South Pacific island found not to exist

Really. R'lyeh. The Call of Cthulhu. [Link]

The supposedly sizeable strip of land, named Sandy Island on Google maps, was positioned midway between Australia and French-governed New Caledonia.

But when scientists from the University of Sydney went to the area, they found only the blue ocean of the Coral Sea.

The phantom island has featured in publications for at least a decade.

Scientist Maria Seton, who was on the ship, said that the team was expecting land, not 1,400m (4,620ft) of deep ocean.

"We wanted to check it out because the navigation charts on board the ship showed a water depth of 1,400m in that area - very deep," Dr Seton, from the University of Sydney, told the AFP news agency after the 25-day voyage.

"It's on Google Earth and other maps so we went to check and there was no island. We're really puzzled. It's quite bizarre.

Australian newspapers have reported that the invisible island would sit within French territorial waters if it existed - but does not feature on French government maps. "How did it find its way onto the maps? We just don't know, but we plan to follow up and find out."

Australia's Hydrographic Service, which produces the country's nautical charts, says its appearance on some scientific maps and Google Earth could just be the result of human error, repeated down the years.

A spokesman from the service told Australian newspapers that while some map makers intentionally include phantom streets to prevent copyright infringements, that was was not usually the case with nautical charts because it would reduce confidence in them.

A spokesman for Google said they consult a variety of authoritative sources when making their maps.

"The world is a constantly changing place, the Google spokesman told AFP, "and keeping on top of these changes is a never-ending endeavour'.'

The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Sydney says that while most explorers dream of discovering uncharted territory, the Australian team appears to have done the opposite - and cartographers everywhere are now rushing to undiscover Sandy Island for ever.

Fringe Map

Map of the alternate universe United States and fringe events. [Link]

Fringe doesn't come back for another couple months, but we haven't stopped obsessing about that baffling cliffhanger, and all the questions that the show has left us struggling with.

But to help tide you over, here's a detailed map of the United States of America — both of them — in the Fringe universe(s).

3d maps generated by drones

Neat. [Link]

Users upload images taken with their flying machines, at which point Pix4D kicks into action, defining high contrast points in the phots and pasting them together based on those points. It then renders a 3D model, overlays the graphics, and spits out a Google Earth-style map.

Conflict History

Interactive map of every war in history. [Link]

Something I'm working on in my spare time

A map editor/world generation utility for Traveller. Still very early yet, but I'm making good progress. Inspired by Heaven & Earth and the Traveller Map.

Comic Book Geography

Specifically, the DC Universe. [Link]

When reading DC Comics Presents #87 yesterday, I noted an interesting panel in which Superman realized he was on Earth-Prime ("our" Earth) because certain well-known cities of the DC Universe just weren't there.
This is interesting, because it represents one of the few clues as to where some of these cities actually are in the DCU's version of the United States. Looks like Gotham shares some of its territory with our New York, while Star City - home of Green Arrow - sits within the borders of the greater Boston. Seems a bit close for comfort, considering the DCU ALSO has a Boston and an NYC.

Finding locations. [Link]

I've chosen 10 cities to be placed each in their own new, fictional state. YOU name the states (and maybe where they go on the map) and I'll pick my favorites for inclusion in a new 60 state map of the United States to be featured on this very blog next week. Nothing to win but the honor.

So here are the DC cities that really deserve their own states.
1. Metropolis
2. Gotham City (and Blüdhaven)
3. Central City
4. Keystone City (across the state line from Central)
5. Midway City
6. Coast City
7. Star City
8. Gateway City
9. Fawcett City
10. Opal City

Fantasy World Map

This would be awesome to play in. [Link]

A hobbit, a Sleestak, a Who, and the Cheshire Cat walk into a dungeon...

