maps

What If the Entire World’s Population Lived in One City?

Here’s a thought exercise that starts getting kind of gross the deeper you dive into it: what if the entire world’s population lived in one city? What would that city look like? How big would the city be? Or how small can you pack it? Is it even possible? RealLifeLore says that you can fit…

Sploid Casey Chan Sep 23

The 9 Best Travel Apps for Exploring Cities

You’ve landed somewhere brand new, and you’re ready to explore the new city, but you have absolutely no idea where to start. This is where your trusty smartphone comes in. There are loads of cool traveling apps you can use to help you find awesome spots around town. Here are 9 of our favorite apps…

Gadgets David Nield Sep 16

Watch 35,000 Fishing Vessels Move Around the World in This Map

There are thousands of ships sailing the seas to catch the fish you eat, and now you can watch them sail the ocean in almost real-time on this interactive map The Global Fishing Watch map is a combined effort from Oceana, Google, and SkyTruth. It keeps track of over 35,000 fishing ships using a combination…

Tech News Ria Misra Sep 15

Enjoy a Gloriously Detailed Look at the Arctic Before It Melts Away

A series of beautiful digital terrain maps, created by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), are immortalizing something that might soon be lost: the magnificent, ice-carved landscapes of the Arctic. These recently unveiled topographic maps of Alaska are the first publicly-released products from the ArcticDEM project, a White House-mandated…

Climate Change Maddie Stone Sep 8

Spend Your Sunday Playing Around With This Cool Wind Map

Whether you’re a wind enthusiast, a cartography connoisseur or just a bored person online, Windyty is a website you’ll likely have a good time messing around with. Created by Ivo, “an addicted kiter, helicopter and jet pilot, who seeks the wind, waves, METARs and powder snow almost constantly,” Windyty is an interactive map that allows…

Tech News Eve Peyser Aug 28

Why the Heck Do Some Countries Have Weird Panhandles?

If you look closely at a map, you’re bound to find some really weird shit. Countries you never knew existed pop up, bodies of water reveal themselves, and the borders of countries look totally random. What’s more random about those borders is when they have weird panhandles or salients, basically appendages of land that have…

Sploid Casey Chan Aug 26

The Size of Countries in Real Life Versus the Size of Countries on a Map

Maps lie. We all learned this at some point in school, when we realized Greenland wasn’t quite the hulking beast of land mass we thought it was. I mean, Greenland isn’t even a third of the size of Australia. And the UK is teeny! Smaller than Japan, the Philippines, and Madagascar. Come to think of…

Sploid Casey Chan Aug 12

10 Tricks to Make Yourself a Google Maps Master

Google Maps has been available for more than 10 years now, and since its launch, a huge swatch of features and functions have been added to the service. Are you sure you know all of them? Here are our favorite tips and tricks for getting more out of Google’s mapping service. 1) See all of…

Gadgets David Nield Aug 8

This Map Shows the Size of the World’s Biggest Empires from History

Which empire was the biggest throughout history? Which had the most people? Which had the biggest contiguous empire? The map below details all the most powerful empires from history and shows the area each empire covered, the amount of people they had under their rule, the year they reached their political height, the period of…

Sploid Casey Chan Aug 2

What Five Years of Drought Have Done to the United States

We’re in the midst of a long, sustained drought that’s been unfolding for the past several years. But just how hard has that drought hit in different parts of the United States? This maps shows exactly. John Nelson over at Adventures in Mapping drew the map using over five years of combined weekly data from…

Tech News Ria Misra Aug 2

This Picture Shows Something Strange Happening in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

Next week, Juno—the solar-powered spacecraft that’s been closing in on Jupiter since 2011—will arrive to orbit the planet and send us back photos and data. But already, researchers have taken an infrared view of the planet that reveals an incredibly active atmosphere. Because Juno will (among its other jobs) monitor changes in Jupiter’s atmosphere, researchers…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Jun 27

See the Exact Moment the World’s Biggest Cities Were Born

The world is urbanizing faster than ever, with over half of the planet’s population currently living in cities—more than any time in history. But when did this trend of “urbanization” start? It turns out its roots go back much farther than we thought. An interesting study by Yale University researchers published in Scientific Data last…

Tech News Alissa Walker Jun 16

This Interactive Shows How Far Your Food Traveled to Get to You

We know our food is incredibly well traveled, but just where does your food come from? A new set of interactive charts help you trace the often serpentine route from farm to table. Researchers at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture have completed an effort to trace just how far food travels across the planet.…

