1A Best Of: The Map Men On Missing Islands And The Meaning Of Mistakes
Dec 26, 2025
Join Mark Cooper-Jones, a cartography enthusiast, and comedian Jay Foreman, the creative minds behind Map Men, as they delve into the quirky world of maps. They discuss the baffling case of Sandy Island, a phantom isle that misled many until proven nonexistent. Mark explains legal map requirements and why errors can tell deeper stories about societies and power dynamics. They explore how GPS affects our spatial skills and reflect on the nostalgia maps evoke, all while revealing the comedy in cartographic misadventures.
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Sandy Island: A Phantom On Modern Maps
- The phantom island Sandy Island appeared on Google Maps until 2012 despite being open ocean.
- Australian scientists sailed to its supposed location and found only water, exposing the long-lived error.
Every Map Involves Selective Choices
- Marc Monmonier's line: you cannot make a map without lying captures cartography's unavoidable choices.
- Mark and Jay used that framework to hunt surprising and revealing map errors.
Mountains Of Kong Shaped Real Exploration
- The Mountains of Kong were a fictional range shown on European maps for nearly a century.
- They started from a cartographer's guess and influenced exploration until being finally disproven in the late 19th century.