Atlas of Imagined Places: from Lilliput to Gotham City

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Perhaps most surprising (to me, anyway, since it turns out that I grew up nearby) is the location for The Simpsons’ hometown, Springfield, the whereabouts of which the writers of the TV show are notoriously shy about pinning down. I had my suspicion confirmed that I did indeed grow up in The Hunger Games’ ruthless District One. As a lifelong dinosaur fan, I was excited that the mythical Isla Nublar, home of the ill-fated Jurassic Park, was also mapped. I also discovered a bounty of toys for any little girl or boy who wishes for a Christmas gift when I found the Isle of Mifsfit Toys. Another surprise for me was seeing that Winnie the Pooh’s home is next to where the Animal Farm revolution occurred. From Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps. The book includes interesting discoveries including George Orwell's Animal Farm being located right next to Winnie the Pooh's 100 Acre Wood. The authors of this charming book have invested years into researching and identifying plausible geographic locations for thousands of towns, cities and countries as well as mountains and rivers, oceans and seas, featured in your favorite popular books, films, TV series, comics or even video games. And on the far side of Costa Rica, we discover Isla Nublar, and the nearby island cluster known as Las Cinco Muertes – the Five Deaths – well named indeed, for here are the lost worlds of Jurassic Park, where genetically re-created dinosaurs once again rule the Earth!

The map was created by Matt Brown and Rhys B Davies. We'll list the names of anybody who suggests a fictional location that we decide to use.Perhaps the most densely populated map is London. Whole fictional boroughs such as Walford (Eastenders) and Canley (The Bill) are served by fictional tube stations such as Hobb's End (Quatermass and the Pit) and Vauxhall Cross (Die Another Day). A constellation of famous characters fill in the gaps. Spies James Bond, Alex Rider and George Smiley all inhabit the same cluster of Chelsea streets. Phileas Fogg could pop across the road into Grace Brothers, and dalmatians Pongo and Perdita could easily be spooked by the Invisible Man.

If such thoughts have kept you awake at night, then the Atlas of Imagined Places: From Lilliput to Gotham City (Batsford Books; 2021) is just the book for you. Written by Matt Brown, editor-at-large for Londonist, and co-authored by Rhys B. Davies, this gorgeous book builds upon Mr Brown’s idea to map approximately 1,000 fictional British places, earlier depicted in Londonist’s ‘Fake Britain’ map ( more here), which now is expanded in this volume to include more than 5,000 fictional locations around the world. Additional thanks to: @brugeoise, Phil Douglas, @Joost, Tom Joyce, TomO, Kahani, Chris Roberts, Jay Roches, Melvyn Windebank and Marie-Claire Wyatt.The maps also include fictional infrastructure, such as the great sea wall round LA from Blade Runner 2049, and the anti-Kaiju wall of Sydney from Pacific Rim. You'll also find the routes of fictional car chases, speedboat pursuits in Venice, the pilgrimage path of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and much more. Fictional London mapped Inner London Explore the imagined places in Central America and the Caribbean in this extract from Atlas of Imagined Places, which was awarded Illustrated Travel Book of the Year in the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards this week. The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out, but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you’ll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh’s home. Nevertheless, this fascinating book is essential for any map enthusiast or devotee of popular culture. I am already eagerly awaiting the extra large pull-down classroom version of these maps so I can use them as blinds in my office. The 14 cities covered are Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Paris, Rio, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Venice and Washington DC.

The atlas is sumptuously illustrated by Mike Hall, whose glorious maps and illustrations of London have long beguiled us. The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It's a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you'll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh's home.Atlas of Imagined Cities: Who Lives Where in TV, Books, Games and Movies. by Matt Brown, Rhys B. Davies and Mike Hall is out now from Batsford. We did the research by trawling through the internet and looking for books. I would then compile a master spreadsheet and Matt would do rough sketch maps and put locations down on it." We're especially looking for locations outside of the centre. Whole swathes of Greater London, and much of Inner London are still empty. We're interested in central locations, too, but only the more mainstream additions will find room.

From Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.Londonist editor-at-large Matt Brown, and co-author Rhys B Davies, have taken the concept to the entire planet in their Atlas of Imagined Places. Matt Brown is author of 11 books for Batsford, including eight titles in the popular Everything You Know... series of mythbusting books. He has served as editor and editor-at-large of Londonist.com for many years, writing on topics as diverse as street art, politics, map-making and science. With a deep love of trivia, he's written and hosted hundreds of quizzes, including events for the Museum of London, London Eye, Royal Institution, Royal Society and Manchester Science Museum, among many others. All of his books use humour and playfulness as tools to explore the world. He is tweeting at @mattfromlondon.