Best-looking country/state/geographical shapes?

[Kyng]

I think the proposed East African Federation (a union of Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania) looks quite nice on a map:


(Source: Martin23230; View licence terms)

However, more modern proposals also throw in South Sudan - which completely ruins the shape IMO :


(Source: Chessrat; View licence terms)

I'm not here to say South Sudan shouldn't be included - after all, there are far better arguments for/against its inclusion than "It looks better on a map without it" - but it is a bit of a shame that it'd spoil that aesthetically-pleasing shape!

[Kyng]

Another one I quite like is the shape of Scotland (at least, if you ignore the Orkney/Shetland islands):



Like some of the other maps here, it has that balanced, not-quite-symmetrical look to it. And even the islands enhance this IMO: they have a certain amount of 'ordered chaos' to them!

[Mystique]

Awesome thread!

I think I just found a really interesting new hobby!

Great stuff, thank-you Kyng

Totally biased, ofc .. but Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

This one shows some of the main roads etc.

[Kyng]

Awesome thread!

I think I just found a really interesting new hobby!

Great stuff, thank-you Kyng

Totally biased, ofc .. but Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

This one shows some of the main roads etc.

Very nice map there ! Really shows just how much of the population is concentrated around the major cities.

(If you have any more like it, we have another thread dedicated to interesting maps )

[Kyng]

While this thread is about "Best-looking geographical shapes", I think I'll take a moment to post some of my least favourites.

Maryland (looks like it's been gerrymandered):



Norway (as someone who's one-quarter Norwegian, it pains me to put it here... but, it's awkwardly long and thin ):



Chad (an awkward mix of squiggly borders and straight lines. This can work (see, for example, Texas) - but in Chad's case, it just looks so unbalanced ):



Of course, I don't blame Chad for its ugly borders: I blame the colonial powers who drew those borders in the first place !!!

[Mystique]

My ancestry is 100% Irish. No bias here though .. I just love looking at this map.