Fun

Wyoming (or Colorado)
“Who’s to say really?” says Complicated Shoes. Via Fuck Yeah Cartography!…
posted to Fun |
xkcd: The World According to a Group of Americans
Today’s xkcd: “The World According to a Group of Americans, Who Turned out to Be Unexpectedly Good at Geography, Derailing Our Attempt to Illustrate Their Country’s Attitude Toward the Rest of the World.”…
posted to Fun |
Weekly World News: Atlantis Found in Google Maps!
Only the Weekly World News could bring you the story that the lost city of Atlantis has been found on Google Maps. “The photo taken by Google Maps is most definitely the Lost City of Atlantis,” said Yale Mythologist Anthony…
posted to Fun |
Stereotype Maps of the World, Unite!
Via Cartophile, @mrgeog, and @gergmuure, here are three maps of the world according to stereotypes. The second map is by our old friend Yanko Tsvetkov. I think the third map is the most offensive of all. Previously: Mapping European Stereotypes;…
posted to Fun |
France Is Bacon
Dear Sir, France is bacon. That is all. You’re welcome. Via @cartophilia….
posted to Fun |
Entitlement and GPS Lock
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comes up with an interesting example of humanity’s sense of entitlement: how long it takes a GPS receiver to get a satellite lock. Via @wilw….
posted to Fun, GPS |
Here Be Dragon
Seen on Fail Blog: North America as a dragon — with Newfoundland apparently as a flaming booger. Is that a good thing? Via @cartophilia….
posted to Fun |
A New Map of Online Communities from xkcd
xkcd’s updated map of online communities “uses size to represent total social activity in a community — that is, how much talking, playing, sharing, or other socializing happens there. This meant some comparing of apples and oranges, but I…
posted to Fun |
Mapping European Stereotypes
Yanko Tsvetkov continues to create more maps of European stereotypes beyond the one we saw in May 2009. Add to that one maps of Europe according to the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, and Britain. Via Mapperz. Previously: Yanko…
posted to Fun |
The United States of Star Wars
The United States of Star Wars assigns a planet from the Star Wars universe to each state (list here), which then illustrated appropriately. According to the creator, Rebecca Crane, “Planets were assigned based on partial terrain, landmarks that correlate…
posted to Fun |
xkcd: I Don’t Want Directions
xkcd again. Oddly enough, I was like this before GPS: give me your address, I’ll find it on a map and figure out how to get there. People navigate differently; those who don’t navigate like this don’t get those…
posted to Driving Directions, Fun |
‘A Wrong Turn You Have Made … to the Dark Side’
First Darth Vader, now Yoda….
posted to Driving Directions, Fun, Video |
Europe According to Estonians
It’s a little over a year old, but I’ve only come across it now: Europe According to Estonians. Worth it for the cartography alone….
posted to Fun, Video |
‘The Whole Southern Half of the Globe’
You know, xkcd does have a point there … Previous xkcd entries: xkcd on Google Latitude; East Is West; xkcd on Driving Directions; Upcoming Hurricanes; D&D Map of Online Communities….
posted to Fun |
The Texas Globe
John Horrigan recounts his encounter, in a local travel shop, with a hand-drawn “Texas Globe,” which depicts the world as seen by a stereotypical, bigoted Texan. “Half the Earth is filled by a swollen United States, with Texas taking…
posted to Fun, Globes |
New Mexico Soap: Not an Epic Fail After All
To be fair, New Mexico Soap is the name of the company, and among their products is a line of soaps in the shape of various states. Via Cartophilia….
posted to Fun |
Darth Vader Tells You Where to Go
It’s Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you), and TomTom is announcing Star Wars voices for its navigation devices (press release). Darth Vader is available now, with others to come later — but who cares about them? This…
posted to Driving Directions, Fun |
McSweeney’s Does Walking Directions
McSweeney’s: Realistic Google Maps Walking Directions When in a Different Country, by Zach Jones. If you know McSweeney’s, you already have an idea where this is going….
posted to Fun |
‘The Simpsons’ Does GPS
In last Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons, Homer got a GPS. I think you can figure out how that went. Via GPS Tracklog….
posted to Driving Directions, Fun, Video |
Google Earth Guys
The shmoo-like Google employees from College Humour’s “Google Street View Guys” video return to image the world for Google Earth from a balloon. (Note: it’s not entirely clean.) Via Google Earth Blog. Previously: Google Street View Guys….
