The World is a Piano!
Back in the distant mists of 2009, Andy Woodruff created Ohio is a Piano - an interactive map where the state’s 88 counties function as the 88 keys of a piano. Clicking a county on the map triggers a unique note, literally transforming the map into a playable instrument.
Now, in honor of Piano Day - fittingly held on the 88th day of the year - Ian Muehlenhaus has introduced Map Melody. It’s a worldwide stage where every country serves as a key, effectively acting as the expansive grand piano to Andy Woodruff’s Ohio recital.
How It Works
The map isn't just a random soundboard; it uses a thoughtful hierarchy to organize the world's "keyboard":
- The Scale: Larger countries by area are assigned to the more frequently played white keys.
- The Tuning: Each of the 88 piano keys is mapped to at least two different countries.
- The Sound: It utilizes a high-quality acoustic grand piano soundfont, giving the Equal Earth projection a surprisingly rich, professional tone.
Andy Woodruff's original Ohio is a Piano actually used a more data driven approach. Where Ian’s Map Melody uses physical size to dictate the keys, Andy Woodruff’s original allowed the music to be reshaped by Census data. In the 2009 version, the "pitch" of a county isn't fixed; it’s determined by the census attribute you choose - such as population or income. The higher the value in the dataset, the higher the note's pitch. This effectively turned the geography of Ohio into a living bar chart, where the melody changed based on the underlying demographics, allowing users to literally "hear" the data of the state.
Map Melody was created as part of the Map Design Commission's #365DaysofMaps campaign.
Link to Your Own Map Songs
The major omission from Map Melody is the ability to share your map tunes with friends. To solve this, I created a musical map that uses URL hash parameters, allowing you to share direct links to your own creations.
To create a tune, simply add note letters (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) separated by commas to the end of the URL hash, e.g.
#C,C,G,A. For example plays a passing rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Here are some tunes you might like:
Unfortunately most tunes won’t sound fully accurate on this map because the system only represents note sequences, not the expressive elements that make music recognizable. The playback uses a fixed tempo with equal spacing between notes, and the URL format doesn’t currently support rhythm, note duration, rests, or timing variations.
Perhaps one day I'll get around to extending the URL format to include timing information (note lengths and delays), rests, and possibly octave or chord support, allowing each note to carry both pitch and temporal meaning.
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