Your World In Monospace: ASCIIMaps.com

Unique Google mashup is goofy fun

In the days of yore, when USENET and ASCII-email were all there was to the net, a great tradition developed over using the 255 characaters of the ASCII character-set towards the goal of art. Many were the small maps of Australia, made of dashes, underscores, and back-and-foreslashes, with Perth so carefully picked out with an asterisk and a greater-than symbol.

That era lives on as the prehistory of the ‘net but you can again visit those halcyon days on a huge scale. Markus Gerhard and the folks at Poly9 software have given us a Google Maps style interface with all maps rendered in monospace-ASCII.

Useful? Hardly. Fun? You Bet!

Get a look here.

(Via The Map Room)

Google Maps, Mashups, Wierd and Wonderful