Wolfram Language

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Make a You-Centric World Map

Choose a projection and make a map of the world centered at your location.


code

Partition[ Labeled[ GeoGraphics[{}, GeoProjection -> #, GeoCenter -> $GeoLocation, GeoRange -> "World", GeoGridLines -> Automatic], # ] & /@ RandomSample[GeoProjectionData["Spherical"], 32], 4 ] // Grid

how it works

This example was live-coded at the Wolfram Research booth at SXSW, March 9, 2014.

The Wolfram Language has a wealth of built-in map projections:

projections = GeoProjectionData["Spherical"]

Here is a world map in a Mercator projection centered at my location:

GeoGraphics[{}, GeoProjection -> "Mercator", GeoCenter -> $GeoLocation, GeoRange -> "World", GeoGridLines -> Automatic]

Here is the same map in an American Polyconic projection:

GeoGraphics[{}, GeoProjection -> "AmericanPolyconic", GeoCenter -> $GeoLocation, GeoRange -> "World", GeoGridLines -> Automatic]

And here is the same projection, this time centered at Timbuktu:

GeoGraphics[{}, GeoProjection -> "AmericanPolyconic", GeoCenter -> Entity["City", {"Timbuktu", "Tombouctou", "Mali"}], GeoRange -> "World", GeoGridLines -> Automatic]

How do the various projections compare? Make a table showing 32 of them at once:

maps = Labeled[ GeoGraphics[{}, GeoProjection -> #, GeoCenter -> $GeoLocation, GeoRange -> "World", GeoGridLines -> Automatic], # ] & /@ RandomSample[projections, 32];
Partition[maps, 4] // Grid