National Geographic Map of the Day
August 15, 2008 10:57 AM   Subscribe

National Geographic Map of the Day. Previously featuring maps that run the gamut from automotive discovery and exploration; through literary, witchhunts and imaginary; to historical and Olympic.
posted by Mitheral (9 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
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

A good example of a map blog done well is Strange Maps. Fun content, too.
posted by Nelson at 11:19 AM on August 15, 2008 [2 favorites]


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


Last April First was pretty good!
posted by GuyZero at 11:53 AM on August 15, 2008


Once a gain a wicked idea completely ruined by the lack of "Save As"
posted by Vindaloo at 1:14 PM on August 15, 2008


Very nice, thanks!
posted by languagehat at 1:37 PM on August 15, 2008


Nelson writes "A good example of a map blog done well is Strange Maps. Fun content, too."

Strange maps is a great site.
posted by Mitheral at 4:27 PM on August 15, 2008


« Older Sir King Penguin   |   Masterpieces of early photography Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments