# I stumbled upon a cool and educational tool (neat maps)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stumbled-upon-a-cool-and-educational-tool-neat-maps/377028>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 19, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stumbled-upon-a-cool-and-educational-tool-neat-maps/377028 "2006-10-19T01:07:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stumbled-upon-a-cool-and-educational-tool-neat-maps/377028/1 "2006-10-19T01:07:50Z")

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This is why I love the web. I stumbled across [this site called WorldMapper.](http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/thumbnails/mapindex25-36.html) I always liked maps but I haven’t seen those done much before.

They take a flat world map and then look at one factor like emmigration or airline flights and distort the size and shape of all the countries to show their standing in that area. There are a bunch of maps. It is a good way to visualize complicated concepts.

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**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stumbled-upon-a-cool-and-educational-tool-neat-maps/377028/2 "2006-10-19T01:48:02Z")

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Cool stuff. I like seeing the Excel data as well. Thanks, now I’ll never finish this book tonight…

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**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stumbled-upon-a-cool-and-educational-tool-neat-maps/377028/3 "2006-10-19T02:31:28Z")

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Wow. Look at this one for [machine exports.](http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/display.php?selected=87) You can’t even tell it’s supposed to be a map. It says, in part, “Earnings from machines account for 10.5% of all earning from international exports worldwide. These earnings are almost exclusively made in Western Europe and Japan.”

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**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stumbled-upon-a-cool-and-educational-tool-neat-maps/377028/4 "2006-10-19T14:50:39Z")

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That’s really cool! Thanks.

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**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stumbled-upon-a-cool-and-educational-tool-neat-maps/377028/5 "2006-10-19T20:33:30Z")

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You may like World Maps on Polyhedra. You can download and print them for free, then make your own.