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When most of us think about the word “data'' our eyes glaze over as a million Excel cells appear in our minds, putting us to sleep. So clever folks out there rolled up their sleeves and got to work, making visual depictions of data that help us better understand the world.

This online group shares various cool and interesting maps that help put all sorts of facts and figures into context. So get comfortable, prepare to brush up on some geography, and get to scrolling. Be sure to upvote your favorite posts and share your thoughts and observations in the comments section below. 

#1

Good Political Maps Of Oceania Are Hard To Come By

Good Political Maps Of Oceania Are Hard To Come By

RecordingFancy8515 Report

#2

The Literal Meaning Of Every Country's Name In Africa

The Literal Meaning Of Every Country's Name In Africa

Homesanto Report

#3

Endings Of Places In Poland

Endings Of Places In Poland

DaveBensonPhilips Report

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Bernd Herbert
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is the result of an old dialectal boundary. and another fun fact: In Northeastern Germany you will find lots of places that end in -ow, showing that the old Slawic Tribes were living in that area, way before any of today's national borders.

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If you have ever taken a casual look at an average map of the world, you have no doubt been struck by the sheer size of Russia and, to a lesser extent, Canada. This does make sense, as these are the largest countries on the planet, however, did you know that a little feature of mapmaking called Mercator projection makes them look significantly larger than they really are?

This comes from the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, who created a “cylindrical” map to represent the world in 1569. After all, unless you are looking at a globe, most maps are drawn, painted, or printed on a rectangular surface. Imagine the tube-like maps pirates are always dragging around and you have a pretty good depiction of an early Mercator map. 

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#4

Average Color Of US State Based On Satellite Imaging

Average Color Of US State Based On Satellite Imaging

SnooMacarons8038 Report

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C Cat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This needs a title change to include the fact these are from summer time... otherwise northern states would be much lighter/snow 😄

EarthGrowl
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The fact that so many people misunderstand this map shows that people don't get out of their house enough. Looking at this map you can tell where the deserts are and where the Mississippi River and Missouri Rivers run. Not everything is about American politics. Political parties should be classified terrorist organizations. Except they spread fear to manipulate voters to vote for them.

FaceTime Audio
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As someone from a tan/brown state, being in a green state is such a culture shock. People actually see that beauty all the time? My state is beautiful, but our beauty is very different.

Bree
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really relate to that. I grew up in Arizona but moved to Washington State. Huge difference!

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MaximumKarmaSaint
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Covering up a bad comment! Do me a favor and don't view the one at the bottom. Also my state is greyish-green! Would you look at that!

Upstaged75
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All you're doing when you post a comment like this is drawing more attention to it. Please don't! Just downvote and report.

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Linda Owen
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You might be color blind if you see purple. It's the average color of the land from the sky.

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Astrophile
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The greener states have more forest/vegetation, the browner states are more arid/desert/plains :) it’s just showing the average colour of the terrain from each state. You could call it “mildly interesting.”

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seana lammers
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Color by what definition? Vegetation, hydration, precipitation?

Richard Wilcox
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Satellite imagery. It says in the description, if u actually read it (so yes, vegetation, which is a function of hydration/precip)

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Christof Irran
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Coming from Washington State - "The Evergreen State" - I was very pleasantly surprised during a recent visit to (northern) Alabama by how green it is. The landscape is heavily forested with oak trees and pine, and in light of that I can clearly see why Alabama on this map is greener shaded than Washington State.

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#5

What’s The Most Popular Sport In Each Country?

What’s The Most Popular Sport In Each Country?

geographyfacts Report

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WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Correct usage of football ⚽️ /s ☺️ not that I care about sports, just find the wordusage peculiar..

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#6

Time Needed To Earn 1€ Million Earning On Average Wage

Time Needed To Earn 1€ Million Earning On Average Wage

karinasnooodles_ Report

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Tee Pussi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sure, if you can manage not to pay taxes or rent and don't eat for a few decades.

