New maps show how size really matters
Atlas of the Real World alters the globe, depicting the nations of the world according to social and economic data
Atlas of the Real World: war deaths, 2000
Tuesday 14 October 2008 | 00:04:23 UTC, The Journal Issue 11
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An innovative new world atlas has been published depicting countries not by their physical size but by demographic rank on a vast range of subjects.
Authors Daniel Dorling, Mark Newman and Anna Barford used 366 colour cartograms in The Atlas of the Real World: Mapping the Way We Live to demonstrate past and present world issues.
The digitally modified maps have used innovative design software to replace the traditional block cartogram form of grid patterns, by causing the country to swell or recede depending on the topic.
The authors have suggested in the introduction that, “strange though they seem at first, these maps are a thought-provoking way to learn about the world around us and understand our place within it.
“In a sense these maps are doing just what maps have always done: showing us where we are now, allowing us to navigate our way through the world.”
The concepts represented include international immigration, air travel, newspaper circulation, projected wealth for 2015, housing prices, HIV prevalence, nuclear weapons, increase and decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide, military spending, child obeseity and fuel consumption.
The map that reveals freshwater concentration, allows the onlooker to visualize by the swelling of the South American continent, that 30 percent of the world’s fresh water is concentrated there, whereas Kuwait, dependent upon purified saltwater, does not appear.
On the international immigrants map, the U.S. is the largest as it receives the most people, while the Philippines and Guyana have the lowest proportion with only one in 500.
The maps show India and China accounting for a fifth of the total distance covered by trains and Japan a tenth. Almost a third of territories do not have any kind of railway.
Not only are current events analysed, but historical data is also depicted. With GDP per capita adjusted for local purchasing power, wealth in the year 1 AD is depicted. On this map, the Americas are small due to their relatively small population at the time.
In contrast, the UK has the highest estimated GDP per capita in 1900 due to its economic supremacy during the industrial revolution.
Authors Daniel Dorling, Mark Newman and Anna Barford used 366 colour cartograms in The Atlas of the Real World: Mapping the Way We Live to demonstrate past and present world issues.
The digitally modified maps have used innovative design software to replace the traditional block cartogram form of grid patterns, by causing the country to swell or recede depending on the topic.
The authors have suggested in the introduction that, “strange though they seem at first, these maps are a thought-provoking way to learn about the world around us and understand our place within it.
“In a sense these maps are doing just what maps have always done: showing us where we are now, allowing us to navigate our way through the world.”
The concepts represented include international immigration, air travel, newspaper circulation, projected wealth for 2015, housing prices, HIV prevalence, nuclear weapons, increase and decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide, military spending, child obeseity and fuel consumption.
The map that reveals freshwater concentration, allows the onlooker to visualize by the swelling of the South American continent, that 30 percent of the world’s fresh water is concentrated there, whereas Kuwait, dependent upon purified saltwater, does not appear.
On the international immigrants map, the U.S. is the largest as it receives the most people, while the Philippines and Guyana have the lowest proportion with only one in 500.
The maps show India and China accounting for a fifth of the total distance covered by trains and Japan a tenth. Almost a third of territories do not have any kind of railway.
Not only are current events analysed, but historical data is also depicted. With GDP per capita adjusted for local purchasing power, wealth in the year 1 AD is depicted. On this map, the Americas are small due to their relatively small population at the time.
In contrast, the UK has the highest estimated GDP per capita in 1900 due to its economic supremacy during the industrial revolution.
In terms of projected wealth in the year 2015, China is expected to produce 27 per cent of the world’s total wealth, a rise of 5 per cent from 1960.
China, the US, and India continue to lead the way with the increase of carbon dioxide and nearly all territories between 1980-2000 saw an increase.
Conversely, between 1980 and 2000, 28 per cent of countries reduced their emissions. Nearly half of reductions were made in territories from the former Soviet Union. Germany, Poland, and France made considerable cuts with 15 per cent, 8 per cent, and 6 per cent respectively.
The highest HIV prevalence in 2003 was in Swaziland, where 38 per cent of people aged 15 to 49 years were HIV positive. All ten territories with the highest prevalence are in Central and Southeast Africa.
Japan has the longest life expectancy at 81 years 6 months, while Zambia retains the shortest at 32 years 8 months. The world average life expectancy is 67 years.
With finance and insurance exports in the world, 99 per cent of the profit flows to territories in Western Europe. The UK, Switzerland, Germany, and Luxembourg are the main exporting states.
The index scores indicate human poverty is the largest in Central Africa and the lowest in Japan.
www.worldmapper.org
www.thamesandhudson.com
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