Tech News Ria Misra Jun 13

The Majority of Americans Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore

Our world is getting brighter, as we turn more and more lights on across the planet. But all that light shining from the ground makes it harder to see the lights shining from the sky. It’s now gotten so bad that the Milky Way is almost impossible to see in most of the United States.…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Jun 10

These Real Moments in History Inspired the Events of Game of Thrones

The world of Westeros in Game of Thrones is so impressively detailed, and the history of its characters is so well crafted, that it’s amazing George R.R. Martin could even come up with something so imaginative on his own. Of course, as we know, that’s not the case. Game of Thrones is heavily influenced by…

Sploid Casey Chan May 26

Only Two States Will Avoid an Absurdly Hot Summer This Year

Summer is coming—and it’s going to be an incredibly, absurdly hot one for America. Except in two states. NOAA just released its summer outlook, predicting which areas are going to see unusually hotter temperatures this year. Unsurprisingly for those who have been watching the string of heat records that have been falling like dominoes, almost…

Climate Change Ria Misra May 24

NASA Maps Show How Fast New Orleans Is Sinking

Using NASA airborne radar, scientists have shown the degree to which New Orleans and its surrounding areas are sinking each year. Mostly caused by groundwater extraction, it’s yet another disaster in the making. These new maps, produced by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Center for Geoinformatics at Louisiana State University, are the…

Tech News George Dvorsky May 16

These Stunning Maps Show the Final Months of the First World War

The First World War began just over a century ago, and in 2017, the United States will begin to commemorate its entry into the conflict. These three maps show the beginning of the end of the war in incredible and beautiful detail. The three maps were created by the American Battlefield and Monuments Commission, and…

Tech News Andrew Liptak May 7

This Map of Mercury Is Perfect for Interplanetary Roadtrip Planning

The USGS has released this new, incredibly detailed map of Mercury. It’s the first time the features on the surface of the planet have been depicted so completely. The map, which includes up-close sketches of the craters and volcanoes dotting the terrain of the planet, was created by the USGS using data from NASA’s MESSENGER…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra May 6

Now Everyone Can See Tolkien’s Annotated Map of Middle-Earth in All Its Glory

Last year, a map of Middle-earth, annotated by Tolkien himself, was unearthed in a copy of a book owned by illustrator Pauline Baynes. The map’s now been purchased by Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, who very kindly put a full, authorized, version of the full map online, which is sure to be pored over by fans forever…

Books & Comics Katharine Trendacosta May 4

What If the Entire World’s Population Lived in One City?

The 9 Best Travel Apps for Exploring Cities

Watch 35,000 Fishing Vessels Move Around the World in This Map

Enjoy a Gloriously Detailed Look at the Arctic Before It Melts Away

Spend Your Sunday Playing Around With This Cool Wind Map

Why the Heck Do Some Countries Have Weird Panhandles?

The Size of Countries in Real Life Versus the Size of Countries on a Map

10 Tricks to Make Yourself a Google Maps Master

This Map Shows the Size of the World’s Biggest Empires from History

What Five Years of Drought Have Done to the United States

This Picture Shows Something Strange Happening in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

See the Exact Moment the World’s Biggest Cities Were Born

This Interactive Shows How Far Your Food Traveled to Get to You

The Majority of Americans Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore

These Real Moments in History Inspired the Events of Game of Thrones

Only Two States Will Avoid an Absurdly Hot Summer This Year

NASA Maps Show How Fast New Orleans Is Sinking

These Stunning Maps Show the Final Months of the First World War

This Map of Mercury Is Perfect for Interplanetary Roadtrip Planning

Now Everyone Can See Tolkien’s Annotated Map of Middle-Earth in All Its Glory

In Letter, OpenAI Reportedly Says Elon Musk and Meta Are Coordinating ‘Attacks’ Against It

Artemis 2 Day 6: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Anonymous Sources Detail Sam Altman’s Alleged Untrustworthiness in New Report

Steven Spielberg Still Wants to Make a Horror Film ‘Someday’

Waymo Has Stopped Testing Its Robotaxis in New York City and No One Knows What Happens Next

Samsung Pushes Monitor Deals Further, the 34″ ViewFinity Hits a Record Low at Nearly 40% Off

The Best Anti-Meta Smart Glasses Are About to Have Tough Competition

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HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

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DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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