Keys and Legends #3: Best of 2013

One of my favorite sites to visit when I'm in need of a good mapfix is the Wired.com Map Lab.  Today when I visited their site I was delighted to see that they had a new article about the best maps of 2013.  Included in the article are 15 of best maps that this year has to offer and let me tell you, looking at them made me feel like a duck in water, a pig in mud, a kangaroo in the Outback, a crocodile in the Nile, a capybara in...well, you get the picture. I was pleased. 

 I have included the link to the article below.  Some of the maps featured in the article are just still images but others are interactive maps which I encourage you to click on and play around with, to appreciate their beauty if nothing else.  My favorites are maps 3, 7, and 14.  Map three is a map of hurricane and cyclone paths since 1842.  It is not interactive but in my opinion it doesn't need to be.  The image is simple yet increasingly elegant. The pale blue hue of the ocean and continents contrasted with an iridescent white that represents the storms results in a truly powerful and educational image.  Map seven is again a work of art, it represents wind patterns and velocity, but unlike map 3 it is more complex and is bustling with information.  What is the best part you ask? It is that this entire map is updated every three hours with the newest information available. Please do yourself a favor and explore on this interactive gem.  Map fourteen is the oldest map on the list and may be the one I love the most.  It was created in 1817 and is a detailed side by side comparison of the earth's major rivers.  It is drawn by hand and is the type of aesthetic work you don't see this day and age.  The best part about this map however, is that it is wrong.  When this map was published in 1817 the information it depicted was fact but today with the advent of satellites we are able to better measure and view the paths of rivers which has proven many statements on this map false.  An example is that this map declares that the longest rivers are the Amazon (3375mi), Missouri (3365mi), and Yang'tse Kiang (2990mi).  In reality the longest rivers are the Nile(4132mi), Amazon (3976mi), Yang'tse Kiang (3917mi), and the Missouri (3902mi) .  

 If you enjoy these maps half as much as I did you will feel better than a buffalo in Idaho, a tapir in Myanmar, a cockatooti in Djibouti, a… Sorry, Sorry, I got carried away again…Here is the link: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/maplab/#slideid-472381. Have fun exploring!

  Map of Cyclone and Hurricane Paths...Beautiful  

Map of the Roads Added to Open Street Map in 2013