Maps

Don't count on Google Maps to get you to this iconic cliff.

Google Maps Glitch Sends Tourists to the Wrong Norwegian Town

Preikestolen is not in Fossmork

Blood Falls

Antarctica's Blood Falls Helps Unravel the Inner Workings of Glaciers

A new study maps the path of the water that feeds the falls and explores how water can exist under the ice

This copy of the first chart of the Gulf Stream was printed in 1786, ten years after Benjamin Franklin first drew it up.

Benjamin Franklin Was the First to Chart the Gulf Stream

Franklin's cousin, Timothy Folger, knew how the then-unnamed current worked from his days as a whaler

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Learn the Secret History of Your State With These Addictive Podcasts

Use this indispensable guide to find out which podcast will be next on your listen list

This new map shows Earth's magnetic field from space.

This Magnetic Map Shows Earth as You’ve Never Seen It Before

Behold a new, super high-res view of Earth’s magnetic field

Just around the corner from the Great Barrier Reef, the ocean has been hiding a massive, ancient landslide.

Scientists Discovered a Gigantic, 300,000-Year-Old Landslide Under the Ocean

Long ago, an almost inconceivable amount of sand shifted, changing the surface of the sea floor

Astrolabes were astronomical calculating devices that did everything from tell the time to map the stars. This 16th century planispherical astrolabe stems from Morocco.

The Story of the Astrolabe, the Original Smartphone

Prosperous times likely paved the way for this multifunctional device, conceptual ancestor to the iPhone 7

There are few images of the top-secret map room. This one, taken at the end of WWII, shows Army Chief Warrant Officer Albert Cornelius standing before a map of Europe.

Take a Rare Look Inside FDR’s WWII Information Center: The Map Room

Long before Google Earth, this was how the president saw the world

Monument declaring Rugby, North Dakota, the city claiming geographic center—until now.

New Calculations Reposition the Geographical Center of North America

After an 90-year-reign, the title moves from Rugby, North Dakota, to the city of Center, in Oliver County

Screenshot of interactive

This Interactive Maps Out the Lives of Former Presidents

From Washington to Obama, how ex-commanders-in-chief bided their time after leaving office

The Russian Front of World War II as of 1942.

The CIA Is Celebrating Its Cartography Division’s 75th Anniversary by Sharing Declassified Maps

Decades of once-secret maps are now freely available online

A panoramic map of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO.

The Library of Congress Is Putting Its Map Collection on the Map

A new partnership with the Digital Public Library of America will put three major LOC map collections online

Surface water seasonality between October 2014 and October 2015 in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Dark blue indicates permanent surface water; light blue indicates seasonal surface water.

High-Resolution Satellite Images Capture Stunning View of Earth's Changing Waters

An unprecedented mapping project shows the elusive patterns of Earth's surface water over 30 years

Abraham Ortelius created the world's first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, or "Theater of the World," in 1570. Shakespeare, who famously wrote that "all the world's a stage," was doubtless influenced by the maps that flourished during his lifetime.

How Maps Shaped Shakespeare

An exhibition in Boston delves into historical maps to show how the Bard saw the wider world

A detail of a 17th century map found stuffed in a Scottish chimney.

Rare 17th-Century Map Found Shoved Up a Chimney Is Restored

Nothing like an antique document to block a draft

Australia may look peaceful from space, but it is anything but static.

Australia Moves Millimeters In Tune With the Seasons

A new study shows how far-off weather patterns affect the continent down under

Sarah Parcak

Space Archaeologist Sarah Parcak Uses Satellites to Uncover Ancient Egyptian Ruins

The Indiana Jones of low Earth orbit harnesses 21st-century technology to uncover long-buried treasures

When Was the First Map Produced and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Human blood contains red blood cells, T-cells (orange) and platelets (green)

Scientists Are Creating an Atlas of Human Cells

The Human Cell Atlas will boldly go where science, surprisingly, hasn’t gone before

This map changed how the world saw itself.

Discover One of History’s Most Ambitious Maps

Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 map was the oldest document to use "America" to describe the body of land between Africa and Asia

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