Great post! I loved the National Geographic maps from my dad's NG as a kid. Until I left for college my bedroom was literally wallpapered with them. I had pretty much forgotten about them until i saw your post. This is great as I love to look at their maps but can't quite afford a subscription yet. posted by silkygreenbelly at 11:17 AM on August 15, 2008
Sorry to start with a snark, but the presentation is awful. Why is there some silly quiz question on top of the maps? And why use some funky Flash zooming interface when they could just publish the full image right in the page? It's not like these are giant data sets
Presentation or no, I love maps. When I can't afford to go anywhere, I can travel by map. I'm happy looking at an atlas for hours,then looking up places that interest me on Flickr or something. Maps of exploration especially intrigue me. It's sort of like people who can "listen" to music by reading sheet music. posted by Devils Rancher at 11:26 AM on August 15, 2008
The write up before the quiz provides context to the map. You can skip the quiz by closing the box.
And while I'm not in love with it the flash interface allows for an arbitrary zoom level. In an interface like Strange maps I either can see the whole map at once or I can see it zoomed in to actual size with no happy medium. The current post shows why that can be less than ideal. posted by Mitheral at 11:28 AM on August 15, 2008
can't quite afford a subscription yet
IMO, the subscription is not worth the amount of direct marketing phone calls, mailings and assorted crap that they subject you to. It is especially annoying that the magazine often runs "Earth in Peril by Humans" stories, and then dumps a ton of unread paper in your recycling bin. I'm letting my subscription lapse.
I still love the maps, though. Thanks for the post. posted by kuujjuarapik at 11:33 AM on August 15, 2008
Subscribe
posted by silkygreenbelly at 11:17 AM on August 15, 2008