Population density is hard to understand without a point of reference. This map makes it easier by representing populations of other places using areas we're much more familiar with.


This is a map of the highest paid public employees by state. If you're not already a football coach, you're making way less money than you could be.


The red represents the countries with McDonald's. McDonald's may have gotten farther than the British. One things for sure, wherever you go, a packet of golden fries is never very far away.


This is a map of every place in the world that the British have invaded, in pink. Only 22 countries were left out. That's impressive considering Great Britain itself is nearly too small to see on this map!


What countries give mothers time off to bond with their babies? Nearly every country in the world. The United States is nearly the only holdout, along with Suriname, Liberia and Papua New Guinea.


Chinese is a language full of colorful dialects. This map of Europe shows the literal translation of Chinese names for those countries. West Classtooth sounds like a bizarre place to visit.


The red regions are countries that are not on the metric system. Seriously, the metric system makes so much sense, why can't we just suck it up and switch over?


This map shows common pirate routes around the world so you know where to steer clear on your next fantastic voyage. The pink areas are the most dangerous; the West African coast and Indonesian waters are pirate-central!


As it turns out, the likelihood that you'll get struck by lightning depends a lot on where you live. The yellow areas see the most lightning strikes per square kilometer, white sees the least. For some reason, those bolts really seem to like central Africa.


Have you ever wondered how much space the United States would take up if it were on the moon? No? Well, it's still pretty cool to see it on a map.


The orientation of the modern map is completely arbitrary. It all depends on where you're standing when you make the map. This is what the world map would look like if the orientation was reversed. And just like that Australia is in the center of the world!


The world has roughly 7 billion people, and each color on this map represents a part of the world where 1 billion people reside. Red and orange, which contain China and India, are pretty tightly packed!


This map tracks the movement of economic centers in the world since 1 AD. Follow the arrows to see where the wealth is flowing. It's funny how cyclical things are. First money left the East and now it looks like it's headed back.


Not everyone is obsessed with coffee. This is a map of annual coffee consumption per capita around the world; the darker colors drink more coffee. It's surprising that people in Africa, where a lot of coffee beans are grown, drinks almost no coffee. What we want to know is how people in Greenland stay awake.


The Mississippi river is much bigger than you think. In red are the 7,000+ rivers that feed into that big body of water.


Not all oil comes from the middle east. This map highlights the movements of oil exports and imports from country to country. The Americas are actually a big exporter of oil!


Where does most of the world's research take place? This dark purple regions have the highest Number of Researchers per Million Inhabitants
Around the World. North America and Europe are the nerds of the world!


Sexual norms vary all over the globe. This interesting map charts the average age that people around the world got their v-card stamped for the first time. Green is youngest age and red is oldest. Looks like East Asia is really into holding out.


The dark red countries have the most reported cases of bribery. The United States takes a hard stand against bribery, but looks like Russia and China have to deal with a lot of corruption!


Maps don't always have to contain useful information. This beauty tracks the journey of 29,000 rubber duckies that fell off of a ship while it was crossing the pacific ocean.


Harboring a healthy fear of earthquakes? This is a great map for deciding where not to move. Anywhere well away from that giant frightening ring in the middle should be fine.


How many rivers are there in the United States? Nearly too many to count. Each blue vein represents a river. It's enough to make you want to go out and buy a kayak.


Who's drinking what? Purple is beer, olive is wine, yellow is spirits, blue is other, and grey is unavailable. We never would have thought beer was so popular!


Looking for some drinking buddies during your backpacking trip? The dark purple countries drink the most and green countries drink the least. Russia may be too much of a party, but Australia could be a lot of fun.


Both India and China have exceeded one billion people. That means there are more people there than anyone else in the world. Just try to wrap your mind around that.


Global travel is a lot less common than you'd think. This is a map of the most common routes taken in 2012. The world may be a big place but most of us prefer to stay local. 7 out of 10 are within Asia!


Have you been itching to catch a glimpse of yourself on Google Street View? This map shows in blue where the automated cars travel around the world.


This is a map of global internet usage. The yellow wave represents day, the black represents night. The redder the area, the more internet they're using.


There's a lot of overlap between people who are into maps and people who are into travelling. This guy blended the two in an awesome map tattoo with the countries he's visited colored in.


Pangea is the giant land mass that existed before the continents separated. Most of us learned about it in school. But this representation includes modern country lines for a better idea of what it was like.


Here is the link with the sources for each map: http://likes.com/misc/30-maps-that-w...Mzg2ODIzNjYyfQ