{"id":1787207,"date":"2019-03-25T19:03:59","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T23:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1787207"},"modified":"2019-03-25T19:03:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T23:03:59","slug":"xckds-least-informative-google-trends-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/03\/xckds-least-informative-google-trends-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"xckd’s ‘Least Informative’ Google Trends Maps"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh look, another map-themed comic\/infographic thingy<\/a> from xkcd: the March 20 edition is having some fun with the maps generated by Google Trends<\/a> data. The maps are real, says Randall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh look, another map-themed comic\/infographic thingy from xkcd: the March 20 edition is having some fun with the maps generated by Google Trends data. The maps are real, says Randall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[936,192,273],"class_list":["post-1787207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-unusual-maps","tag-fun","tag-funny","tag-xkcd","post_format-post-format-image"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1844815,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/08\/how-xkcd-does-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787207,"position":0},"title":"How xkcd Does Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 August 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall Munroe, author of the xkcd web comic, posts a surprising amount of map-related content, which I invariably end up linking to here. With some exceptions, they fall into one of two categories, each of which has a recent example. The first category is a hand-drawn infographic map showing, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787082,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/02\/pop-vs-soda-maps-spoofed-by-xkcd\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787207,"position":1},"title":"Pop vs. Soda Maps Spoofed by xkcd","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 February 2019","format":"image","excerpt":"By law, I am required to share every xkcd comic about maps. Today's makes great fun of pop versus soda maps\u2014the maps showing where in the U.S. carbonated beverages are referred to as pop versus where they're referred to as soda. Randall takes things to their ludicrous extremes, as he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linguistics"","block_context":{"text":"Linguistics","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/linguistics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd (6 Feb 2019): Regional Terms for Carbonated Beverages","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/carbonated_beverage_language_map.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/carbonated_beverage_language_map.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/carbonated_beverage_language_map.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/carbonated_beverage_language_map.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788273,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-reaction-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787207,"position":2},"title":"xkcd: Reaction Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 January 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"The latest xkcd comic suggests a fiendish way to express yourself: by creating phrases from driving direction waypoints. An obvious upgrade would be to use one or more of the places from the Magnificently Rude Map of World Place Names (previously).","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Reaction Maps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791918,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/10\/xkcd-sabotages-those-flag-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787207,"position":3},"title":"xkcd Sabotages Those Flag Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 October 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Maps where countries are coloured in with flag patterns: I\u2019ve seen a lot of them around, especially on Reddit, but I haven\u2019t necessarily liked them; xkcd\u2019s comic from last Wednesday goes one step further in that it offers a way to hack them.","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/flag_map_sabotage.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/flag_map_sabotage.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/flag_map_sabotage.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1834522,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/10\/a-50-50-us-australia-blend-from-xkcd\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787207,"position":4},"title":"‘A 50\/50 US\/Australia Blend’ from xkcd","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 October 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall Munroe, \u201cBad Map Projection: The United Stralia,\u201d xkcd, 16 Oct 2024. Morphing maps of the U.S. and Australia into one hot mess is more of a Star Trek transporter accident than a map projection, if we\u2019re being nitpicky; what\u2019s surprising is that the result is almost viable. Almost.","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/xkcd-united-stralia.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/xkcd-united-stralia.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/xkcd-united-stralia.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/xkcd-united-stralia.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/xkcd-united-stralia.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/xkcd-united-stralia.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788218,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-all-south-americas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787207,"position":5},"title":"xkcd: All South Americas","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 January 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"xkcd is back with another bad map projection: in this one, it\u2019s all South Americas. The alt-text:\u00a0\u201cThe projection does a good job preserving both distance and azimuth, at the cost of really exaggerating how many South Americas there are.\u201d Previously: xkcd\u2019s Time Zone Map; xkcd\u2019s Liquid Resize Map Projection; xkcd\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787207"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1787209,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787207\/revisions\/1787209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}