Brilliant Maps

Making Sense Of The World, One Map At A Time

How Americans Get To Work In Every US County

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How Americans Get To Work

Credit to Siddharth Khurana

The map above shows how Americans got to work in 2019, just before the pandemic. The one thing that jumps out at you is that driving alone in a car is the most common way almost everywhere.

76% of the country drove alone to work. Public transportation is at 5%, and #1 in NYC, DC, and San Francisco. Interestingly, walking and taxicab/motorcycle are common in Alaska.

However, I was curious how things may have changed post-pandemic. And here are some other maps I found on things have (and haven’t changed).

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Estimated Number of Words In Each Language That Come From Arabic

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Estimated Number of Words In Each Language That Come From Arabic

Map created by languages.eu
The map above looks at the estimated number of words in each European language that derive from Arabic.

Here they are ranked by the numbers:

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Map Of The World’s Tectonic Plates

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Tectonic plates 1

Map created by M.Bitton
This map shows the major tectonic plates that make up Earth’s lithosphere.

Tectonic plates are massive slabs of solid rock that float on the semi-fluid asthenosphere beneath them and move relative to one another.

The movement of these plates can cause earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain building, and ocean trench formation.

Here is an overview of each major plate shown in the map:

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The Rudest US Cities In 2024

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The U.S. cities with the rudest residents in 2024 820x873 1

Map created Preply
The map above shows which US cities are the rudest. Now rudeness can somewhat subjective so here’s how they approached it:

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The Country Behind the Largest Ever Football (Soccer) Defeats for Each Country

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The Giver of Each Country's Largest Ever Football (Soccer) Defeat

Map created by reddit user PetevonPete

The map above shows which country is responsible for the largest defeat at men’s senior level association football. Interestingly, England appears most often on the map despite not winning a World Cup since 1966.

Flag indicates the winner in each country’s largest ever defeat in men’s senior-level association football.

If a country has lost by the same record margin multiple times, the most recent match is used.

For countries that no longer exist (e.g., Soviet Union, Yugoslavia), the official FIFA-recognized successor team is used.

The data comes from Wikipedia and was accurate as of 2022.

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When Countries Became More Populous Than France

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When & Which Countries Have Become More Populous Than France

Map created by reddit user Like_a_Charo
France is currently the world’s 20th most populous country with an estimated 68,490,000 people.

However, over 200 years ago in 1800, it had an estimated population of 29 million people making it possibly the world’s 4th most populous country at that time.

Here’s a list of countries by when they overtook France’s population and when it happened (with current population in brackets):

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Brasilia, Has Direct Flights To All Brazilian State Capitals

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Fun Fact: Brasilia, Has Direct Flights To All Brazilian State Capitals

Map found on reddit

The map above shows a somewhat interesting fact. Brasilia (Brazil’s capital city) has direct flights to each of Brazil’s 26 state capitals.

The reason it’s interesting is the same is not true for the US.

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Coat of Arms World Map

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Coat of Arms World Map

Map created by reddit user ZillaStick

This map is a world map displaying the coats of arms or national emblems of various countries.

Coats of arms are heraldic symbols used by countries, regions, or families as a unique identifier and often hold historical, cultural, and political significance.

Why Do Countries Have Coats of Arms?

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How Many Electoral Votes Every State Would Gain/Lose If they were Proportional to Population

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How Many Electoral Votes Every State Would Gain/Lose If they were Proportional to Population

Map created by reddit user hobbyl0s
The map above is a fun look at what would happen to the electoral college if it was based purely on each state’s proportional share of the population.

Currently, the electoral college is based on the number of congresspeople in each state + 2 senators. So states like Wyoming, get 3 electoral college votes, despite having fewer people than over 100 US counties.

In total there are 538 electoral college votes: 435 members of Congress, 100 for Senators and 3 votes for DC.

Here’s the list of how many electoral votes each state would gain or lose if they were proportional to the population:

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The US Has More Train Tracks Than Any Other Country: Here’s Who Owns Them

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The US Has The More Train Tracks Than Any Other Country: Here's Who Owns Them

Map created by Mapattacks
The map above shows all of America’s train tracks and who owned them in 2014.

In 2019, the US had 220,044km (136,729 miles) of train tracks which is around 40% more than China’s 159,000km and more than double Russia’s 105,000km.

However, this is down from the historic peak in 1917 of 428,180km (266,058 miles). Also, only 1,847km of the United States’ train lines are electrified which is around 1.5% of China’s 119,000km.

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