Colorful Maps of the World’s Rivers Are Striking (and Kinda Trippy)

We all know what a winding blue line on a map means, but until we this cartographer’s work we had no idea a little color could transform the world’s rivers into amazing art.


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Robert Szucs, a Geographic Information Systems analyst and Digital Cartographer from Hungary (whom we learned about at Smithsonian) creates beautiful, wholly unique maps that look more like something you’d see in a museum rather than in at atlas. Using vibrant, bright colors, he creates maps of river systems from all around the world. From counties, to states, to countries, to whole continents—even the entire globe. He brings to life the world’s rivers, basins, and tributaries in a way that makes Earth look like a series of alien planets. His maps look like the circulatory system of the world, which in many ways they are.


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Szucs operates under the name Grasshopper Geography, which comes from his Hungarian nickname “Szöcske,” meaning grasshopper. While the colors he uses are purely an aesthetic choice, they are scientifically based, denoting specific waterways. The different colors represent different continuous water systems, which is why his map of the United States has a gigantic vein of hot pick running through the middle of it. That’s the massive Jefferson-Mississippi-Missouri River system that cuts right through the heart of the country.


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He says on his website this all started when he quit his job and began volunteering his map-making skills to non-profit organizations around the world. From there Grasshopper Geography “grew from some hobby projects and maps” he shared online. When they proved to be a huge hit with people he was able to stop doing office jobs entirely and focus full-time on these amazing maps, though he does plan to continue volunteering. You can order his maps through his Etsy shop.

He also sells a series of beautiful green and red maps that represent the world’s forest. They have a haunting-yet-gorgeous feeling to them.


After seeing these stunning maps, now when we look at any other one we’ll know two things when we see a winding blue line: a) it’s a river, and b) it would look so much better if it was a different color.

Featured Image: Grasshopper Geography

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