# “Terrible Maps” **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 31, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946 "2020-07-31T22:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/1 "2020-07-31T22:40:48Z")
I love this article on terrible maps. But many of them are cool, and I’ll never have trouble finding Kentucky again. > **[30 Maps So Terrible They’re Good](https://www.boredpanda.com/terrible-funny-maps/)** > > Since the last time we wrote about Terrible maps, a project that is dedicated to sharing maps no one asked for or needs, they've kept themselves rather busy. So it's only natural we created a follow-up article about the cartographers who are so bad,... ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/2 "2020-07-31T22:41:42Z")
Thanks for that! I sometimes teach basic cartography, so this might be useful. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/3 "2020-08-01T19:27:13Z")
Most of those maps were great (not terrible). Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/4 "2020-08-01T20:34:41Z")
Yeah, I appreciated the illegal immigration map, the Argentina/Aren’tgentina schematic, and the image showing the risk of bear attack in particular, but a lot of them were quite fun. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/5 "2020-08-01T20:37:53Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > the image showing the risk of bear attack in particular, I loved the comment about “don’t forget about ursa major and ursa minor”! ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/6 "2020-08-01T20:59:21Z")
No. I _will not_ turn off my adblocker. I’ll just not read your silly map story. So there! Take that, Bored Panda! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/7 "2020-08-01T21:26:09Z")
I think you can read them without turning off your ad blocker. They just make a snarky comment, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/8 "2020-08-01T22:48:21Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > No. I _will not_ turn off my adblocker. ❓ They don’t bug me to turn off _my_ adblocker. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/9 "2020-08-01T23:26:17Z")
You have to check “I will continue with ad-light experience” or something. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/10 "2020-08-01T23:35:09Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > You have to check “I will continue with ad-light experience” or something. I have Adblock Plus and didn’t see anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/11 "2020-08-02T15:18:31Z")
I really like the maps showing the interconnected oceans, illegal immigration, bear attacks and various Mexicos (why is West Mexico so Far East?). I don’t know how you would even come up with the idea of average flag colour. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/12 "2020-08-02T15:44:54Z")
These are pretty cool. I found #4 the Spilhaus Projection fascinating (like @Dr_Paprika). I had trouble finding the CONUS west coast, until I spotted the Baja peninsula. #16, the Duck – pretty cool picture, never saw it that way. #24, the eagle’s ground trace over 20 years – truly fascinating! #25, the 50% of Canadians line, interesting, especially since I’m planning a road trip to Alaska next year, and going into northern British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and the northwest of the Northwest Territories (to Tuktoyaktuk). It’ll be very remote country there. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/13 "2020-08-02T21:34:03Z")
I humbly submit my own effort: [![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0jazUKUW_T2NmsaY81NSHuFco6mQ0YyHg-8IYGcdG5JpeJMhvxz-cSW1TwwxB9A3IK3KV4i1rYUxpQBh-wcDAwUj03ZHhKCvX8_R3MoGA3-Eyi3lV7nXtwGBgQjQamAfiJUSGT20oy0=w600-h315-p-k "New item by Tim O") ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/BhWsa9LtixRHg3GS9) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/14 "2020-08-02T21:41:30Z")
Lol!! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/15 "2020-08-02T23:18:12Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I love this article on terrible maps. But many of them are cool, and I’ll never have trouble finding Kentucky again. Oh, thanks so much for this. I’ve been getting so many laughs from the people’s comments. Some clever people! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/16 "2020-08-03T00:05:05Z")
The map of North America prior to Europeans is just wrong so many times over. That’s not even close to the territory of the Iroquois Confederacy, and they get the Mi’kmaq wrong too (assuming they occupied all of what is now New Brunswick, assigning a colonial boundary to them.) Those and fifty other errors. Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/17 "2020-08-03T00:09:19Z")
Not really the point of that map, but, okay… ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/18 "2020-08-03T00:14:35Z")
Not the main point, but it would have been much cooler if it were actually correct, because it draws you in to think about who was actually where geographically relative to the layout of the modern nation, and lends some concrete reality to what happened in our history. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/19 "2020-08-03T14:30:11Z")
Not sure I understand this, though I love the song. Do you stay in the same state if you shoot a man? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2020, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/20 "2020-08-03T17:07:51Z")
> **[If You Shot a Man in Reno, Why are You in California State Prison?](https://reason.com/volokh/2018/05/04/if-you-shot-a-man-in-reno-why-are-you-in/)** > > Herein of "Folsom Prison Blues" and criminal jurisdiction. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946.md?page=2)