About

Why do we find ourselves drawn to maps? Perhaps it’s because they whisper stories that numbers alone never could. Every contour line traces ancient waters, every color gradient reveals hidden patterns, and every boundary tells us something about the people who drew it.

Maps aren’t just tools—they’re time machines. They show us trade routes that built empires, election results that reshaped nations, and population flows that created modern cities. When I unfold a historical atlas, I’m not just looking at old borders; I’m watching civilizations rise and fall, seeing how a single river bend determined where millions would call home.

Think about the last time you gathered around someone’s phone to figure out directions. That moment of collective problem-solving? That’s the magic I’m talking about. Maps create these little huddles of shared understanding, whether we’re planning a hiking route, debating the best coffee shop downtown, or tracing your family’s immigration story.

My favorite maps are the ones that make you go “wait, really?” The ones that flip your assumptions upside down or reveal connections you never noticed. Did you know that London sits farther north than Calgary? Or that Africa is actually large enough to fit the US, China, and most of Europe inside it? These geographic surprises remind us that our mental maps—those fuzzy sketches we carry in our heads—often need serious updating.

What excites me most is how modern mapping reveals patterns hiding in plain sight. Crime data clustering around transit stops, baby name trends spreading like wildfire across state lines, or how pizza delivery zones perfectly mirror neighborhood income levels. Each dataset tells its own story, and when you layer them together, you start seeing the invisible forces that shape our daily lives.

Got a map that completely changed how you see the world? I’d love to hear about it.

Contact us

Alex Egoshin ([email protected])
I’m a GIS specialist and ecologist working as a researcher in a national park, where I focus on modeling the spatial distribution of alien plant species and how climate change might shift where they show up next. It’s fascinating work—tracking how non-native plants spread and figuring out which areas might become their new favorite spots as temperatures rise.
Maps have always captivated me beyond just the professional stuff, though. There’s something addictive about stumbling across a visualization that completely flips your understanding of a place or phenomenon. That curiosity led me to start this blog, sharing interesting maps and cartographic discoveries that caught my attention.
A few of my ArcGIS creations ended up getting shared more widely than I expected. Turns out people really do love maps that make them pause and reconsider what they thought they knew about the world.

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