I wrote a few weeks ago about appreciating a good infographic [see ‘Inconvenient data about electricity generation‘ on October 11th, 2023].  I realised recently that I had enjoyed another one vacation without appreciating it as an infographic.  During our vacation, we stopped for a few days in Hereford and visited the cathedral where they have a map of the world made around 1300, known as the Hereford Mappa Mundi.  The map is roughly circular with a diameter of about 1.5 m and is drawn on vellum made from calf skin.  It shows the history, geography and destiny of humanity from the perspective of Christian Europe seven hundred years ago with 500 drawings depicting towns, plants, animals and Biblical events – so more of an infographic than a map though of course the word ‘infographic’ had not been invented when it was produced more than 700 years ago.   The perspective is unusual to the modern eye and was described to us by a curator as the view that a fly would have of the surface of an apple as it crawled around on it.  It is arranged using an O and T motif, in which the T is inside the O creating three sectors.  Jerusalem is at the centre with Asia above it, and Africa and Europe to the bottom right and left respectively.  The idea of a fly crawling around on an apple set me thinking about what my map of the world would like from the perspective of the regions I have explored at ground level.  Most of the oceans would be very small because I have crossed them at about 500 mph in an aircraft, except for the seas around Europe which I visited by ship in the Royal Navy.  Liverpool would replace Jerusalem at the centre and North America would replace Africa in the bottom right because I have never been to Africa but I spent several years in North America. Asia at the top would feature images of universities and conference venues in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan squashed together because I have visited all of them several times but always by plane.  Europe would be shown in some detail with pictures of research laboratories though somewhat distorted due an emphasis on a few places that I have visited frequently when participating in research collaborations, such as Milan, Toulouse, Ulm and Zurich.  When we lived in the US, we made a number of road trips to both the east and west coasts as well as northwards into Canada, so North America would be shown in more detail than either Europe or Asia and would include family photographs.

Image: Philip Capper, Mappa Mundi (c.1290) Hereford Cathedral. CC BY 2.0.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/flissphil/1385520222