posted to Fun, Google Earth, Satellite & Aerial, Video |
The Onion: Fritolaysia Cuts Off Chiplomatic Relations with Snakistan
The Onion reports that Fritolaysia has cut off chiplomatic relations with Snakistan, in another one of those Onion riffs on geography: “The dispute over increased prices and decreased serving sizes escalated when Snakistan, swayed by the influence of the…
posted to Fun |
Geography Fail
The Fail Blog does maps, too….
posted to Fun, Mapping Errors |
The Onion Solves Something
The Onion: World Map Rearranged to Accommodate Poor Geography Skills of Americans — Nations Ordered Alphabetically. Via Cartophilia….
posted to Fun |
Google Street View Guys
Google Street View Guys, a video on CollegeHumor in which two shmoo-like Google employees go on a road trip taking Street View imagery. Via Very Spatial….
posted to Fun, Video |
Sheepfilms on GPS
This fun short video from Sheepfilms reminds me of the funny videos done about Google Earth and Street View a while back — they all intersect the map and the interface with reality. Via Gadling. Previously: The Vacationeers: Google My…
posted to Fun, GPS, Video |
xkcd on Google Latitude
Web comic xkcd’s take on Google Latitude’s privacy implications is … about what you’d expect. And as succinct an explanation as there will likely ever be of why location services will probably never take off….
posted to Censorship, Security & Privacy, Fun, Geolocation Services |
How to Read a Map, for Sat Nav Users
Apropos of the whole OMG-GPS-is-going-to-fail thing, the Grauniad’s Tim Dowling has some advice for drivers who might suddenly have to do without their in-car navigation systems, in the form of a FAQ for paper maps. Some examples: I need to…
posted to Driving Directions, Fun, Map Literacy |
Yanko Tsvetkov’s Beloved Europe
Yanko Tsvektov’s sharp-tongued map of Europe, Where I Live, was created in response to last winter’s gas shortages triggered by the spat between Russia and Ukraine. Via Boing Boing….
posted to Fun |
Unfinishtstan
David Mumford writes to point to Roger Pountain’s curious story of a map his son created on the unfinished wall of their kitchen: I had found my oldest son Alistair (25) up a ladder with a felt-tip marker and…
posted to Blogs, Fun |
April Foolery
Apart from some rather obscure industry in-jokes and an atrocious pun, the focus of this year’s geospatial-industry silliness seems to be Google Street View and its impact on privacy. Google Earth Blog announces that the next-generation Street View will include…
posted to Censorship, Security & Privacy, Driving Directions, Fun, GIS |
‘Dead Pixel in Google Earth’
Dead Pixel in Google Earth (2008) is a work of concept art by Helmut Smits; the 82×82-centimetre square of burned grass represents one pixel from an altitude of one kilometre. Via La Cartoteca. (Photo credit: Jeroen Wandemaker.)…
posted to Art, Fun, Google Earth |
Frilliest. Navigation Aid. Ever.
When you’re on an expedition to the North Pole, and you’re too close to magnetic north to use a compass, it’s too cold for GPS, and it’s cloudy and you can’t see the sun, how do you navigate? Answer: lacy…
posted to Fun |
Gizmodo’s Most Insane Things Never Seen on Street View
This is silly: Gizmodo’s Photoshop contest inviting people to make up things you’ll never see on Google Street View. Above: Kevin Foster’s first-place homage to Blade Runner; as you might expect given the Giz’s readership, science fiction tropes abound….
posted to Fun |
East Is West
xkcd is back again, with some questions about terminology. It’s all about your starting point. (Thanks, Frank.) Previously: xkcd on Driving Directions; Upcoming Hurricanes; D&D Map of Online Communities….
posted to Fun |
The Onion’s Election Map
The Onion also has an election map. It’s what you’d expect. Via MAPS-L….
posted to Electoral Maps, Fun |
That SNL Weekend Update Map Sketch
Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” segment recently took a swing at the touchscreen interactive electoral maps that have become nearly ubiquitous in U.S. election coverage (i.e., John King on CNN). Here’s the entire segment: Via Very Spatial….
