That is pretty amazing. Simply drawing the roads gives an appearance of topopgraphy and population in a single map.

Cool, indeed.

France GoogleMaps surrenders

The map is cool, but I prefer his season-tracking MLB salary vs. performance chart (new window).

Could have done this in ArcMap in about two minutes. Still cool though.

Maps are cool. That is all.

I'm sorry, but this does not fall under my definition of cool.

I can't even tell what I'm looking at. I personally think the guy took a map of America, ran it through 5 random photoshop filters and came up with a creative story.

Oh Ben Fry again, his zipdecode thing kicks all sorts of ass.

If you think that looks cool, see if you can find all the flight departures and arrivals across the U.S. over time. Pretty much shows the entire United States.

I doubt he has 'all' the roads.

Wow. Just, wow.

That's the kind of thing my 12 year old nephew who is turning into kind of a wonk would like. Gotta show him this.

Neurochemist: I can't even tell what I'm looking at. I personally think the guy took a map of America, ran it through 5 random photoshop filters and came up with a creative story.

http://benfry.com/writing/archives/54 This enplanes how it works, the actual pic is generated from data.

Terrx: enplanes

I need to start previewing or stop posting.

I have no farkin idea what is supposed to be cool.

Did he go up in space, memorise what he saw and then drew them again on a map?

Did he go on all these roads and draw them as he went along?

Yup, I have no farkin' idea.

/Google earth FTW

change the article headline to "here is a cool desktop background lolcats teachersex florida"

it's gold, jerry, gold.

Very good use of the cool tag......

The thing that amazes me is the fact that most of these roads and streets were mostly wagon and horse trails up until the late '40s.

wild9: If you think that looks cool, see if you can find all the flight departures and arrivals across the U.S. over time. Pretty much shows the entire United States.

Here are a few:
March, 2005 animation
September, 2005 animation
MIA, ORD, JFK, and LAX animation


/links pop

It looks like infection sites to me. We're spreading.

OCD is not cool. It is a debilitating mental problem.

I'm clearly missing something.

Terrx: Oh Ben Fry again, his zipdecode thing kicks all sorts of ass.

I was trying to figure out where I knew his name from!

Zip decoder, for the curious.

seen on digg about 2 weeks ago. It is cool and so is the zip code one.

Di Atribe: Maps are cool. That is all.

Came here to say something in this general area.

/Yes. Yes, they are.

So, he downloaded the TIGER dataset and did precisely what every digital map provider does? Okay, an interesting exercise, but not particularly original thinking going on.

Still cool he has the chops to do it...

scuba noa: Di Atribe: Maps are cool. That is all.

Came here to say something in this general area.

/Yes. Yes, they are.

For sure. I love ancient maps - on my wall is a map of Ancient Rome.

I'm not getting the cool.

This guy and the guy who made the Who's "Baba O'Riley" completely synthesized by Windows need to go bowling.

Meh. Where's the zoom?

"How many roads must a man go down before they call him a man?"

Depends on how many he goes down before he finds the one has the Deliverance style hillbillies at the end of it.

Seriously though, that is a pretty cool map.

obviously shopped

Wait, there are geografarkers?.

Looks like a dead skin cell or something under a microscope.

They included a detail of the Kansas City area, probably because of how awesome the Jayhawks are. You may note that roads on the Kansas side are pretty well squared off and orderly, and it's pretty easy to get anywhere except where there are lakes. On the Tigers' side of the state line, the roads look like webs spun by caffeinated spiders. And the map doesn't show potholes and decaying bridges, sparing Missoury further embarrassment.

Anagrammer: wild9: If you think that looks cool, see if you can find all the flight departures and arrivals across the U.S. over time. Pretty much shows the entire United States.

Here are a few:
March, 2005 animation
September, 2005 animation
MIA, ORD, JFK, and LAX animation


/links pop

That's really cool. Honestly, do you think they have one showing right before and after 9/11 with all the flights being grounded? Not tryin to threadjack into a 9/11 thing, but I think it would be interesting to see thousands of flights up and all of the sudden it's all black...

Oh and cool map, even though I have no idea how he actually did that.

Draw? That's OCD.

It might be interesting to try generating an image like this with mapping software, but, hey.

....however they emerge as roads avoid mountains, and sparse areas convey low population.

I can has Engrish?

Dire: ....however they emerge as roads avoid mountains, and sparse areas convey low population.

I can has Engrish?

The English you quoted is fine.

grapefruitgal: The map is cool, but I prefer his season-tracking MLB salary vs. performance chart (new window).

I saw that and that's pretty slick. Simple, yet beautiful.

Maps

/They don't love you like I love you

I came here to read or say "Sailboat", and GonzoNihilist didn't let me down.

its' an infarktion breaking out

GungFu: I have no farkin idea what is supposed to be cool.

Did he go up in space, memorise what he saw and then drew them again on a map?

Did he go on all these roads and draw them as he went along?

Yup, I have no farkin' idea.

/Google earth FTW

From an artistic standpoint it's cool to me, even though about 5 minutes of photoshop and/or a ream of GoogleEarth printouts can even do it in color, but hey, some people like doing things the old skool™ way, or just have a lot of free time.

Cool is the early cartographers trying to map things like the Aegean Sea or Chesapeake Bay. On a ship. During a war.

That's actually really cool. The big empty circle in the lower right is the Savannah River Nuclear Site.

Get a jorb HIPPIE!

You know, they have medications to solve this problem.

Lambeau: I came here to read or say "Sailboat", and GonzoNihilist didn't let me down.

"You know what? There is NO Easter Bunny. Over there, that's just a guy in a suit!"

espiaboricua
grapefruitgal: The map is cool, but I prefer his season-tracking MLB salary vs. performance chart (new window).

I saw that and that's pretty slick. Simple, yet beautiful.

Definitely. Anything that so clearly illustrates how the Yankees suck/waste money is beautiful.

HA! He missed one, and I'm not telling which.
He's going to have to go through and check again...sucker.