Changing the Looking Glass: Radical Geography

Shape! Size! Distance!

The form 3 students in the tiny village of Pommern, Tanzania outside of Iringa repeated the mantra over and over. Edward, my favorite teacher (pictured with me below right) at the school reminded me that repetition was key to drilling anything new into the kids' heads.

Their exclamation was in response to my question. What are the main types of map distortions?!

Shape! Size! Distance!

Before the class started I found a scuffed up old soccer ball, still smelling of the cow dung it had rolled through the day before on the soccer field- excuse me-pitch!

I've always felt the best demonstration of map distortion was to use a ball and a piece of paper. I folded the paper around the ball to show how the page itself became distorted then highlighted those areas by rubbing pencil lead on the folds.

I straightened the paper to show the distortions when the sphere is projected in two dimensions. Some of the students understood but map projections can be one of the most difficult spatial issues to grasp; But it is paramount to understanding ones place and relative placement on the earth.

I remember as a child certain world maps making Africa look tall and skinny. Something didn't sit right with me when I saw that particular projection. It turns out that projection was an equal area projection like the Eckert IV shown in contrast with a Robinson projection in the image, left. The Robinson projection is easy on the eyes and just feels right.

Wouldn't you agree?

After a heads up from Matt Rosenberg in his post on the about.com site, I found a great website which uses radical map projections to view data in a new and exciting way.

Projections help us display the spheroid earth on a two dimensional surface. My favorite projection for world maps and the one used by the greats at national geographic is the Winkel tripel projection, a variation on the Robinson projection.

In one post ten projections are layered on each other to show the variations.

Since I mentioned National Geographic I'm excited to tell you that I have received an initial response from the company regarding my inquiries to the map policy committee as well as the Hala'ib triangle. I'll be sure to update you on what I ultimately discover.

I really hope you check out some of the amazing maps at radicalgeography.com.

Drawing the Lines Between North and South Sudan

Following more than two decades of the young nation's second civil war, a yet to be determined group of voters in South Sudan plan to hold a referendum on independence in January 2011. For many in the south, the potential prosperity of an independent South Sudan has been a long time coming. But where will the borders between North and South Sudan lie? The area in question is the subject of this image of the week. While the image is a bit underwhelming, the issues are beyond intriguing.

Because I am fascinated with cartography, independence and Africa it was natural for me to come across a fascinating article written by Rengo Gyyw Rengo,Jr on the website www.southsudannation.com. While the original link is gone. You can still access his article here. I followed up with Rengo and have since corresponded with him several times.

While the thought of an independent South Sudan is exciting and has been surprisingly accepted in concept by Omar al-Bashir, much work remains before it can become reality. Recent comments from Khartoum hint at the fact that the North will not support a vote by the South if the precise borders have not been drawn.

I've included a map below showing the regions of Sudan from Wikicommons to give you a frame of reference.

For more info on the regions (such as a legend) check out the Southern Sudan wiki page. It's important to note that the voter pool has not been decided yet and represents another serious challenge before the vote can take place.

After reading al-Bashir's comments on borders I followed up with Rengo and recieved the following:

"Regarding the political atmosphere surrounding the conduct of referendum for South Sudan and those other thorny issues which parties use as preconditions for referendum and lack of political will towards the possible conduct of referendum, its repercussions and so on, are matters to be looked at by all. I have been pondering about the border issue, and I happened to have attended a political rally in Juba on 30th July last month to have a grasp at contentious issues and I can now fairly examine the possibilities ahead in an opinion analysis.

You have given me an honour to now accept to write something about it."

I'm excited that I have a pen pal in south Sudan who attends political rallies in Juba! How cool is that?

I'm looking forward to Rengo's comments and will be sure to post a link when they become available.

African Renaissance and Intellectual Property

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade is an interesting guy. Under his presidency the country has experienced economic expansion and remained an example of a relatively successful democracy in Africa. Interesting men have interesting ideas. Wade's biggest idea (physically) has turned into reality and is shown in this weeks image of the week. The African Renaissance statue in Dakar, Senegal. It can be seen in the center of the image to the right or at the coordinates 14°43'19" N 17°29'41" W.

Despite an expanding economy, Wade has come under serious fire for the monument. At a cost of more than $27 million, many Senegalese are questioning the investment when many infrastructure and public works projects are needed- and already being heavily subsidized by the USA by the way (the infrastructure projects that is). This has caused many to question Wade's motives, particularly because he is claiming the idea as intellectual property as well as 35% of proceeds related to the statue. You read that correctly. Because he envisioned the statue, had a foreigner design it and North Koreans build it, he thinks he should be entitled to 35% of any future income it generates. The corruption is mind boggling. The fact that Jesse Jackson spoke at the opening speaks to his excellent judgement. This non-sense has become all too common in African politics. Even the design itself has been seriously criticized. It certainly doesn't look like any African family I've seen.

Political considerations aside, the statue is a wonder and while arguably inappropriate, I think, quite beautiful. Near the eastern edge of the continent it certainly exudes a sense of strength and pride. While it may be years before the statue brings an additional 27 million dollars of tourism dollars (especially after Wade's cut of the money), its something I'd really like to see some day. Just a few months ago I was less than a mile away from the statue but it was dark and I was on the wrong side of the plane. Next time! If you've seen the African Renaissance statue in person I'd love to hear your account.

I started thinking about this post after the team at the geographic travels blog did a piece on the twenty tallest statues in the world. Despite being taller than the Statue of Liberty, the African Renaissance is not even in the top twenty. There are certainly some large statues out there. Go check 'em out!

The Hala'ib Triangle and why National Geographic has it Wrong

The Hala'ib triangle is a division of land in northeast Africa. The area is a disputed region, a result of two different borders being set between Sudan and Egypt, both of whom claim the Hala'ib triangle.

