupid humans!
Unfortunately, you'll probably think even less of us once you see all of history's conflicts in one place.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

This interactive map created by the awesome folk at Stamen Designs reveals how the people living in several of southern California's cities perform against each other in terms of energy efficiency. The map uses great cartography to show metrics such as: electricity useage, driving distance and waste generation.

THE NAMING OF AMERICA

Ever wonder why America is called America - even though it was discovered by Christopher Columbus? Well, that's because it was actually named after Amerigo Vespucci - the man who made the first map of the continent! And what made Amerigo so special?... perhaps I'll let this 20 sec Family guy video clip explain.

MAGNETIC STATE

If you like topography and magnets you are not only awesome (because so do I!)... but you are also going to really enjoy these slick little memento's of American states. You can buy just one, but the packaging is so great you may just want to collect the entire set!
click here to read more

CAST IRON

I think its great that artist Alyssa Toninato's cast-iron map of america won the top spot in Martha Stewart's "American made" Awards - it showed that in our ever-changing world, we still value permanent / 'cast iron' conduits. Possibly though, it shows just how influential the pancake lobby group out there is!.. I hear Obama is a pancake man - just saying

GLASSY

Normally I try to post about maps that are clever or have ironic things going on...  this post however, is just about a whisky glass with a hand-etched map on it. That's just fine for me though, since I love whisky and can definitely imagine myself sipping from one of these bad boys. click here to view (or even purchase), some of the other American cities currently on offer.

MARBLE RUN

Remember that scene in Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom when Indy outruns that giant rolling stone?.. well, keep that in mind as you watch this fun little video of a marble rolling around the streets of 'google maps'.

Note: if you like this, you might also like my previous post: toothpick marble-run

WHAT THE FRAC?!

This image taken from Google Earth is part of a collection compiled by Paul Bourke that attempts to reveal the fractals of Earth. A 'fractal' if you don't already know; is a recurring pattern ie theoretically you can keep zooming in to an area, and it will be similar to the zoomed out area - which is great in mapping terms as we really only need to map the Earth at the highest level.. and just make up the rest!

GENERAL MAPPING

This rather regal looking chap is Stanislaw Maczek. Impressive medals right? Yep! However, even more impressive than this Polish tank general's military achievements though, is his efforts in constructing the world's largest outdoor relief map... of Scotland.

COLOUR ME BAD

Flickr as a paintbrush is a work-in-progress project that attempts to 'average' the colour of thousands of user uploaded photos to produce a map that visualises the colour vibe of an area. Click here for more details.

THE WAY TO A WOMAN'S HEART

Women are pretty easy to figure out, I don't know what all this confusion is about?!  D. W. Kellogg had them figured out in the 1830s, and even went so far as to create this map of a womans heart. Ok, so, possibly a little dated now, but it has such elegant old-school cartography that it makes up for any offence that it will probably cause.

JUST COZ

You know how there are some people that claim that when you die you leave a ghostly residual presence behind (?) - well, what if the same were true for your virtual 'life' in computer games?! For one thing, those spooky zeros could then be mapped to reveal where we live our lives - like in this map of Just Cause 2

OK LEGO GOODTIMES

Lego maps, we've seen them before - yes they're old news, but they're also still cool. This one is a map of Japan, created by 5,000 Japenese kids who usually only ever play digital games - so, kudos for this Lego Map effort right?!

LIVEHOOD

Defining the extent of a suburb is a tricky endeavour indeed - how does one draw a line in the sand; limiting the extent of a community?! Traditionally we think in terms of real-estate, but isn't it the behaviours' of the people within a particular area that really define it? Well, thats what Livehoods reckons anyway... they have applied a clustering algorithm to the 18 million 'check-ins' collected from the location-based social network foursquare

PRIMORDIAL SOUP

Live! Live my precious! Yes, you are small now.. but soon you will grow large enough to sustain rich life. A new world, a utopia will be created. In eons to come, generations will look back at this humble beginning and marvel at your vision.
You are a living map

ELEVATIONAL MUSIC

ipods and mp3 players are probably the dominant form of music playback today, but there is still most definitely a place for vinyl records. The tangible, almost visceral experience, produces a warm white-noise sound. Thats about all I can really say about this project that has substituted 'music' for the topography of Earth. When I listen to it; I imagine myself flying through space and encountering Earth as its spins.
what do you hear?

STAPLE SUPPLY

Some maps are good.

Some maps are useful.

Some maps are staples.
The city mapped out by artist Peter Wood is possibly only the latter, but it is a map none-the-less. You may also like to check out a couple of his other map-related projects: Plot and honey and almond