China’s official Xinhua news agency reports that the Chinese government has begun mapping a large uninhabited region of western China, variously called Hoh Xil or Kekexili, in the northwestern part of the Tibetan plateau, as part of a project to map China’s vast western “blind area.” A 1:50,000-scale topographic map of Hoh Xil is expected to be completed by 2010. Via Colby Cosh.