Mapping and Charting the World, From Many Perspectives

The International Networks Archive site has a collection of amps and charts that make it easier to understand the numbers behind “major current world issues, from the serious to the seriously frivolous”. I’ve posted thumbnails of the maps and charts below; click on the thumbnail to see the map on its original site at full size.

Choose Your Weapon: The Global Arms Trade

All sorts of stats and graphs on what the world is spending on weapons and defense, from perspectives ranging from geopolitics to the average person. Did you know that 1.8 million scissors were confiscated at U.S. airports in 2002? Many of them ended up being donated to the U.S. Boy Scouts.

Click to see the full-size version.

Stealing the Show: The Global Movie Biz

Of the top 20 films worldwide (based on ticket sales), all but one — the Japanese animated feature Sprited Away — were made in Hollywood. The chart notes that Hollywood has still failed to make many inroads into India, whose movie industry output dwarfs Hollywood’s.

Click to see the full-size version.

Sssmokin! The Global Tobacco Trade

This map shows the global cigarette trade routes. There’s a sidebar that notes that in 2000, there was a disparity of 292 billion cigarettes — the rough equivalent of everybody in the U.S. hiding a thousand smokes — between worldwide exports and imports. That’s the black market for cancer sticks, an off-the-books enterprise run by Big Tobacco, who are selling to India, Columbia and Bangladesh to avoid import taxes.

Click to see the full-size version.

Getting Around: Transporation Today

This shows the numbers behind the various modes of transporation today. The most popular vehicle in the world? The bicycle — there are 1.4 billion of them, compared to about 400 million cars.

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Red Tape: The Government Grind

A breakdown of the 2.7 million people — that’s about 1% of the U.S. population — who work for the U.S. Government.

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The Magic Bean Shop / The Fries That Bind Us

Charts for two of the biggest franchise operations in the world (and the first places attacked during any protest): Starbucks and McDonald’s.

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Glass Half Empty: The Coming Water War

A chart that explains who’s getting water and who isn’t. We’re sitting quite pretty here in Canada, at number 2 on the “best water” list and with over 20% of the world’s fresh water.

Click to see the full-size version.