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After all, the real landmasses on the planet, which are spherical, don’t translate 1-to-1 on a rectangular map. Certain sections end up stretched and, as a result, appear to be a lot larger than they actually are. Mercator chose to “focus” the map on the northern hemisphere, where locations closer to the “top” of the map would end up seeming larger. Hence Russia and Canada being absolutely gigantic on so many maps. 

#8

How Many % Of People Would Not Want To Live Next Door To Lgbt People?

How Many % Of People Would Not Want To Live Next Door To Lgbt People?

theworldmaps Report

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Sarinz
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wouldn't want to live next door to people who "Would Not Want To Live Next Door To Lgbt People"...

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#9

World Map According To China In 1799

World Map According To China In 1799

Redstream28 Report

In fact, at the time, these maps were specifically created to aid in marine navigation. While it’s quite irrelevant to us, early seafarers could use a Mercator map to get a “straight” bearing when sailing to a new location. On a map that doesn’t use Mercator projection, the bearing would be a curve, representing the curve of the globe.

#10

U.S. States That Have Banned The Most Books (In Autumn 2022)

U.S. States That Have Banned The Most Books (In Autumn 2022)

GaffersB Report

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WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At least it started backfiring in Utah, banning the bible from schools. For content of murder, violence, sexual things etc.

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#11

Percentage Of Population (25-64yrs) In Europe That Cant Speak Any Foreign Language

Percentage Of Population (25-64yrs) In Europe That Cant Speak Any Foreign Language

MardukSyria Report

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TotallyNOTAFox
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

English is mandatory here in Germany, additionally there are usually choices for french and spanish on top

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This sort of map has simply stuck around for hundreds of years, leading many people to draw somewhat incorrect conclusions about the real size of things. We are lucky that Russia and Canada really are the two largest countries, so the distortions don’t seem as bad. Other examples of distortion are the similarity between the UK and Madagascar, despite the latter being nearly twice as large.

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#13

Belief In Life After Death In Europe

Belief In Life After Death In Europe

cloudtdaz Report

#14

Average Money Spent On Weddings In US States

Average Money Spent On Weddings In US States

Starry_Night0123 Report

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Bernd Herbert
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is absolutely wild. Looking at California....this is more than I spent in the last 10 years for various vacations. I'm from Germany, and those vacations included USA & Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, the Seychelles, Mauritius and countless trips within Europe. (Yes, I'm counting my expenses.) I would never ever exchange these experiences with a one-time party. Absolutely absurd!

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#15

Roman Coin Hoards, From The 'Coinage In The Roman Empire' Project — 'Hoards Containing Coinage In Use In The Roman Empire Between 30 B.c. And A.d. 400.'

Roman Coin Hoards, From The 'Coinage In The Roman Empire' Project — 'Hoards Containing Coinage In Use In The Roman Empire Between 30 B.c. And A.d. 400.'

idonotknowtodo Report

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sbj
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those Romans were very careless with their loose change on their travels

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Even more comically, due to its northerly position, Alaska appears to be roughly the size of Australia, despite the fact that the land down under is almost five times larger. You can find an excellent gif depicting the presented and real size of various nations here

#16

When Is Weekend

When Is Weekend

two_plus_two_is_zero Report

#17

Asia's Counting System. How Do You Say The Number 57

Asia's Counting System. How Do You Say The Number 57

Mokkasakka Report

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TotallyNOTAFox
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Blue and yellow are reasonable, the rest seems overly complicated. Edit: Orange, not yellow ^^

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#19

Male Body Hair Distribution Of Indigenous Human Populations Around The World

Male Body Hair Distribution Of Indigenous Human Populations Around The World

Homesanto Report

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Tuesday
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

South Indians are hairy, didn't need a graph to tell me that, just a mirror... sigh. I'm a woman and I'm hairier than my North Indian father

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#20

Sex Ratio

Sex Ratio

Hockputer09 Report

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Tracy Wallick
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And yet, men are treated as the default despite being a smaller percent of the population in the majority of countries.

