{"id":1807266,"date":"2022-05-11T19:20:10","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T23:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1807266"},"modified":"2022-05-11T19:20:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T23:20:10","slug":"all-online-maps-dont-suck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/05\/all-online-maps-dont-suck\/","title":{"rendered":"All Online Maps Don’t Suck?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OpenStreetMap<\/a>The notion expressed in Monday\u2019s xkcd<\/a>, particularly in the alt-text\u2014<\/p>\n

OpenStreetMap was always pretty good but is also now really<\/em> good? And Apple Maps’s new zoomed-in design in certain cities like NYC and London is just gorgeous. It’s cool how there are all these good maps now!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014is unexpectedly more on point than not.<\/p>\n

In 2013 I wrote a screed saying that all online maps sucked<\/a>: that no one map platform had a monopoly on errors. At the time Exhibit A for the suckiness of online maps was Apple Maps; since then, and particularly since 2018<\/a>, Apple has been putting in the work. Not that they\u2019re done, but still: the product is fundamentally better now than it was then. And it\u2019s not like the other platforms have been idle in the meantime. No one platform is going to achieve Cartography\u2019s ideal of the universal and accurate Map<\/a>\u2014that\u2019s inherently unachievable\u2014but better? I\u2019ll take better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The notion expressed in Monday\u2019s xkcd, particularly in the alt-text\u2014 OpenStreetMap was always pretty good but is also now really good? And Apple Maps’s new zoomed-in design in certain cities like NYC and London is… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,110],"tags":[83,936,192,273],"class_list":["post-1807266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-art","category-map-errors","tag-apple-maps","tag-fun","tag-funny","tag-xkcd","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1788273,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-reaction-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807266,"position":0},"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":1807266,"position":1},"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":1787207,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/03\/xckds-least-informative-google-trends-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807266,"position":2},"title":"xckd’s ‘Least Informative’ Google Trends Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 March 2019","format":"image","excerpt":"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.","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\/google_trends_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/google_trends_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/google_trends_maps.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/google_trends_maps.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787082,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/02\/pop-vs-soda-maps-spoofed-by-xkcd\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807266,"position":3},"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":1788218,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-all-south-americas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807266,"position":4},"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":[]},{"id":1791423,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/xkcd-the-greenland-special\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807266,"position":5},"title":"xkcd: The Greenland Special","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 July 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"At some point, xkcd cartoonist Randall Munroe is going to put out a book focusing on his map-related cartoons, isn\u2019t he. The latest in his \u201cBad Map Projection\u201d series (previously: All South Americas, Time Zones, Liquid Resize) is The Greenland Special, an equal-area projection except for Greenland, which uses Mercator.\u00a0And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Bad Map Projections: The Greenland Special","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807266","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=1807266"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1807274,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807266\/revisions\/1807274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1807266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1807266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1807266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}