Marine Traffic

Maps showing the number of ships stuck because of the Suez Canal blockage are very eye opening.

via Reuters

The amount of global commerce that can be disrupted by one ship is astonishing.  Marine Tracker is a live map that shows just how much shipping traffic there is worldwide. Here is the ship traffic in western Europe.

You get a good idea from the map where other bottlenecks might occur such as the Straits of Hormuz,

and Malacca.

A click on the map brings up info about individual ships such as this one waiting to get through the Suez Canal. The ship is called the "Mexico City" but is sailing under the flag of Singapore from Colombo, Sri Lanka.

I also like how it shows inland traffic. You can see much of Illinois outlined from this screen shot.

Comparative Mountains and Rivers

Continuing last week's theme of comparative maps, here are a few examples of a genre of map that compares mountain heights and river lengths.

This map was originally published by Henry Tanner (1836) and modified by S, Augustus Mitchell (1846), both of Philadelphia.  Like last week's map, the geography is arranged to fit the space with the shortest rivers cleverly positioned atop the tallest mountains.

The peaks are numbered. On this and the other maps from this period the highest known peak was Dhaulagiri in the Himalayas, now the seventh highest. In addition to mountains, the heights of cities and lakes are shown. Below Quito, Ecuador is shown beneath Pambamarca.

Down at the bottom are some of the Pyramids of Egypt, the "Falls of Niagara" and lakes such as Ontario (42), Erie (36) and Superioir (32). Above that is Caracas and the limit (this is a guess) of where bananas grow. Also along the bottom are various cities and landmakes such as the mines of Huancavilica and the Philadelphia Shot Tower. More of this map can be seen on the David Rumsey Map Collection page here.

Here are a couple more variations on this theme You can click them to see enlarged views from the Rumsey collection. This one published in London by William Darton in 1823 has everything arranged on one side.

I like the treatment of the rivers here.

This one (Joseph Thomas, London, 1835) has the rivers at the bottom and the mountains in several rows.

Finally, for a local view, here are the rivers of Scotland.

Many more examples of this theme can be seen on this excellent blog post from the Rumsey collection.

10 More Maps That Won't Change Your Anything!

They just keep coming! A constant stream of clickbait about how a series of maps will change your life, make you think differently, increase your earnings, and help you finally get that promotion. OK, perhaps the latest version is a bit more modest seeking only to "teach you something new about the world" - though the merit of knowing how to say "bear" in different European languages is debatable.

Here we attempt to free you from the burden of such claims. Like a good summer read, here are some maps that are unlikely to change your life but you may enjoy them just the same.
  
1. Map of the Detroit area on a Motown single

2. Map from a menu of the Brown Derby, Los Angeles via The New Yorker

3. Map of Heisenberg - a fictional city based on Breaking Bad

4.  Map of Albuquerque - an actual city based on Breaking Bad

5. Historic map of the Black Swamp - from a Toledo Bellows article about the Black Swamp Underground, a Toledo area musicians' collective.

6. Tourist map of the Hague by Zara Picken.

7. Manitou Springs, Colorado where I had an excellent breakfast once. From the Colorado Springs Gazette, 1922.

8. The Beatles Map, 1974. Click the image for a more legible version.
 
9.  Interactive map of El Gouna, Egypt.

10. Online map from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy