# “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:** 5
**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:** [May 4, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/81 "2021-05-04T01:18:18Z")
Yes and no. Maps do not usually focus on the oceans and seeing the coast of these countries linearly looks unfamiliar. The map is not complete since inland waters are not represented. From the coastline alone it is hard to get a sense of relative size. But from the perspective of the ocean, all may be well. It’s a strange but striking approach. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2021, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/82 "2021-05-04T01:27:55Z")
I remember once seeing a map where Sweden was labeled “Good Porn” and Japan was labeled “Very Bad Porn”. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/83 "2021-05-04T01:29:52Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > remember once seeing a map where Sweden was labeled “Good Porn” and Japan was labeled “Very Bad Porn Sounds like a very useful map ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/84 "2021-05-04T02:51:35Z")
But that is not supposed to be _a map of American Native American tribes before contact with Europeans,_ that is his idea of what American tribes _would be like_ in 2015 if Europeans had never colonized. It is a “what if” , thus not “wrong”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/86 "2021-05-04T07:09:27Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > There’s literally a map that has COUNTRIES THAT LOST TO VIETNAM with America being the only country said to have lost, except for you know, France maybe? China, too. I think we should all just accept that the Vietnamese are badasses. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/87 "2021-05-04T08:29:57Z")
Also Cambodia and Laos lost to Vietnam ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/88 "2021-05-04T13:49:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But that is not supposed to be _a map of American Native American tribes before contact with Europeans,_ that is his idea of what American tribes _would be like_ in 2015 if Europeans had never colonized. It is a “what if” , thus not “wrong”. The title of the map is “North America Prior To Illegal Immigration,” which pretty strongly implies some reference to pre-1492 North America, so one can be forgiven for being rather confused as to what the map is meant to show. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/89 "2021-05-04T18:23:23Z")
Yes, but if you look closely it is dated 2015, so the idea is that no euro immigrations. ---
**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 18, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/90 "2021-07-18T22:57:07Z")
Some new interesting ones. And less so. > **[30 Unusual Maps That Might Change How You See The World, As Shared In This...](https://www.boredpanda.com/people-share-unique-interesting-maps/)** > > We’re pretty big fans of maps and, luckily for us, there are tons of like-minded internet users who are nearly bursting with their love of cartography. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/91 "2021-07-18T23:38:23Z")
[It does happen like that, tho.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Smart) Ms. Smart was convicted of murder in New Hampshire in 1991 but has been housed in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Bedford, NY since 1993. Two of the young men convicted in the same case served the bulk of their time in Maine. I can list other cases; this does happen more often than most people realize. ---
**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:** [July 25, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/92 "2022-07-25T17:59:14Z")
Here’s a subway-style map of the Continental US Interstate system, as of October 2017: [![](http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/us-interstates-as-a-subway-map.jpg) ](http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/us-interstates-as-a-subway-map.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/93 "2022-07-25T18:27:10Z")
That reminds me of an exhibit I saw at the The New York Transit Museum about the evolution of the subway map. Early maps attempted to convey exactly where the subway lines went relative to above ground features. It was pretty revolutionary when one map designer realized that for a subway map the above ground world is extraneous information. All the map really needs to convey is the general direction the line goes, and where it stops. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/94 "2022-07-25T18:32:06Z")
> **[r/mapporncirclejerk - updated world map](https://www.reddit.com/r/mapporncirclejerk/comments/w7lgu4/updated_world_map/)** > > 296 votes and 12 comments so far on Reddit ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/95 "2022-07-25T18:34:32Z")
Cool! I would love to have that for Europe! ---
**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 25, 2022, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/96 "2022-07-25T18:39:14Z")
That’s pretty cool. Surprised how many far flung stations I don’t really know. Canada is a big place, but America is about as wide and nearly as girthful. Not that I made that word up or anything. ---
**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 25, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/97 "2022-07-25T18:43:18Z")
I had heard that things were a little rough in Detroit, but thought things had improved? Guess it was just the weather. Maybe the availability of decent hummus in the southern half of the state. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/98 "2022-07-25T18:44:28Z")
I like it. I’m a cartographer/GIS programmer…and, but I digress. Those maps where first developed by Harry Beck. For London’s Tube system (subway). Much, much easier to read at a glance. It’s a schematic. From Wiki - [Tube map - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map) The first diagrammatic map of London’s rapid transit network was designed by [Harry Beck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Beck) in 1931.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map#cite_note-:0-1)[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map#cite_note-1933map-2) He was a London Underground employee who realised that because the railway ran mostly underground, the physical locations of the stations were largely irrelevant to the traveller wanting to know how to get from one station to another; ---
**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 25, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/99 "2022-07-25T19:21:50Z")
Now that I think about it, there is a Midwest, but not a Middle West. Maybe I am just badly informed. There isn’t going to be a civil war in the US anytime soon - but if there is, well, maybe we will get to rename some of the regions? It kinda has a ring to it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/100 "2022-07-25T19:44:08Z")
Well that is a nice ~~reddit~~ rabbit hole you sent me to. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-maps/916946/101 "2022-07-25T20:27:46Z")
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