The World at Night

Here is a map that came from a website named http://rosalieee.files.wordpress.com, under the title "interesting maps." It is a sattelite image of the world at night, which captures the light different cities from around the world give off. The more light an area gives off refers to its level of urbanization. It is only natural that the more densely populated and wealthier areas of the world give off the most light. The Eastern U.S., for example, is probably the brightest location in the world at night. Most of Europe is on par with the U.S. The one area that stands out among the rest is Japan. This map interested me because there was no input of data, instead it is merely a physical image. Nonetheless, the map gives us many insights about the world and reveals interesting patterns to us. Even the most simple maps can be the most revealing.