A Simpler World

This is the fourth installment of Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible.

Maps, inevitably, must strike a balance between conveying the complexity of the world and simplifying it in some useful way. At one extreme is the fable of the map drawn at a scale of 1:1, which is so precise that it covers the entire territory it depicts. Towards the other end of the spectrum is the conventional metro map, which stylizes subway routes and stops into lines and dots for the convenience of commuters.