Atlas by Giacomo Alef Faiella
An Earth where Lands and Oceans have the same inverted shape
Escher Projection
Downside up
Upside down
Examples of Corresponding Points:
Australia = Mediterranean Sea
Africa = Pacific Ocean
Asia = Indian Ocean
America = Atlantic Ocean
Antarctica = Arctic Ocean
India = Bay of Bengal
Indochina = Arabian Sea
Sumatra = Caspian Sea
Borneo = Black Sea
Philippines = Red Sea
New Zealand = Baltic & North Sea
Japan = African Great Lakes
Madagascar = Sea of Okhotsk
Tasmania = Adriatic Sea
Kamchatka = Mozambique Channel
Sri Lanka = Ganges Delta
Antille = River Amazon...
Two Focus or Fixed Points: One in India (Kakinada) and the other in Venezuela (Caracas)
This is a map that takes some time to get your head around; quite literally, because to appreciate it fully, you need to consider it both with its north side and its south side up...
And what do you know? There is no right side up -- or rather: there is no wrong side up. For this is a planisphere palindrome, a planet-chart that can be 'read' the same way 'upside up' and upside down. This is very strange. The size and distribution of the world's continents and oceans is random, the result of millions of years of continental drift. That process is still ongoing: the way the world looks like on our maps is but a snapshot, even if it feels like an eternity from our human perspective.
It would seem impossible to find a pattern with global consistency in that random jumble of land masses and water bodies. A map showing the overlap of antipodean dry lands doesn't seem to indicate any, at least. But the Italian artist Giacomo Faiella did find such a pattern.
Green Version
Some Links about this map
Are you a 3D designer? Video maker? D3.js expert?... If you like the idea of further developing these imaginary worlds , contact me!
giaalef@gmail.com