Most online maps are designed to help you get around in a car. This generally means displaying: roads, businesses, buildings, on-ramps, parks, oceans and traffic congestion. Nothing wrong with that! Designers get handed a tool kit that has as many tools as a good swiss army knife, and the maps reflect these tools. Millions of people use them to make appointments across town, find restaurants, and drive home for the holidays.

But what if, instead of a swiss army knife, we used a box of crayons? Or charcoal and newsprint? Or play-doh? What would those maps look like? What could they tell us about the world?

map=yes is a collaboration between MapQuest Open and Stamen Design, using data from the OpenStreetMap project. The project is an exploration of new frontiers in online cartography and the mapping of open data.

All the code used to generate these maps is available for download and liberal re-use.

Read more about this project.

A new kind of map based on open data

Paris Paris at sunrise Paris at midnight Paris at midnight

Berlin Berlin at sunrise Berlin at sunset Berlin at sunrise

London London at midnight London at sunrise London at sunrise

San Francisco San Francisco at midnight San Francisco at sunrise San Francisco at sunset San Francisco at midnight

Beijing 1 2 Beijing at midnight

Boston Boston at sunset Boston at midnight Boston at sunset

Chicago Chicago at midnight Chicago at midnight Chicago at sunrise

Dublin Dublin at midnight Dublin at sunrise Dublin at sunset

Hamburg Hamburg at sunrise Hamburg at sunrise Hamburg at sunset

Houston Houston at midnight Houston at sunset Houston at sunset

Los Angeles Los Angeles at midnight Los Angeles at sunrise

Minneapolis Minneapolis at midnight Minneapolis at sunrise Minneapolis at sunset

Montreal (je t'aime) Montreal at midnight Montreal at sunrise Montreal at midnight

Moscow Moscow at midnight Moscow at sunrise Moscow at sunrise Moscow at sunset

Munich at sunrise

New York New York at midnight New York at midnight New York at sunrise New York at sunset

Prague Prague at midnight Prague at midnight Prague at sunset

Rome Rome is midnight Rome at sunrise Rome at sunset

Toronto Toronto at midnight Toronto at sunrise Toronto at midnight Toronto at sunrise

Warsaw Warsaw at sunset Warsaw at sunset Warsaw at sunrise Warsaw at midnight