A Typographic Map of the World

Last week someone posted an animation of a Typographic Map of France on Reddit. This map gradually added the names of 1,156 French communes to a blank canvas, starting with those with the largest populations. I really liked the effect of the animation and remembered that TripGeo's Scrambled Maps has a database of around 11,000 cities worldwide - complete with population data. That meant I should be able to create a global version of the map.

My interactive Typographic Map provides a unique way to watch the world’s major cities appear one by one. Instead of loading all city labels at once, the map gradually reveals them in order of population size - starting with the largest cities and working its way down to smaller ones. With more than 11,000 places in the dataset, you can sit back and watch the planet fill up with names, or take control of the pace with a few handy buttons (it should only take around 1 hour 30 minutes to see all 11k labels added to the map).

How It Works

When the map loads, it starts with a blank white canvas. Every few hundred milliseconds, another city label is added. The order isn’t random - cities are sorted by population, so megacities like Tokyo, Delhi, and Shanghai appear first, followed by mid-sized cities and eventually smaller towns.

Each city is added as a point feature with a text label. If you enable the optional circle layer, cities are also drawn as semi-transparent dots sized according to their population - larger cities get bigger dots.

Humanizing a Sea of Dots

Dot maps can be a powerful way to convey the scale of large numbers. But when each dot represents a human life, there’s a risk that the individual stories behind those numbers will be lost. Reuters’ latest visualization of European migration tackles this challenge head-on: instead of starting with statistics, it begins with a close-up of a single overcrowded boat, allowing viewers to see the people on board before zooming out to reveal the thousands who have died or disappeared while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Reuters’ latest story on migration routes to Europe features a striking 3D visualization of a boat full of migrants. This close-up view of a 3D model then seamlessly transitions to an overhead map view, showing the boat adrift in the Mediterranean Sea. By beginning with a realistic depiction of people precariously packed into a small vessel, the piece powerfully humanizes the thousands of yellow dots on the map - each representing a migrant who has died or disappeared while attempting to cross the Mediterranean since 2015.

Last year, at least 3,812 people died while trying to reach Europe. In Stranded at Sea, Reuters explains how Europe’s renewed focus on deterring migrant crossings has left distress calls unanswered by government agencies. At the same time, Italy has introduced policies aimed at limiting the number of NGO rescues in the Mediterranean.

Towards the end of the article, Reuters returns to its 3D model to show how the overloaded boat set off from Libya with an engine too small for the number of passengers on board and with insufficient fuel to reach its intended destination. Illustrations of the boat also highlight how, because the vessel was so overcrowded, it sat lower in the water and was therefore more easily overwhelmed by waves that at this time of year “can be up to around two metres high.”

The Methane Risk Map

In 2024, atmospheric methane levels reached their highest point in more than 800,000 years, with the oil and gas sector playing a major role in that surge. The methane leaks from oil and gas operations don’t just warm the planet - they also release toxic pollutants that can harm people’s health.

The Methane Risk Map plots significant methane leak events across the United States. By combining emissions data with air quality modeling, it not only identifies where methane “super-emitter” events occurred but also illustrates where nearby communities may have been exposed to hazardous co-pollutants.

When you select a methane leak event on the interactive map, a heatmap visualization shows the areas potentially affected by the leak. The sidebar provides additional details, including the event date, emissions rate, estimated number of people impacted, and the number of sensitive facilities (such as schools and hospitals) within the affected area.

By highlighting sensitive sites such as schools, childcare centers, nursing homes, and hospitals, the map emphasizes how methane leaks may disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. Methane is invisible and odorless, making its risks hard to detect. The map aims to make those hidden dangers visible, and will hopefully empower communities and policymakers with evidence they can potentially act on.

The New Geologic Map of the United States

The United States Geological Survey has released a new geologic map of the United States that lets you click anywhere in the country to see the rocks, sediments, and geologic units under your feet, along with their age and material type.

The Cooperative National Geological Map was created by combining around 100 state and regional maps into one seamless, nationwide view of U.S. geology. The map uses standard U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) colors and patterns, but you don’t need to know those standards in advance - when you zoom in on the map, a legend automatically appears. This legend automatically updates to explain the colors currently visible in your map view.

The map sidebar allows you to explore different geologic map layers:

• Earth Surface - geology exposed at the surface.
• Quaternary - deposits from the Quaternary Period (youngest geologic materials).
• Pre-Quaternary - older rocks beneath surface deposits.
• Precambrian - very old basement rocks.

This new national geologic map lets you explore both a simplified national view and the original state-level geology. Users can spot big geologic patterns across the country, then zoom in for detailed views from local maps. It offers instant access to America’s geologic story in a way that’s easy and engaging to explore.

GeoGuesser - Hosted by an AI

The geo-guessing genre has seen a sudden surge in AI-powered experimentation. Just yesterday, I reviewed GeoGPT, which pits players against an AI to identify locations using Mapillary imagery. Today, I came across GeoGuesser AI, a geo-guessing game that’s actually hosted by an AI..

In many respects, GeoGuesser AI follows the familiar geo-guessing format: you’re dropped into a random location in Google Street View and must rely on visual clues to pinpoint where you are. But here’s the twist- unlike every other geo-guessing game, you don’t submit your guess by clicking on a map. Instead, you interact directly with the AI, giving your answers through natural conversation.

This turns out to be a genuinely refreshing change. Not only does it make the game feel more immersive, it also unlocks some unique advantages. You can ask the AI for hints when you’re stuck - like help identifying a language from strange accents on a road sign, or insights into what countries might have cathedrals with bulb-shaped domes. 

If there’s one drawback, it’s the limited pool of locations. After only a few minutes, I started encountering repeat locations, sometimes even three times in a row. Hopefully, this is just a temporary issue that will be solved as the location database grows.

