Maps of the Week

OSM Then and Now allows you to view OpenStreetMap coverage around the world in 2007 side-by-side with today's OpenStreetMap.

OpenStreetMap was started in the UK in 2004. OSM Then and Now shows that by 2007 OpenStreetMap was still a largely European project. By 2007 European cities, such as London, Amsterdam and Berlin had been comprehensively mapped. Conversely coverage in the rest of the world was very patchy and practically non-existent in most countries.

Even in many European cities OSM in 2007 was nowhere near as comprehensive as it is now. The screenshot above shows the map of Paris. You can clearly see that in 2007 (on the left) although the road map was fairly detailed the map was largely free of points of interest, building plots and other map features.


The KLM Must See application is a pretty cool tool to create a nice customized map for an upcoming trip. Using the application you can choose a city which you plan to visit soon and create a map of places you want to visit.

Using the application you can easily add places which you want to visit to a personalized map. The map uses the Google Places API, so that as you type in a venue it should automatically appear beneath the search box. You just need to select the correct suggestion and a map pin is automatically added to the map. This also means that you can type in generic terms, such as 'museum' or 'gallery' to view a list of these venues in your chosen city.

The application also allows you to connect with your friends, via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail invite, so that they can recommend places on the map for you to visit.

The KLM map also makes good use of the Styled Maps feature in the Google Maps API to create a map in the KLM livery colors. The folded paper effect on the KLM map uses a well established image masking trick.


The Royal British Legion is hoping to commemorate every Commonwealth serviceman and woman who died in World War I. Every Man Remembered allows you to commemorate relatives who died in the First World War or leave a commemoration for someone that hasn't yet been given a tribute.

Every Man Remembered includes a Google Map showing the resting places of Commonwealth soldiers around the world. If you select a cemetery on the map you can view details about the servicemen and women from the First World War who are buried or commemorated there. If you select an individual serviceman or woman from the map you can read details about their service and life.

If you have information about a Commonwealth serviceman or woman who died in the war you can add your information and photos of them to the records.


On the 1st August 1914 Germany declared war on Russia. Germany followed this up, two days, later by declaring war on France. One day later Britain declared war on Germany. The First World War had truly begun.

One hundred years later the pace of World War I mapping is also gathering momentum. The latest World War I map is this impressive Esri Story Map about one Australian farm-hand's journey from rural Victoria to his death in action on the grim battlefields of Gallipoli.

It is hard for anyone to fathom the sheer scale of the over 16 million deaths of World War I. For King and Country - John Henry Cartwright's Gallipoli campaign 1914-1915 focuses on just one of those 16 million life and death stories and is all the more poignant for it. The map traces John Cartwright's journey from Victoria in Australia to Gallipoli. The map is illustrated by vintage photographs, archive film and some of Cartwright's own military records.

The map is a fitting memorial to the sacrifice made by John Henry Cartwright and somehow even brings more clearly into focus the lives of the millions of other servicemen and women who died fighting in World War I.