London Circular Underground map

I just love this kind of thing.
New version of London Underground map shows circles are the way forward | Metro News

Mapping, knowing and propaganda

Some readers will know that I enjoy a good map. It's the colour, pattern and promise of new places. I also find myself intrigued by the idea of mapping. The way that a map picks out certain features of reality in relationship to others to guide the reader through a literal, metaphorical or mixed territory. And while the map is not the territory, it shares with language more generally the ability to make us think it is -kind of.

Now the article here: 513 - Then We Take Berlin: When East Ate West | Strange Maps | Big Think: helps shine a light on the way that things that we take as natural, unproblematic or starightforward, are actually freighted with ideological, hegemonic perspectives -just like ideas and other cultural artefacts. See ...
"Take this map of the urban transport network (1) in Berlin. At face value, it is a purely utilitarian map, giving its readers a no-nonsense, schematic overview of the transportational possibilities of the German capital. But context matters: this map was produced by the East German government, for its captive citizenry. It mixes information with propaganda as it tries very hard to ignore an inconvenient truth - too big to hide completely: the existence of another Berlin."
So this is a great idea for cultural studies teaching and learning: a way in to a central idea...

The Atlas of the Real World

Htt the Telegraph for reproducing some of these images which I find quite helpful in showing important stuff. Take this historical move through wealth. First in 1AD

The size of each territory shows the GDP, adjusted for local purchasing power, of the equivalent territory in 1 AD. The Americas appear small, partly because fewer people lived there in year 1 AD."
Then we move to 1900

Then look at the projection for 2015.

Note the economic resurrection of China.
I may add the source book to my wish list ...
The Atlas of the Real World - Telegraph:

Urbanisation visualisation

A controllable timeline map of the world since 1955 showing urban growth. Another potentially useful teaching resource. I can see me using it as part of missions learning resources. Flash animation.
BBC NEWS | | Urbanisation