In 1899, Egypt and the United Kingdom agreed on the 22nd parallel as the border between the two countries. Three years later in 1902 the British created a new dividing line, granting administration of the area to Sudan because of its proximity and access from Khartoum. The administrative boundary created the Hala'ib triangle north of the 22nd parallel and a small area, the Bir Tawil south of the parallel. The 1902 agreement ceded administrative control of Bir Tawil to Egypt (which was really the British anyway) Both can be seen on the map above.

While both countries still claim the Hala'ib triangle, neither claims Bir Tawil, the "lonely little triangle" to the south of the 22nd parallel. So what would cause two countries to claim one 20,000 square kilometer piece of land but both reject claims to a 2,000 square kilometer parcel adjacent to it?

If you guessed natural resources, you're probably right! But that is only part of the story.

While Sudan held troops in the area for years it was Sudan granting exlploration rights to the Canadian oil company, Canadian International Petroleum Corporation, that finally made Egypt take note.

In 2000, Sudan pulled troops from the area, ceding de facto control to Egypt. However, Omar al-Bashir remains firm in Sudan's claim to the land, stating earlier this year "Halayeb is Sudanese and will stay Sudanese".

I found a FANTASTIC article on the issue in the Sudan Tribune.

In my daily routine of mapgazing I discovered that National Geographic, who I see as THE authority on political maps, now uses the 22nd parallel as the border. This shows all the land to the north as Egypt and all to the South as Sudan. This is a significant change from the 2000 world map which shows the 1899 Anglo-Egyptian political division - complete with Egpyt control over Bir Tawil. What's not clear is what happened that made them switch how the area is displayed.

I thought that it must have been Sudan removing their armed presence in the area and the desire to show de facto control. But that doesn't explain why they show Bir Tawil as Sudan. If it was the removal of troops that prompted the change, that should only be reflected in the Halai'ib traingle, not Bir Tawil. Until I get a better reason or explanation, I think National Geographic has this one wrong.

I emailed National Geographic for an answer on what prompted the Map Policy Committee change from the 1899 political boundary to the 1902 administrative boundary. I'll probably only receive a generic email but I am going to stick with this, look for individual contact information and see if I can get official word from a spokesperson. Perhaps I should have inquired through their press inquiry e-mail. Whatever I find out I'll let you know.

How do you think the Hala'ib triangle and Bir Tawil should be displayed?

Emirates and the Image of the Week

The Google image of the week comes to us from the emirate of Dubai. I actually have a series of Google Earth Images which highlight the development of The World, a set of man made islands on the Persian Gulf. It's quite fascinating to see the development over the course of the last few years. For reference, these images come from 25°13' 21" N 55°10'9" E. Happy hunting.

December 2004


April 2005


June 2005


October 2006


August 2009


While it's an amazing enginering feat, I can't help but notice the fact that the image of the world could be a bit cleaner. What's up with Europe? Is that really an island to represent the Seychelles and Mauritius? I guess we'll have to wait and see for the project to be completed- which could be a very long time.

What do you think of the islands?

It's still a very interesting feature and a place where almost everyone will be able to say "I can see Russia from my house."

Digging a bit further into the geography of this series of images, let's talk about Dubai's political division, the emirate.

Matt does a good job discussing country, state and nation etc. But as we look to the Middle East we come across another political division of semi-autonomy know as Emirates.

So what's an emirate?

Not surprisingly it is easy to get caught up in semantics and details but simply stated, an Emirate is a political division of land which is either autonomous, such as Qatar and Kuwait, or semi-autonomous such as the emirates which make up the United Arab Emirates. While many people are familiar with Dubai and Abu Dhabi as cities, they are both also emirates, they are part of the United Arab Emirates - a nationally recognized independent State, a federation of emirates. However, it's important to note that the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi do not make up the same geographical area of the emirate.

The remaining five emirates of the UAE include Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. And yes, even the emirates have their share of territorial disputes, particularly on the east coast.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the two other existing emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. Dipping a bit into the historical significance of Kuwait, today marks 20 years since Iraq invaded Kuwait.

Online Interest in Geography Declines

Google Trends is a great way to gauge the worlds relative interest in a topic. Why not check out where geography really ranks among the priorities of the world? While Google Trends does not provide the actual or estimated number of searches, it allows you to compare relative popularity over time and between search terms. The Trends data I used is ranked by Geography which means the various numbers relate to the frequency of geography searches as 1. So, if Batman had twice as many searches as Geography, Geography would rate a 1 and Batman a 2. Get it? Good!

Before comparing geography to other topics I looked at the five and a half year history of searches for "geography". I was surprised to see that between 2004 and 2010 there have been fewer and fewer searches for geography. The relative decline can be seen in the chart below.

Geography Trends


So "the world" is searching for geography about one-quarter as often as in 2004.

Lets compare search frequency to that of a successful company with geographic right in their name, National Geographic.

National Geographic


I was a bit surprised to see a magazine have more searches than a core academic discipline. The next chart shows the highs and lows for searches throughout the course of the year in the US alone. It is clear that searches lull in the summer months and peak dramatically in the fall-no doubt related to the traditional academic year.

USA Geography


The Philippines rank as the country with the highest search frequency relative to all other content. Interestingly enough, the peaks in the Philippines are inverted from the US and we see the peaks in the summer months.

Philippines Geography


A quick check of wikipedia, which has no good reason to lie about this, reveals a fascinating tid-bit: the academic year in the Philippines begins in June!

Just for fun, let's go ahead and compare searches for geography with that of a celebrity who has faded fast from the lime light- Paris Hilton. While Paris has command over geography when it comes to google searches, the gap, she's narrowing!

Paris Hilton


So get out there, do some google searches and spread the word about geography!