Battlestar Galactica/Caprica: Map of the 12 Colonies

Awesome map. I do think they should have had one colony per system, not three or four, but it's better than one. [Link]

Not only is this map a thing of great beauty, but it's totally official — Grazier was science advisor for Battlestar Galactica from the very beginning, and helped to define a lot of the show's concepts. And Espenson, as the original showrunner for the prequel series Caprica, had to do a lot of thinking about exactly how the Twelve Colonies were laid out. This info comes straight from the creators — and from the showrunner's bible for BSG and Caprica. And Grazier, who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, verifies that the info in this map is "scientifically plausible."

We're excited to present an exclusive high-res image of the map, which sells for $14.95 from Quantum Mechanix and measures 27" by 39". This is one item that should definitely be on your Dradis.

We asked Espenson and Grazier some questions about the map, and they ended up telling us a lot more about the science and backstory of Battlestar Galactica:

Click to view full sized.

North American Pronunciation Map

Neat. "on" rhymes with "Don". [Link]

There are 8 major English dialect areas in North America, listed below the map at left. These are shown in blue, each with its number, on the map and in the Dialect Description Chartbelow, and are also outlined with blue lines on the map. The first 6 of these begin at the eastern seaboard and proceed west, reflecting western settlement patterns. 24-Aug.-2010The many subdialects are shown in red on the map and in the chart, and are outlined with red lines on the map. All of these are listed in the margins of the map as well. 28-Aug.-2010In the Dialect Description Chart additional features not shown on the map are provided for distinguishing the dialects.

Looking at the world through new eyes

Neat maps showing the world as Cartograms for various categories. [Link]

Introduction

This website contains 366 maps, with associated information and PDF 'poster' file. Each map relates to a particular subject. Click on the 'Thumbnail Index' which gives thumbnail previews of the maps, 'Map Categories' which is classified to see the choice, or a new option 'A-Z Map Index', and view a map and associated information. There is also a Site Map and Help page.

Coverage
The maps and data files cover 200 territories, mainly United Nation Member States plus a few others to include at least 99.95% of the world's population. For a map identifying them see the labelled territory map, and for a cartogram giving them all equal prominence see Appendix A (Areas Included). Further details about their names are given in Technical Notes for Land Area. Also shown on the maps are 62 other areas, mostly small islands, which do not have unique data but are assigned to and included in the data of the 200. For details see Appendix B (Islands Assigned to Territories).

Cartograms
The maps presented on this website are equal area cartograms, otherwise known as density-equalising maps. The cartogram re-sizes each territory according to the variable being mapped. The particular method used is one described by Michael Gastner and Mark Newman (see below for link). For further information, see About the Maps. To get a higher resolution map, click on the map image.

Michael T. Gastner and M. E. J. Newman (2004) Diffusion-based method for producing density equalizing maps Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 7499-7504.

Kaballah Tree of Life as Subway Map

Strange, but cool. [Link]

Sephiroth (Hebrew for ‘Enumerations’) is the name for the ten attributes of God in the Kabbalah (a form of jewish esotericism). Ten in itself is of course also a significant number, as it is divinely perfect. The attributes are:

* The Crown (’Keter’ in Hebrew): the Creator Himself.

* Wisdom (’Hokhmah’): Divine reality/revelation; the power of Wisdom.

* Understanding (’Binah’): repentance/reason; the power of Love.

* Mercy (’Hesed’): grace/intention to emulate God; the power of Vision.

* Strength (’Gevurah’): judgment/determination; the power of Intention.

* Beauty (’Tif’eret’): symmetry/compassion; the power of Creativity.

* Victory (’Netzah’): contemplation/initiative/persistence; the power of the Eternal Now.

* Splendour (’Hod’): surrender/sincerity/steadfastness; the power of Observation.

* Yesod (’Foundation’): remembering/knowing; the power of Manifesting.

* Kingdom (’Malkuth’): physical presence/vision and illusion; the power of Healing.

As befits esoteric systems, the aforementioned terms are anything but elucidating, and furthermore they’re only one of many interpretations of the 10 sephiroth (rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero’s, to be precise).

It would fit right in with the GUPRS Cabal setting, where the Tree of Life really does map out reality.