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#21

Percentage Of Light vs. Brown Hair In European Countries

Percentage Of Light vs. Brown Hair In European Countries

Specific_Ad_097 Report

#22

Most Wasteful Countries In The World

Most Wasteful Countries In The World

flyingcatwithhorns Report

#24

Air Polution In Europe

Air Polution In Europe

therealcup_1 Report

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Monstarr the Divisive
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whoa... What's happening in nort Italy, Poland and around the Balkans? Why is it so bad there?

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#25

US States By Violent Crime Rate

US States By Violent Crime Rate

Specific_Ad_685 Report

#26

The Countries With The Most Island

The Countries With The Most Island

robertjan88 Report

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BoredPossum
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The islands in Sweden are very very small but numerous. That's why they don't show up on most maps.

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#27

The Most Consumed Type Of Meat By Country Including Fish & Seafood

The Most Consumed Type Of Meat By Country Including Fish & Seafood

giuliomagnifico Report

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WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nope, according to 'The Swedish Board of Agriculture', it's poultry meat (when not including sausages, ham and kassler). When you include them (and assuming they are 100% pork meat, pork is #1 by approximately 3,5x compared to fish.

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#28

The Most And Least Happy Countries In The World

The Most And Least Happy Countries In The World

Intelligent_Store0 Report

#29

Projection Of Water Stress Level By Country In 2040

Projection Of Water Stress Level By Country In 2040

giuliomagnifico Report

#30

Highest Temperature Recorded In Europe Countries

Highest Temperature Recorded In Europe Countries

Redstream28 Report

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pep Ito
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These maps are misleading. They should have shown the point where it was reached and the temperature by zones. As it appears on the map it seems that all of Spain reached 47 degrees when it was in the south of Spain and probably in the northern half the temperatures were. By far lower

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#31

Map Showing Brazilian State Names Translated Literally Into English

Map Showing Brazilian State Names Translated Literally Into English

Jazzlike-Power-7959 Report

#32

Most Spoken Languages In The US Beside English/Spanish

Most Spoken Languages In The US Beside English/Spanish

kvnbtl Report

#33

Each European Country’s Highest Peak

Each European Country’s Highest Peak

alexsimi Report

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ADHORTATOR
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Italy considers that the border to France is on top of the Monte Bianco/ Montblanc, but France disagrees

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#34

Bizarre Proposal From 1920 To Create New Single, Peaceful European Union With 24 Artificially Created States ( P.a. Maas, Vienna)

Bizarre Proposal From 1920 To Create New Single, Peaceful European Union With 24 Artificially Created States ( P.a. Maas, Vienna)

StarklyCatenate342 Report

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Corvus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The aftermath of WW1. A time when we could have learned from our mistakes... but nope, instead we planted the seeds of WW2.

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#35

What Percent Of Visitor Visa Applications Per Country Did The USA Reject In 2022

What Percent Of Visitor Visa Applications Per Country Did The USA Reject In 2022

john_doe_89 Report

#36

The Most Common Surname In Each Department Of Mainland France

The Most Common Surname In Each Department Of Mainland France

SilasMarner77 Report

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Annik Perrot
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fabre, Favre, Lefevre, Lefebvre and Faivre are all descended from the same root, the latin word "faber", which meant " craftsman" ... or ...Smith -))) Moreau means " little More" and was used for dark-haired people suspected ( rightly or wrongly) to be of Arab origins ( they did invade in the 9th century). Mostly, for long, common people didn't have a last name, and to tell apart people with the same first name, one used their occupation, physical particularities, or location (Dupuy means " from the hill", same as Delpech). I'm just à bir puzzled with " Wintersheim" , in , I think, Indre. ???

