Platial News and Neogeography

Palimpsest on Poland’s Electoral Map

348 - An Imperial Palimpsest on Poland’s Electoral Map: "

‘Your map showing the electoral divide in Ukraine (#343) is quite interesting, and put me in mind of a similar one that I saw last year, that prompted me do a bit of map research,’ writes David G.D. Hecht. ‘If you look at the Wikipedia article on the Polish legislative elections of 2007, there is a map there similar to the Ukrainian one. I looked at this map and thought, hmmm…where have I seen this divide before? Looks very familiar. This isn’t just some urban/rural, professional/worker, white-wine-and-brie/beer-and-sausages thing!’

Mr Hecht did some overlay work, and came up with this remarkable fit: ‘The divide between the (more free-market) PO and the (more populist) PiS almost exactly follows the old border between Imperial Germany and Imperial Russia, as it ran through Poland! How about that for a long-lasting cultural heritage?!?’ How about: amazing, bordering on the unbelievable?

What I find interesting is to see which side 'bleeds' into the other.

(Via strange maps.)

Flying Flickr Photos

Find out more about the project behind this video here.

Travel Guides Meet Cultural Exchange on Platial

ON THE GROUND IN TAIPEI---Meet Locals, Get Tips, Explore

In two days, Platial will be 3 years old. In preparation, we've been spending a lot of time with our most active users from across the globe. Many of these users are contacted by travelers as they're passing through and we love this and thought it was time to formalize it a bit better.

With that said, we're launching our "Local Guides" program for Platial members. Local Guides are informal ambassadors volunteering to represent their unique parts of the world. They offer a unique perspective beyond traditional travel writers and editors, they are real locals offering up first-hand gems of information about their homes. They are eager to share and to connect. If you're like us, you're deeply curious about how other people live. You care more about culture than tourism. This is our guide, The People's Guide.

The best part is now just seeing the worls through the eyes of locals but actually connecting, meeting up and making introductions. We felt that cultural exchange was lacking in travel guides and we hope this will offer you something special for your global adventures.

Please meet our first highlighted Local Guide, Philip Lee who brings to life the vivid landscape and social-scape of Taipei.
He has hand-crafted maps of his favorite places, offered up tips for when and where to visit and of course hope you'll ask questions and meet up. So, reach out to Philip and give us feedback. We have Local Guids coming soon for Chennai, LA & Irvine, Cebu City, Manila, Budapest, Hong Kong, Shah Alam and many more.