Penang Over Time

1935 Ordinance Survey (OS) Map of Jerejak. Provided by Mike Gibby

If Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia, Penang would be food capital of the country. More so, the island state is well known for its historical heritage (now as World Heritage Site). In my previous blog post, we had a brief mention of George Town and its history.

I have developed another ArcGIS Online Web Template allows you to view multiple snapshots of history of Penang through the maps. I have sourced maps from the earliest days of Penang Settlement (started in 1786) by the British to the maps reflecting Japanese occupation of the Island.

I hope through this application you are able to discover:

1. Road Name Changes
2. Forgotten buildings
3. Hill resorts or long lost features of the state
4. Expansion of George Town, the capital of the state

If you have out of copyright map of Penang online, please let me know

Reflecting on Malaya's 60th Independence Year through Maps

Sungai Petani (1943) Courtesy of University of Texas libraries

On 31st August 2017, Malaya (now part of Malaysia) celebrated the 60th Independence Year. One of the best ways to see the changes of Malaya over the years is understanding the changes in town layouts.

Over the past few months, I have sourced multiple out of copyright maps, images and historical descriptions of selected cities across Malaya. I took this opportunity to look at selected towns (some of which are no longer prominent in  the Malaysian scene) to relieve pre-Independence days of these settlements.

Unearth lost buildings, former railways and relieve memories of the past.

When time and online storage permits, I will look into adding other cities where I could source maps and relevant histories. I hope this map story application allows you to explore Malayan history through cities and more importantly, maps.

Please drop your comments of this application - both positive and constructive ones. If you want to see your town or settlement to be part of the application, please drop your name, city name and potential source for a historical map/images.

Click on this link for a full view.

Malaysian Electoral Map Series

As Malaysia gears to GE14, we will be looking what are the key factors that are impacting voters' preference for the next elections. Watch this blog space grow with new maps over the coming months.

1) Plantation Scheme Issues

How does a plantation scheme across the country can have so much bearing on the next GE 14? Felda, world renowned program to raise the income of poor rural settlers, has been beset by lower commodity prices, financial mismanagement and questionable purchases.

If you look at the map above, Felda voters are largely located at the marginal seats of the ruling government. Assuming there is one-to-one fight between government and opposition, it only takes 22 seats to change the government of the day. With the introduction of GST in 2015, the effect kicked in on Felda Settlers. A good example was the Rompin By Elections of 2015. Comparing to 2013 and 2015 results of the same seat, ruling government winning margin substantially reduced.

With the fragmentation of the opposition (PR), the possibility of multi corner fight is high. Should that happen, Felda voters will be presented with multiple choices which allows the ruling government win the seat.

2) Challenging Existing Understanding the relation of Electoral Factors

Bosnia Herzegovina Landmine Contamination Map

The PDF of the full extent of the map

Recently, with a collaboration of local Bosnian cartographer, Nurija, we have designed a map about landmine contamination in Bosnia Herzegovina. As Bosnia marks 25 years of independence this year, this timely map conveys the landmine legacy due to the civil war of 1990s.

As there are many mines (unexploded) still found in Bosnia, it continues to be a threat to anyone in the farm or during a flood time. If you want a map of a pressing topic, please contact me at the comment section and we can discuss further.