Map of Time Travel to Major Cities

URL: http://www.iisd.org/generata/wp-content/upLoads/2009/05/accessibility.png.

This is a map of time travel to major cities around the world. I found this map from the International Institute for Sustainable Development website at www.iisd.org at http://www.iisd.org/generata/wp-content/upLoads/2009/05/accessibility.png. This map uses color to show travel time to nearest cities in hours and days. Light regions express less travel time to major cities in hours, while the darker red regions mean that travel time from these regions to cities takes multiple days. A slightly different version of the map also shows the flight paths around the world over the oceans. Almost all flights take place between Europe and the Unites States, or the United States and Europe. Much like the GDP map on this blog shows, the Southern Hemisphere is much more left out of the global world. The intention of this is to show how some places have become extremely accessible in the modern world, while others have remained isolated. Europe appears to be the most accessible, however the United States and India also stand out on the map.  The very bright or light yellow places are noticeable in megalopolis's where people are often situated between multiple major cities. I thought this map was interesting because it reflects many other maps. The coloration of this map looks similar to maps of population, energy use, and even economics. The similarities in this map with others shows that there could be a potential correlation between access to cities and the health, and wealth of a country. As a resident of Southern California, I live in close proximity to several major cities, the most prominent being Los Angeles. With such highly populated cities concentrated in one area, access to food and medical attention is not difficult to attain.  Even for further cities, I have access to airports that get me to almost anywhere on the map in less than a day.