Frank Jacobs

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Frank Jacobs

Journalist, writer, and blogger

strange maps

Frank Jacobs is Big Think's "Strange Maps" columnist.

From a young age, Frank was fascinated by maps and atlases, and the stories they contained. Finding his birthplace on the map in the endpapers of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings only increased his interest in the mystery and message of maps.

While pursuing a career in journalism, Frank started a blog called Strange Maps, as a repository for the weird and wonderful cartography he found hidden in books, posing as everyday objects and (of course) floating around the Internet.

"Each map tells a story, but the stories told by your standard atlas for school or reference are limited and literal: they show only the most practical side of the world, its geography and its political divisions. Strange Maps aims to collect and comment on maps that do everything but that - maps that show the world from a different angle".

A remit that wide allows for a steady, varied diet of maps: Frank has been writing about strange maps since 2006, published a book on the subject in 2009 and joined Big Think in 2010. Readers send in new material daily, and he keeps bumping in to cartography that is delightfully obscure, amazingly beautiful, shockingly partisan, and more.

Everything Videos Articles
wind solar power
Strange Maps
World map reveals wind and solar power winners (and losers)
Best in class: Denmark and Uruguay. Worst in class: Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, and Russia.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
U.S. road deaths far outnumber those in Europe. Why?
Wyoming's roads are nine times deadlier than Ireland's. California's road safety is on par with Romania's.
Frank Jacobs
roman roads
Strange Maps
If the ancient Romans had Google Maps
OmnesViae is a modern route planner based on the roads of the Roman Empire.
Frank Jacobs
population latitude
Strange Maps
25-26° N: the world’s most perilously populated parallel
In 100 years, perhaps this map showing humanity clustering around the equator will seem “so 21st century.”
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The strange plan to fight nuclear bombs with giant rubber fortresses
Cold War meets Star Wars in this cut-away of a 1950 “rubber bubble,” the first line of defense against nuclear sneak attack.
Frank Jacobs
ukraine street
Strange Maps
Russia’s embassies are being relocated to “Ukraine Street”
Diplomacy is war by other means.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
This map shows all 39 U.S. Presidential gravesites
Presidential gravesites are spread out “democratically” — but this is more by accident than design.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Satirical cartography: a century of American humor in twisted maps
Satire and an inflated sense of self-importance collide in a series of maps that goes back more than 100 years in American history.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How Njoya the Great put his African kingdom on the map
This representation of the Bamum kingdom is a rare example of early 20th-century indigenous African cartography.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Maps of Great Lakes shipwrecks detail one of North America’s biggest graveyards
There have been some 6,000 Great Lakes shipwrecks, which have claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. These maps show some of them.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
NATO-Russia border: “No peeing towards Russia,” warns a sign in Norway
Urinating in the direction of NATO’s staunchest opponent could cost you $350 or more. For world peace, aim wisely.
Frank Jacobs
null island
Strange Maps
Welcome to Null Island, where lost data goes to die
Where the prime meridian meets the equator, a non-existent island captures our imagination — and our non-geocoded data.
Frank Jacobs
irish shipwrecks
Strange Maps
An interactive map of Irish shipwrecks, littered with thousands of stories
We have a morbid curiosity about nautical disaster stories. The Irish "Wreck Viewer" offers a window into centuries of marine misfortune.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Is your air as unhealthy as cigarettes? There’s a map for that
The World Air Quality Index shows how clean your city’s air is, in real time.
Frank Jacobs
Bar Chart Race for GDP
Strange Maps
Bar chart races: short on analysis, but fun to watch
Any dataset that can be quantified over time can be turned into a contest that is both exciting and (a little bit) enlightening.
Frank Jacobs
whale migration
Strange Maps
Map of whale migration “superhighways” might help save them from extinction
The world’s great whales aren’t just vulnerable where they congregate, but everywhere they roam.
Frank Jacobs
Growth of Ukraine
Strange Maps
Ukraine: made by Lenin, unmade by Putin?
The Bolsheviks may have created Ukraine’s current borders, but that doesn’t mean dismantling them is good for today’s Russia.
Frank Jacobs
Zarahemla, Iowa
Strange Maps
Mormon geography: why some Latter-day Saints are digging for a ‘lost city’ in southeastern Iowa
Using the Book of Mormon as a sacred but ambiguous atlas, the Latter-day Saints have been looking for the lost city of Zarahemla for decades.
Frank Jacobs
Trafalgar Square Pyramid
Strange Maps
Canceled megaprojects: Alternative visions of New York and London
Take a look at the Times Square Totem, the Trafalgar Square Pyramid, and other landmarks that were never built.
Frank Jacobs
gritter
Strange Maps
Scottish gritters and James Bond puns: a map for your ice only
To clear Scotland’s roads in winter, the local traffic agency employs heavy machinery with punny names. Can you grit and bear it?
Frank Jacobs
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