Play GeoGuessr Against an AI

GeoGPT is now one of my favorite geo-guessing games. GeoGPT follows the usual GeoGuessr inspired format: you’re dropped into a random street-level image, and your task is to figure out where in the world you are. But here’s the twist - rather than competing against other humans, you’re up against an AI, which makes its own guesses alongside yours. The closest guess to the true location wins the round.

The game uses Mapillary images rather than Google Street View but the format is straightforward: you play a 20-round match, marking your guesses on an interactive map while the AI does the same. Each round becomes a mini showdown: your human instincts versus GPT-5’s reasoning. If you want to compete against me as well then you need to win more than 5 rounds - because that's how many rounds I won - while GPT-5 took the other 15.

Unfortunately I think there is only one game of 20 rounds available to play. I started a second game and I’m pretty certain that the locations and Mapillary images were the same from the first game played. Hopefully, in the future the pool of locations will be expanded, because this AI twist on the classic GeoGuessr theme is inspired.

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Growing a World Wide Web

Every year Telegeography publishes a comprehensive, annually updated map that visualizes active and planned submarine telecommunications cables around the world. The futuristic looking 2025 Submarine Cable Map was released back in January. This map shows the current extent of the world’s active submarine telecommunications cables and those currently under construction.

The Internet Infrastructure Map allows you to see how the current network of submarine telecommunication cables has developed over the last 36 years. The map combines two key elements of the internet: submarine fiber-optic cables, which connect continents across the ocean floor, and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), the data hubs where networks interconnect and exchange traffic.

One of the standout features of the Internet Infrastructure Map is its animated timeline. Starting from 1989, when the first modern subsea cables appeared, you can step year by year through time and watch the growth of the global internet unfold on the map. The animation reveals how over time the sparse early connections developed into the dense intercontinental webs of cables of today, with new systems being added almost every year. By sliding through to 2025, you can literally watch the internet’s backbone expand, seeing when major routes were built and how new IXPs shifted regional connectivity patterns.

How Big is Anything?

The Size of Anything is an interactive map that lets you compare the sizes of different locations around the world.

To be honest, when I first heard about The Size of Anything I thought, “Not another size comparison map.” Just off the top of my head I can think of several similar tools:

• The True Size Of ... 
• GeoSize Compare 
• Country Size Comparison 
• Reprojector

- all of which let you directly compare the scale of different geographical areas on the same map.

However, as soon as I started playing with The Size of Anything, my mood quickly improved. It’s very well done. Perhaps the most impressive feature is the sheer number of locations you can compare. As long as OpenStreetMap knows about it, The Size of Anything can handle it. That means the options are enormous: parks, airports, islands, neighborhoods, towns, cities - almost anything mapped on OSM.

There’s also a fun extra: if you select the Treasure button, you’ll find a few non-geographic objects to overlay, such as a blue whale, the Titanic, or an airplane.

So, while The Size of Anything isn’t exactly a brand-new concept, it takes the idea and executes it brilliantly. With its huge range of locations and playful extras, it’s probably one of the best tools out there for exploring and comparing the true scale of different geographical areas.

Letters Found on the Moon

This isn’t a tale about Lunar correspondence, but of letters shaped from the craters and shadows of the Moon. Alphabet Moon uses imagery of Lunar contours and ridges to shape a typeface out of unfamiliar terrain. Each letter is drawn not with ink but with the valleys, peaks, and scars of the lunar surface, transforming geological history into the letters of the alphabet.

Enter your name - or any other word - into Alphabet Moon, and watch it spelled out in letters drawn from the Moon’s ancient terrain. Each character is carefully matched to the shape of a crater, ridge, or valley, so that what begins as a simple word is reimagined in a language etched into the lunar surface.

Beneath each lunar letter lies a short explanation of how that form was created. These notes not only reveal the exact location on the Moon where the feature can be found, but also describe the geological forces that shaped it - whether an ancient impact, the slow cooling of lava, or the shifting of the Moon’s crust.

Alphabet Moon is a brilliant reinterpretation of Rhett Dashwood’s Google Maps Typography. Back in 2009, Dashwood unveiled an “Earth font” made up of 26 satellite images of our planet, each one resembling a different letter of the alphabet.

NASA appreciated Dashwood’s idea so much that they went on to create their own interactive typewriter, allowing you to write your name using satellite imagery. Type a name into Your Name in Landsat and watch it spelled out in Earth features captured by Landsat satellites. You can even download an image of your word written in massive Earth letters, and by hovering over each letter you can discover where in the world those shapes occur.

And if letters alone don’t satisfy your curiosity, there’s also Earth Clock - an online digital clock that uses satellite images of natural features resembling numbers to display the current time wherever you are.

Changing Parking Lots to Homes

Over recent years, a number of urban planning maps have revealed just how much valuable city land is devoted to surface parking lots. For example, the Parking Lot Map highlights the percentage of land in U.S. city centers taken up by parking.

The School of Cities at the University of Toronto has gone a step further with its project From Parking Spaces to Living Spaces. Using a compelling story map, the school shows how Toronto could repurpose underutilized surface parking lots into new housing. This shift could help address the Toronto housing crisis, while also generating significant property tax revenue for the city.

The interactive map illustrates:

• How much land in Toronto is currently used for parking lots.
• How much of this space sits within 1 km of public transit stations.
• How much additional revenue could be created if these lots were converted into city-owned housing developments.

The report makes a clear case: Toronto’s surface parking lots, often located in prime, transit-friendly neighborhoods, produce little revenue while the city struggles with an acute shortage of affordable housing. Redeveloping these sites into well-designed residential communities would not only increase tax revenue but also create much-needed homes and build more vibrant, complete neighborhoods.