Maps are important – they give us a sense of geography and inform us on where every country is in the world. Right? But do they provide more than that? Not really. Well, not until these maps started rolling around the internet. We’ve all seen the political and topographical maps, but have you seen maps that answer questions about where the most attractive people are? Or how about global stereotypes?
These are some maps that will give some information that you never thought about before – all in map form.
According to Americans…
Alpha designer Yanko Tsvetkov put together a map of the world from the perspective of Americans. It can be found in his international bestseller ‘Atlas of Prejudice.’ Yanko grew up in communist Bulgari and became obsessed with maps. Atlases were among the very few colorful books he had access to. He would spend hours tracing the maps and altering them to draw imaginary worlds.
‘Atlas of Prejudice’ started somewhat by accident in 2009, during a conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Yanko started getting emails from his international friends that he made online. So he decided to make an illustration to illustrate what was going on.
The Corporate States of America
America and corporation go hand in hand, and artist and writer Steve Lovelace wanted to illustrate it on a map he created called “The Corporate States of America.” This map shows the most famous brand (as of 2012) that originated in each of the 50 states.
Lovelace called his project response to “corporate feudalism.” The most controversial in the map might be California, where Apple got first place (above Facebook, Google, and Frontier Wok).
The United States Is…
I just love this. Searching on the internet can shed new light on what people think, feel, want, etc. And sometimes you’re surprised by what comes up automatically after you put in one or two words. Google or Yahoo! Basically predict what your next word is.
This is a map that shows what comes up when you search “[State name] is…” in Yahoo! and allow the “topmost satisfactory result” to represent each state. This map shows us what the internet seems to think about the United States.
You’re Welcome…Or Not
Here’s something you might want to take a gander at the next time you plan your next vacation. This map shows us the relative welcome-ness of countries around the world to foreign visitors. As you can see, the blues indicate “more welcome,” and reds indicate “less welcome.”
I gotta say, I’m not too surprised to see all the red where it is and all the blue where it is. But I gotta say, I expected a certain country that speaks French to be a little more on the red tint. You know, based on personal experience.
European Attractiveness
If you’ve ever wondered which European country has the most attractive people, you now have scientific data to help you figure it out. Although the sample size is small, it gives you an idea more or less where the “pretty” people are.
From the looks of it, an overwhelming majority of people from the data-collection strongly believe that Sweden has the most attractive people. I feel bad for all the zeros and 1s. Just saying…