Instagram Map Exhibit at Ball State University Libraries

Hashtag Mapping, Hashtag Carte, Hashtag Mappe, Hashtag Cool Maps:  Instagram Map Exhibit in Bracken Library

As of April 2017, the popular photo-sharing application Instagram has a total of over 700 million registered users.  Colorful maps can be a fun and unique subject for sharing, so the GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) in Bracken Library has created a special exhibit dedicated to “Insta-worthy maps.”

The exhibit (above, click to enlarge) features 36 different cartographic images—all in the traditional square Instagram format.  Some of the maps are hand-drawn by Ball State University or Burris Elementary School students; some of the maps are from atlases or art books featuring maps; and some of the images feature objects made to look like maps or vice versa—like steak or bacon, a shark, the state of California as a cigarette, or a pile of laundry.

The exhibit will be featured in the front windows of the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library through the month of June.  Stop by to view these artistic maps or—better yet—visit the GRMC to snap some Instagram-worthy photos of some of the over 140,000 maps in the Collection.