While our interactive submarine cable map is updated on a rolling basis, printed editions are unveiled annually. Each edition has a different theme, and our team always tries to out-do last year’s release.
Can you guess what inspired our latest design?
If you look closely, you'll find sea monsters, ornate compass roses, and windrose networks woven in.
Navigators used windrose networks before accurate surveys and map projections were available. These are collections of sailing paths that navigators could use to chart a path from point A to point B.
Ultimately a directional matrix of sailing winds, this navigational aid was created by overlapping a series of compass roses. The resulting design allowed navigators to generate a “line of course”—a path to a destination.
The design of these 16th century nautical charts (also known as portolan charts) inspired the look of our 2023 Submarine Cable Map.
The design of these 16th century nautical charts (also known as portolan charts) inspired the look of our 2023 Submarine Cable Map.
If you'd like to learn more about how the 2023 map was designed and produced, listen to Episode 418 of TeleGeography Explains the Internet.
We interview two of the masterminds behind TeleGeography's Submarine Cable Map—Research Analyst Lane Burdette and Designer/Cartographer Larry Lairson—to get into our latest map's data and design.
