Into the Driver's Seat
446.6K views | +34 today
Follow
Into the Driver's Seat
Building learners' independence through thoughtful technology use
Curated by Jim Lerman
Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
Scooped by Jim Lerman
Scoop.it!

CIA's Cartography Division Shares Declassified Maps

CIA's Cartography Division Shares Declassified Maps | Into the Driver's Seat | Scoop.it

"As much as James Bond is defined by his outlandish gadgets, one of the most important tools for real-life spies is actually much less flashy: maps. Whether used to gather information or plan an attack, good maps are an integral part of the tradecraft of espionage. Now, to celebrate 75 years of serious cartography, the Central Intelligence Agency has declassified and put decades of once-secret maps online.  These days, the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies rely more on digital mapping technologies and satellite images to make its maps, but for decades it relied on geographers and cartographers for planning and executing operations around the world. Because these maps could literally mean the difference between life and death for spies and soldiers alike, making them as accurate as possible was paramount, Greg Miller reports for National Geographic."

 

Tags: mapping, geopolitics, maphistorical, map archives

No comment yet.
Rescooped by Jim Lerman from visual data
Scoop.it!

Mapping the U.S. by Property Value Instead of Land Area

Mapping the U.S. by Property Value Instead of Land Area | Into the Driver's Seat | Scoop.it

Cartograms are fun tools for swapping out land area for some other variable. For certain figures, especially data that swing wildly at one of the end of the spectrum or another, cartograms are ideal. 

This cartogram, which compares property values between counties across the continental United States, looks like bad news from a gastroenterologist. What this in fact shows is that just a handful of counties account for the vast majority of property values in the U.S. The distortion is so severe that it doesn’t look like a map of the U.S. at all...


Via Lauren Moss
No comment yet.