Map of the Week 106-Where in the World is Episkopi Cantonment?

According to Wikipedia the first newsworthy event of 2008 was that Cyprus, Malta and the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia adopted the euro. The sovereign what of where?


Oh, there!
Even a geographer like me was unaware of such places. When Cyprus was granted independence by the British Empire in 1960, the Brits insisted on holding on to these military bases. However, unlike the mother country they have decided to adopt the euro as a matter of practicality given that they are on an island where euros are now the currency. Above is a map of Cyprus showing the location of these two areas and below are detailed maps of the areas - all legally stolen from the CIA and wikipedia.

Akrotiri Dhekelia

Map of the Week #105-A Geography of Chaos

We interrupt this season of peace and good cheer to bring you a map of the current turmoil in the Middle East. This map was done by Philippe Rekacewicz who does some nice cartography for Le Monde Diplomatique. The map is a companion piece to their November, 2007 "Special Dossier on the New 'Broader' Middle East" I had some more optimistic ideas but after today's events in Pakistan this one somehow seemed appropriate.

Map of the Week #104-The West Virginia Slaw Mapping Project

For those of you wondering where to go in West Virginia for a good coleslaw topped hot dog here is your map! The Slaw Mapping Project shows the diversity of the state's slaw preferences from the central areas where of course you get the slaw to those red, outlying counties where they may give you strange looks and ask "you mean coleslaw?" For even more info check out the West Virginia Hot Dog Blog.


Of course I couldn't resist this anatomy photo - it's almost like a map!

Map of the Week #103 - Transit Maps of the World

My in-laws gave me a real nice Hanukkah gift - Mark Ovenden' s "Transit Maps of the World". This book is described by boingboing as "sheer subway porn". The map below is from the inside cover and shows a fanciful map, based on Harry Beck's famous London Underground maps linking all of the World's transit systems. Imagine a quick ride on the red line to Istanbul or Shanghai or with one switch at Newark, an easy ride to Vancouver, Buffalo or Ufa! OK, I better stop before I get too excited.

Map of the Week #102 - Chicago Map Fest Map

Those of you who are as obsessed as I am with maps may want to hurry over to Chicago for the Festival of Maps. There is a major exhibit at the Field Museum and a bunch of map related exhibits and events going on at over 30 other institutions including universities, museums, art galleries, libraries and even the Brookfield Zoo. Of course, they also have an excellent web map that allows you to pan around the city find out what's happening at all the big red dots. Even if you can't make it to Chicagoland, you can still spend hours browsing at the events and looking at the little thumbnail pictures. Maybe I'll even make it over there before it's too late. See you there?

Map of the Week #101 - Australian Drought Maps

Those of you who are regular readers of the Australian Crop and Livestock Report (my brother is one at least) published by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics know that they have had a horrible drought over the last couple of years. While they have had some rain in November, the map on the left shows how dry things have been this Spring (yes it's Spring there and toilets flush the other way). The map on the right shows the effect on the wheat crop. You will probably want to click on them to be able to read anything.

Map of the Week #100 - Map of 100 Maps!

In honor of the 100th Map of the Week I have gone back, looked at the places I have mapped and made of map of these locations. This is based on the tags below which is not a perfect science since my tags have not been consistent. Sometimes I tag a state when a city is featured, sometimes I forget to (sorry Washington). Sometimes the state seems less relevant to the subject matter. The "USA"tag is also misleading because I tend to use it only for nationwide maps of the U.S. The map above shows all the countries that have been featured. Below are the cities, states and provinces. Yes I do have a pretty obvious bias towards northerly and familiar regions. I will try to look beyond my narrow realm at least a few times in the next 100 maps. Stay tuned.