Monday, June 22, 2020

Topological Map of the World

Here is an interesting map from the Map Porn Reddit (yes that is a thing). It shows the world from a standpoint of topology-meaning that relationships between countries (specifically boundaries) are emphasized. The shapes of countries are disregarded.
It is designed to look like the T-O maps of medieval times with the round shape, the seas looking like rivers and "oriented" with east at the top.
A T-O map via Wikipedia
There's a lot to pick apart as commenters have gleefully done such as non-existent borders (Chile-Paraguay) and misspellings (Nicaragua). You can get into heated debates about boundary politics or whether Lithuania borders Russia or not (technically it does) if that's your thing. I prefer to focus on the interesting perspective provided. I also like the way the island nations surround the map-though they do get a bit out of sequence.
You can click the top map to see higher resolution or visit the Reddit post to see the comments.

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