Flo’s Blog: Maps

A map of the Alps – Without borders, South up

For an upcoming research project, Maps without borders, I am rendering maps that do not resort to national or administrative boundaries to structure the space on the map. After all, within the Schengen area, borders have become largely invisible, and somewhat irrelevant, to most travellers, which has so far not been reflected in the way these borders are depicted on maps.

The goal of the project will be to develop alternative graphical features that will allow us to still know what is where on the map. I am starting out by creating a few base maps based entirely on open data, and I like to turn maps upside down in the process to free us from the preconceptions we have when looking at a well-known map and see the space in a fresh way. So here’s a first teaser for you, a map of the Alps, without borders, “upside down”. Take some time to look at it – it really provides some fresh insight into this geographical space (Click on the image for the high-res version).

The final maps should be more abstract, but as stated above this will be a medium term research project. Rendering South-up oriented map using opensource tools still involves a few small hurdles currently – I want to provide some more details on the technical workflow I am using in a future post. The data used for this map comes from Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap, with a few local corrections to the data that will be published on the Maps without borders website.

Comments are not yet implemented on this blog so if you have questions or want to get in touch concerning the project, drop me an email.

The Beauty Of The Earth’s Surface

NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission measured the earth’s surface elevation in February 2000 using radar interferometry. The resulting data is available to the public and can be used for various purposes. I have been playing with the data over the last days and experimented with different methods for visualizing terrains in 2d and 3d, primarily in the context of Openstreetmap rendering. However, nothing has impressed me more than this very first plain grayscale image I produced (showing the area around and to the north of Vienna).

I have never seen so clearly the details and variation of the earth’s relief. On most maps, data like this is rendered in the background to give the viewer a sense of depth, but map graphics and surface textures are usually layered on top and take away a lot of the clarity that is so stunning here. One has to consider that the image shows an area that is usually considered to be rather “flat” - but look at how one can see the thousands and thousands of years of wind and rain working on the “Weinviertel” area to the north. Or look at the sharp edge of the “Wienerwald” area, suddenly dropping down to the really flat plains of the “Tullner Becken” and “Wiener Becken”.

I considered adding some labels and paths as means of orientation, but then I liked the idea to leave it like it is as a puzzle for you to figure out the locations of places you know in the image.