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#37

Population Change In Europe And Arab World

Population Change In Europe And Arab World

Money_Astronaut9789 Report

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David Paterson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Spain has an exceptionally low birthrate. Lowest in Europe. So all of that is immigration? That doesn't seem right.

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#38

What To Say To Someone Who Leaves The Door Open After Coming In? (Includes Informal Expressions)

What To Say To Someone Who Leaves The Door Open After Coming In? (Includes Informal Expressions)

languageseu Report

#39

Percentage Of People That Were Unable To Keep Home Adequately Warm In Europe In 2022

Percentage Of People That Were Unable To Keep Home Adequately Warm In Europe In 2022

giuliomagnifico Report

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WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is this because of economics, or lack of necessary heating equipment? Me also not knowing how cold it is in some of the southern countries here?

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#40

If Europe's Wealth Distributed Equally How Many Times Wealthier The Countries Would Be?

If Europe's Wealth Distributed Equally How Many Times Wealthier The Countries Would Be?

aaronhastaken Report

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Chocolate llama
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

poor choice of color scheme...especially because "1.0" has different colors e.g. in Spain and Czech Republic. Would be easier to interpret if 1.0 was the center of a diverging color scheme

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#41

Olive Oil vs. Butter Usage In Europe

Olive Oil vs. Butter Usage In Europe

island_wide7 Report

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James016
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Being married to a Mediterranean, my olive oil consumption is probably higher than the UK average.

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#42

Most Common Baby Names In London

Most Common Baby Names In London

jionki Report

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#43

A Map Of Superheroes In NYC & The Areas They Protect

A Map Of Superheroes In NYC & The Areas They Protect

Hockputer09 Report

#44

Food Price Inflation For July Month

Food Price Inflation For July Month

Smart-Combination-59 Report

#45

Population Change By Continent From 2000 To 2018

Population Change By Continent From 2000 To 2018

special_tea23215 Report

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Terran
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I didn't know Australia is/was growing that fast

#46

The Evolution Of The Seven Islands Of Mumbai

The Evolution Of The Seven Islands Of Mumbai

Live_Wallaby9683 Report

#47

Argentina As Depicted On The Back Of The Argentine Passport

Argentina As Depicted On The Back Of The Argentine Passport

Kooker321 Report

#48

Most Popular US Female Baby Names 2022

Most Popular US Female Baby Names 2022

Jakyland Report

#49

European Nations Favourite Holiday Destination

European Nations Favourite Holiday Destination

SilasMarner77 Report

#50

Biggest Sources Of Power In Every European Country

Biggest Sources Of Power In Every European Country

Miserable-Move-7956 Report

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TotallyNOTAFox
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thanks to the decisions of "The Greens" (a party with enviromental protection as theme) we had to reactivate a few coal plants here in Germany in addition to buying energy from french nuclear plants and polish coal plants

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#51

Symbols Of Armed Forces In Europe

Symbols Of Armed Forces In Europe

Redstream28 Report

#52

Cumulative Population Growth Of Each US State From 1950-2016

Cumulative Population Growth Of Each US State From 1950-2016

PattonsDestroyer Report

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#53

The Most Common Blood Type Around The World

The Most Common Blood Type Around The World

Downingst Report

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talliloo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

not surprising. my blood type is not common. after the blood bank realized i was coming in regularly they would often call me every 53 days to ask if i would be dropping by. due to meds i can't donate anymore but would encourage everyone to do so.

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#54

Asked Midjourney To Imagine The Most Stereotypical Face For Each Country

Asked Midjourney To Imagine The Most Stereotypical Face For Each Country

anvaka Report

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WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just like 4 women? (edit: maybe 6 - 7?) The rest men..? 🙈 https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fasked-midjourney-to-imagine-the-most-stereotypical-face-for-v0-5zrewdwk0rbb1.jpg%3Fs%3D7901a12e245f6b00a6e147ff0f806422445e1097

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