posted to Electoral Maps, Fun, Video |
xkcd on Driving Directions
Earlier (yes, I know I’m late), Web comic xkcd had some fun with driving directions — the printed-out-from-Google-Maps sort. Via Very Spatial and Google Maps Mania. Still earlier (would it kill Randall to use datestamps?), how about this take…
posted to Driving Directions, Fun |
Upcoming Hurricanes
Web comic xkcd imagines upcoming hurricanes. Via Cartophilia….
posted to Fun, Weather & Climate |
The Vacationeers: Google My Maps Gets Spooky
The Vacationeers, they are at it again: Via Cartophilia. Previously: Google Maps Street View Is Right Behind You….
posted to Fun, Video |
A Roundup of Interesting Map Links
A few quick map and map-related gems to share with you: Claire showcases another collection of map tattoos. Indiana Jones and the Fonts on the Maps: Mark Simonson notes that the maps used in the Indiana Jones movies are anachronistic….
posted to Driving Directions, Fun, Miscellany, Paris, Triangulations (Links) |
This Side Up
Hilarity ensues when road painters marking no-parking areas on a road in Waltham Abbey, Essex, paint the wrong side of the road because they read the map upside down. (This is not the upside-down map the Australians had in mind.)…
posted to Fun |
The Office
GPS Review has a clip from an episode of (the U.S. version of) The Office that satirizes the news stories about GPS-navigation-related accidents….
posted to Driving Directions, Fun, Video |
April Fool’s and Online Maps
Roundups of April Foolery related to Google Maps and Google Earth are available at Google Earth Blog and Google Maps Mania. X-ray and thermal imagery, copyrighted landscapes, and smiley faces abound. And how is this not an April Fool’s joke?…
posted to Fun, Online Maps |
Bizarre Sights in Google Street View
The Times has the 10 most bizarre sights in Google Street View; Valleywag has the pictures….
posted to Fun, Online Maps |
The Longitude and Latitude Song
John Krygier points to the “Longitude and Latitude” song. Performed by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans, the song comes from Space Songs, one of several science-education albums recorded in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Six of those albums can…
posted to Education, Fun |
‘You Have No Idea Where China Is, Do You?’
At least a year old, but I only saw this FedEx ad for the first time this morning:…
posted to Fun, Video |
Google Maps Street View Is Right Behind You
The Vacationeers take Google Maps Street View a little too far: Via Valleywag. Previously: Real-Time Satellite Imagery: EarthNow vs. The Simpsons; The Truth About Google Earth….
posted to Fun, Video |
The Hipster GPS
Introducing the Hipster GPS: “Inspired by 43Folders’s Hipster PDA, the Hipster GPS takes a similarly low tech approach. Also, the price of entry is far below that of an electronic GPS system.” Photo by James Foreman. Via 43Folders….
posted to Fun, GPS |
D&D Map of Online Communities
XKCD’s map of online communities purports to represent the estimated size of each community by geographic area; more noteworthy is that it’s in the style of a D&D (or fantasy trilogy) map and has lots of little in-jokes, web-related…
posted to Fun |
Real-Time Satellite Imagery: EarthNow vs. The Simpsons
Live, accessible satellite imagery is a pipe dream, but EarthNow is probably as close as we’ll ever get: it’s not live, but (updated; see below) it is real-time — just delayed a few hours. It’s essentially a Java applet…
posted to Fun, Satellite & Aerial, Video |
April Fool: Revelations Stun Map Historians (Again)
This didn’t turn up on MapHist until April 2, but I think there’s an even chance that you’ll enjoy it all the same. It’s a riff on Peter Trickett’s claim that the Portuguese discovered Australia, and it apparently comes to…
posted to Fun |
Royal Mail Delivers Letter with Only a Map for an Address
Holy crap. A Welsh man sent a letter to a friend in Cornwall with no address or even the name of a town on the envelope — just a map with an arrow labelled “somewhere here” — and it…
posted to Fun |
Google Pushpins Explained
Oh. So that’s how it’s done. Via Matt….
posted to Fun |
A Walking Map of Ontario
Canadians in general must have maps on the brain; it’s not just me, and it’s not just the Canadian bloggers, cartographers and geospatial pros that keep getting featured on this blog (see, for example, the two previous posts). Otherwise, why…
posted to Fun |
Google Maps TV Ad — Not
Screenhead draws our attention to this ad for Google Maps (QuickTime), which is almost certainly not legit, but rather a production done on spec by a firm. Still. Giggle away….
posted to Fun |