Santa Claus Travel Time Map - Europe

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‘Memorable’ year (for mapping too) To quote many a commercial from 2020, this year has been “different” and “unprecedented” for all of us. With the Covid-19 pandemic changing our lives, it would be remiss to not mention the impact it has had on us and thank the tireless work key workers have done to protect and take care of us. Data and mapping has come into its own during this time, helping to track the spread of the pandemic, and where possible, to help plan and protect us. Data and mapping has also been vital to perhaps the other two major news headlines – theRead More →

Top 10 Most Expensive Rail Routes by Price per km

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Rail pricing – a global comparison There are some things in life you can be sure of – death, taxes and UK rail fares going up every year. By coincidence, I was just finishing up a quick bit of research on rail journey prices and cost over distance, when news of the latest price hike broke. In this article, the claim that the UK has the highest rail fares in Europe is investigated. It is something I’ve often thought about, and how it compares globally, but is this true? The take from the ‘Reality Check’, is that the UK is the most expensive bought onRead More →

Capitals and Centres Map

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This part three of series on capital cities, exploring influences on their location and history. There will be maps. For the first part click here and for the second part click here. Historical Capital Whilst moves to new capitals and new geography is a strong pattern here, history plays its part too. The most recent country to change its capital is Burundi in 2018, when it moved its capital from the more populous Bujumbura, to the more central location Gitega, the seat of the kingdom of Burundi until its abolition in 1966. Similarly, when Italy became a unified country, the weight of history played itsRead More →

Map of USA for Washington DC, 1791,A New Capital for a New Nation

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This part two of series on capital cities, exploring influences on their location and history.  There will be maps. For the first part click here.  Continuing to break new ground Continuing a post independence from Britain theme, is the US planned capital of Washington D.C., designated by its namesake George and officially made the capital of the young United States in 1800. Its strategic position on the Potomac river in a trans-state location between Virginia and Maryland reflected, not just a central location in the then 13 newly independent colonies; but a compromise between Southern and Northern colonies, i.e. slave holding and free states. TheRead More →

Capital Map Abuja Nigeria

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This part one of a series on capital cities, exploring influences on their location and history. There will be maps. What about capital cities anyway? Allow me to be controversial – geography is important. I’d actually go as far to say it’s vital. Don’t let comments about it just “being colouring in” tell you otherwise (though I do love colouring in). It’s the influencing factor that explains why where we live or work exist. Whether it’s proximity to water, transport links, natural resources, defensive position or simply other locations – these are all factors. Historically or more recently, locations don’t just ‘happen’ – they emergeRead More →

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I sense your presents… Wintertime in Western culture is known for the religious and pagan traditions of gift-giving, merriment and feasting around Christmas. Commonly across many cultures, it is considered Santa Claus delivers gifts. Last year we asked, ‘where’ does Santa come from? This year we are looking into ‘how’ – namely how does Santa Claus (or whichever gift-bringer) navigate and deliver their gifts? Using a map of course! We can only guess on the actual map Santa uses – but I imagine that it could look like something like the stylised map below which I hope you enjoy. Several cultures have different figures whoRead More →

World Cup Quiz

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Let’s get quizzical So today I’m going to be doing something a little bit different to normal. Rather than rambling about a great map or geographical subject, here’s something a bit more fun. I’ve talked about geography and football before (see here and here) and particularly recently with the World Cup currently taking place in Russia. Some of you may have enjoyed the excitement of the tournament, while some may have no interest in football whatsoever. However, hopefully some sort of love of geography and maps brings us all together – therefore I’ve made an interactive quiz below. While it relates to the 32 countries takingRead More →

Global Chocolate Consumption per Capita (2018)

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I Should Cocoa… Ugh. I’ve had too much chocolate. I’m writing this on Easter Sunday, surrounded by temptation in the form of several variations and combinations of chocolate, as is customary in the Western world at this time of year. It turns out you can have too much of a good thing – real ‘first world problems’. Talking of #firstworldproblems, chocolate addiction really is an issue for the developed world, where chocolate consumption is at its highest in this part of world – maps bear this out. So given this time of  year, I thought it would be fitting to look into the geographical patternsRead More →

Conflict_EventType_Mali

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In new series, ‘Map Nation’, I choose a country at random, and use this a topic to create maps related to this country. First, out of the hat – Mali Tim Marshall in his excellent book, ‘Prisoners of Geography’, underlines the importance and much overlooked influence of geography on the history of the world and modern geopolitics. Among many great examples, include Russia and it’s need for a warm sea port, or Europe, where terrain, climate and rivers created the multitude of countries and cultures in a relatively small land mass. Another example of historical and geography’s persisting impact today is perhaps no greater than inRead More →