Incredible map reveals the roads of the WORLD
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From Italy’s Great St Bernard Pass to Scotland’s North Coast 500, nothing beats the open road for an epic road trip.
But have you ever wondered how many roads there are on our entire planet?
There are at least 13 million miles of roads around the world, ranging from major highways to rural roads.
To help visualize how much land these roads cover, PythonMaps’ Adam Symington created an incredible map Visual capitalistwith the roads of the world, by continent.
Amazingly, the map shows that over 14 percent of roads are in the US, while 1.24 percent are in Britain.
To help visualize how many country roads there are, Adam Symington of PythonMaps created an incredible map for Visual Capitalist, showing the world’s roads by continent
To create the map, Mr. Symington used the Global Roads Inventory Project, which includes data from governments, research institutes, NGOs and crowdsourcing initiatives
| Rank | Country | % of the world’s roads |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | US | 14.34% |
| 2 | China | 7.92% |
| 3 | India | 4.87% |
| 4 | Mexico | 3.43% |
| 5 | Argentina | 3.25% |
| 6 | Brazil | 3.15% |
| 7 | Russia | 2.88% |
| 8 | Australia | 2.87% |
| 9 | Germany | 2.61% |
| 10 | France | 2.42% |
To create the map, Mr. Symington used the Global Roads Inventory Project, which includes data from governments, research institutes, NGOs and crowdsourcing initiatives.
Roads were classified into one of four categories and color coded accordingly.
Major roads (multi-lane highways) are white on the map, while minor roads (high traffic paved roads) are yellow.
Meanwhile, tertiary roads (paved or unpaved residential roads) and local roads are marked in red on the map.
‘This classification made it possible to investigate relationships between road infrastructure, development, wealth and population distribution,’ explains Visual Capitalist.
The data shows that of the 13 million miles (21 million kilometers) of roads worldwide, 1.86 million miles (3 million kilometers) are in the US.
This is nearly double that of China (one million miles/1.7 million kilometers), and three times that of India (600,000 miles/one million kilometers) – the world’s two most populous countries.
At the other end of the scale, the small Pacific island region of Palau has the smallest road network at only 11 miles in length.
‘However, many countries have even smaller networks, with Norfolk Island being the smallest in the dataset at 10 km [6 miles],” Visual Capitalist added.
When breaking down road networks by type, China topped the list for major roads, followed by the US and Mexico
In Africa and Australia, vast areas have no color at all thanks to large road-free areas, such as deserts
“Something similar is happening in Europe, where old Cold War divisions play out in white, yellow and red,” Visual Capitalist added. ‘France, Germany, Italy and the UK glow hot in a mix of white and yellow, while the former Eastern Bloc countries simmer more red’
However, when the road networks were broken down by type, China topped the list for major roads, followed by the US and Mexico.
These differences are reflected on the map, with North America having a white-yellow hue due to the large number of highways, primary and secondary roads.
Mexico, on the other hand, is predominantly red, as most roads are tertiary or local.
“Something similar is happening in Europe, where old Cold War divisions play out in white, yellow and red,” Visual Capitalist added.
“France, Germany, Italy and the UK glow red-hot in a mix of white and yellow, while the former Eastern Bloc countries simmer more in red.”
In Africa and Australia, vast areas have no color at all thanks to large road-free areas, such as deserts.
READ MORE: The REAL London Tube Map! Incredibly geographically accurate map shows the true location of stops – so is yours where you thought it was?
With only seconds between each stop, it’s hard to imagine London’s Tube stations sometimes being miles apart.
But Transport for London (TfL) has revealed a geographically accurate map of the underground network with a surprising distance between many iconic platforms.
The historic Metropolitan line is home to the furthest stations of all, with a stretch of nearly four miles between Chesham and Chalfront and Latimer.
Chesham is also the furthest stop from central London, often taking more than 70 minutes to get there from the city’s bustling Waterloo station.
Although TfL’s 2014 map does not show most recent changes including Elizabeth line, Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, it is the most up to date outline of geography.
Transport for London (TfL) has unveiled a geographically accurate map of the Tube, showing surprising distances between many iconic platforms