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Maps can shape how we see conflict.
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Cartography has become one of the most successful technologies for understanding the world around us. But like the world itself, maps and map-making are constantly evolving.
A storm cell over Brisbane in 2014.
(AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Global climate models don’t let us zoom in on the fine details. A new set of high-resolution climate models for Australia is solving this problem.
Breaking up is hard to do.
Glasshouse Images/Getty Images
Hawkish foreign policy wonks have called for a breakup of Russia. But would that fall into Beijing’s hands?
Composite/Samuel Rillstone, Darren England/AAP, Peter Hermes Furian/Shutterstock
In a crowded region, it’s hard to know who is doing what, and where. Effective statecraft, though, is not always measured by quantity over quality.
With more and more Canadians cycling, it is crucial we have up-to-date information on what cycling infrastructure exists and where to find it.
(Callista Ottoni)
Cycling in Canada has been experiencing a great boom in recent years. Yet, there was no consistent and complete way to measure cycling infrastructure, until now.
Warner Brothers
Maps can be very touchy subjects. That’s why Vietnam has banned the Barbie movie.
The Welsh name Yr Wyddfa is now used for the mountain instead of Snowdon by the national park authority.
Malgosia Janicka/Shutterstock.
Welsh place names often reflect local legends, fauna and topography. The coining of English names to replace them has sparked an ongoing campaign to protect them.
A drone image of part of the Angolan Highlands.
Mauro Lourenco
The Angolan Highlands are hydrologically and ecologically important - and the region’s newly mapped peatlands are valuable “carbon sinks”.
Pitta Pitta (Google’s Earth) 2022 from series (Dis)connected to Country.
Jahkarli Romanis
Under COVID travel restrictions, I couldn’t travel to Pitta Pitta Country. Instead, I travelled to Country through Google Maps.
These ‘islands’ are on the move.
Martin Nissen
The new discovery echoes a mission in 1931, when a five-day zeppelin flight sent robots to the stratosphere and redrew the maps of the high Arctic.
Surfers Against Sewage
These maps have gone viral – here’s what they owe to 19th century cholera campaigns.
Ajay Narendra
A new map of more than 14,000 ant species around the world will guide efforts for discovery and conservation.
Maps contain useful information, but that means leaving out other information that is also useful.
Associated Press
Geographers often talk about the ‘silences’ of maps – what’s missing and unseen. Those silences can be as meaningful as what’s shown.
State Library New South Wales
The Tasman map, dating from the 1600s, was promised to the Commonwealth – but NSW got it instead. Here’s how it happened.
The women’s suffrage movement was one of the most successful political movements in history.
Picryl
Women’s rights activists used maps to highlight which regions hadn’t given women the vote: we can use the same tactics to push climate action.
People navigate cities in much the same way animals navigate their environments.
Max Böhme/Unsplash
As you’re walking through city streets on your way to work, school or appointments, you probably feel like you’re taking the most efficient route. Thanks to evolution, you’re probably not.
A demonstrator writes a message in chalk at the corner of Florence and Normandy avenues in Los Angeles.
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A sociologist asked public high school teachers to draw maps of the neighborhood where they teach. Those with more detailed maps also made stronger cultural connections with their students.
National Library of Australia: 31258061
In many cases, colonial maps would portray conquered land as having been ‘empty’ and available when settlers arrived — even if it wasn’t.
Understanding how different bodies of water connect across South Africa may drive improved conservation and awareness.
Jaco van Rensburg/Shutterstock
A greater understanding of interconnectedness created by river maps could influence people to become more engaged with conserving river systems.