NASA Tera Satellite

With the Mississippi overflowing action had to be taken causing the U.S Army Corp to open up gates to flood the Morganza Floodway. Thanks to NASA we can see the amount of water that has spread as a result of this. For more information on the Morganza Floodway or to view a larger image, go here.

Pictographic Maps

Personally, my favorite maps are Pictographs. Often times they are incredibly colorful, detailed in a way most maps are not, and feel to me more telling of an area depicted than just road names.

A wonderful example of this would be this French map of the Mediterranean Sea from the book Decouvrons le monde, or Discover the World.

Many pictorial maps are created for younger audiences, but that doesn't take away from their usefulness for adults! To view this page larger, or to view more pages from this book you can go here.

To view more Mediterranean maps you can visit the University of Michigan map library in person to see our impressive collection from all eras.

Water water everywhere, but will there be any to drink in 2030?

Maps can be, and often are, built to show more than just location. This data map created by Hal Watts shows the amount of water usage through out the world predicted for the year 2030.

He cut out each country from flat sponges and then poured the predicted water needs scaled down onto each and then photographed them in raking light. It gives an interesting point of view of an important topic. To view more of his work go here.

Yellowstone Plume: Bigger than originally thought

Geologists have been using seismic waves from earthquakes to map the area below a hotspot in Yellowstone that was already known to be large.


The latest data, which was gathered via electrical conductivity, proves that this hotspot is even bigger than first imagined. For more detail check out the article on BBC News.

New Jersey Glows.

At least this Map of New Jersey does produced by radio station WFMU.

While the glow-in-the-dark-ness of this poster can't come through via the internet, the content more than makes up for it. You can click on the image for a more detailed view or go here to purchase one for yourself!

How does your state excel?

With these latest infographics depicting the environmental factors that each states excel in...

and which factors they do not.

To learn more and see a larger images of the maps, visit the Mother Nature Network.

The United States of Gastronomy

Artist Lucy Stephens has created a unique look at the United States, with it taking the form of one of our favorite things, food.

Florida consists of Florida Orange Juice and Key Lime Pie while Michigan is known for its mint , beans and of course, Michigan Cherries. If this belongs in your kitchen or anywhere else for that matter you can purchase a print from here.

Japan's Quakes Animated

While we have heard about the Big Quakes that have been Racking japan since March 11th, it woudl be impossible to report on all the aftershocks they have been experiencing.


To allow the public to see in greater detail the quakes that have been hitting, a site called Japan Quake Map has superimposed all the quakes onto a google map and has enabled them to be animated to show time. This gives a much greater idea what Japan has experienced the days after, as well as the weeks.