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Web Picks: Maps/Graphs

Middle East Geography Quiz Did you know "the Middle East"' stretches as far west as the Western Sahara in Africa? Rethinking Schools Online lets you test your knowledge of the Middle East with a challenging drag-and-drop game. Go to Geography Quiz

Re-Visions of Minard In 1862, a French engineer named Charles Joseph Minard created "one of the most stunning multidimensional graphical representations of human folly" when he drew a flow-map that depicted the devastating results of Napoleon Bonaparte's Grand Army's invasion of Russia in 1812. This two dimensional page of pen and ink drawing displays six dimensions of descriptive data. It has been called the "best statistical graphic ever produced." [Tufte, 1983] <snip> The thick band in the middle describes the size of Napoleon's army, 422,000 men strong, when he began the invasion of Russia in June of 1812 from the Polish-Russian border near the Niemen River.  As the army advances, the line's thickness reflects its size, narrowing to reflect the attrition suffered during the advance on Moscow.  By the time the army reached Moscow (right most side of the drawing), it had been reduced to 100,000 men, one-quarter of its initial size.  The lower line depicts the retreat of Napoleon's army, and the catastrophic effect of the bleak Russian winter.  The line of retreat is linked to both dates and temperature at the bottom of the graphic. The harsh cold reduced the army to a mere 10,000 men by the time it re-crossed into Poland.  In addition to the main army, Minard characterizes the actions of auxiliary troops who move to protect the advancing army's main flanks. [Long, 2003] Re-Visions of Minard challenges others to improve on "the best statistical graphic ever drawn." Go to Re-Visions of Minard Go to Napoleonic Literature Page Go to Geovisualization and Minard's Map