Worldmapper features world maps re-sized according to different values, like wealth, carbon emissions, population, etc.
GDP Wealth
Carbon Emissions
Total Population
[tx Phil]
You’re reading Signal v. Noise, a publication about the web by Basecamp since 1999. Happy !
Worldmapper features world maps re-sized according to different values, like wealth, carbon emissions, population, etc.
GDP Wealth
Carbon Emissions
Total Population
[tx Phil]
Ted
on 26 Mar 07I’m curious to know how they created the maps.
Joe Grossberg
on 26 Mar 07Looks like carbon emissions naturally increase along with wealth.
So - given the above and that global warming is A Bad Thing - how do we make a meaningful cut in carbon emissions without dramatically lowering our prosperity?
Ted
on 26 Mar 07@Joe
You will notice that being an industrialize country is a trend for many things.
Rachel Weber
on 26 Mar 07“how do we make a meaningful cut in carbon emissions without dramatically lowering our prosperity?”
Redefine prosperity.
Anonymous Coward
on 26 Mar 07Redefine prosperity.
Not going to happen. Better think of something else.
Chris Lindgren
on 26 Mar 07Rachel while you are redefining Prosperity can you also work on the words hunger and starvation?
Rachel
on 26 Mar 07@Ted, There are a couple of links to code that people have developed that does it: http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Emejn/cart/
http://www.santafe.edu/%7Emgastner/
The second one actually has links to papers and such on the algorithms and methods used to, I believe, develop the code if you REALLY want to know how it works (I skimmed some things and decided that I didn’t REALLY want to know :)
Rachel
on 26 Mar 07Sorry, meant to mention those links above came from their About Worldmapper page and their FAQ.
(Oh, and a different Rachel, so don’t yell at me for not addressing the redefining hunger and starvation thing).
Rachel Weber
on 26 Mar 07“Redefine prosperity.”
I should elaborate. Prosperity is a relative benchmark, and I think there’s value in learning to set the mark a little lower. I’m not talking about selling your house and living in a tent, but doing more with less. Even just a little bit less. The bits add up.
Anonymous Coward
on 26 Mar 07Bhutan has redefined prosperity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness
Joe Grossberg
on 26 Mar 07Bhutan also has roughly 1/30th the GDP per capita of the US, a life expectancy 20 years shorter and a 47% literacy rate (US is 99%).
That sounds precariously close to Rachel Weber’s “living in a tent” scenario and an admission of failure in providing a decent standard of living. :(
tom sherman
on 26 Mar 07I’m just happy it’s “Worldmapper” and not “Worldmappr.” My god, the “r” thing has gone fucking nuts.
Seth Aldridge
on 26 Mar 07It would be interesting to what “Heaviest Countries” looked like.
Richard D. Bartlett
on 26 Mar 07Part of ‘redefining prosperity’ is becoming aware of true cost. For instance, in an environmentally-aware economy, a company that takes in $10m cash profit while in the process destroying important ecosystems will no longer be considered profitable. It’s only a matter of time before the majority of big companies realise that they can make a) good stuff while b) turning a profit without c) clusterfucking the globe.
john
on 26 Mar 07“It’s only a matter of time before the majority of big companies realise that they can make a) good stuff while b) turning a profit without c) clusterfucking the globe.”
Like major corporations are going to magically wake up one day with a conscience…LOL. Thats like saying Santa Claus is going to bring me Paris Hilton.
Greed, and we are not talking $10m more like $150B per year, will always make decisions based on the bottom line, and no matter how many people complain, until everyone stops buying their products, it WILL continue.
Jean-Michel Decombe
on 26 Mar 07I have known and liked that site for a while. I just wish they would provide the ability to animate between any two selected maps through interpolation (maybe even back and forth). I think that it would make the whole thing even more powerful.
Paul
on 26 Mar 07@john
”...and no matter how many people complain, until everyone stops buying their products, it WILL continue.”
Talking with your feet is probably the only way to make corporations listen. However, while their are monopolies on vital products and services – we have little choice but to suck it up.
None the less, I agree with Rachel Weber. If we ALL do a little more with a little less, it WILL have an impact. We just have to hope the progress society makes is built upon, rather than eaten away, by “the corporations”.
Gary R Boodhoo
on 27 Mar 07great site and I’d say that it definitely succeeds at starting discussions – which naturally lead to comparisons. Animating or even overlaying static maps would be an interesting next step.
@John: Santa Claus – Paris Hilton. There’s an xmas you’d always remember – not fondly I’d think.
Don Schenck
on 28 Mar 07Does the “Wealth” map include philanthropic efforts? I know our church members give a lot to third world countries, for example.
What I earn as income isn’t necessarily what I “take in”.
Just wondering.
This discussion is closed.