Atlas of Imagined Places: from Lilliput to Gotham City

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From Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps. A map like this can never be complete. London's fictional space is all but infinite. We've started the map with over 700 locations, but much remains to be added.

The 14 cities covered are Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Paris, Rio, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Venice and Washington DC. The maps also include fictional infrastructure, such as the great sea wall round LA from Blade Runner 2049, and the anti-Kaiju wall of Sydney from Pacific Rim. You'll also find the routes of fictional car chases, speedboat pursuits in Venice, the pilgrimage path of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and much more. Fictional London mapped Inner London A map on this resolution, though, can only scratch the surface of fictional London. For that, you can always browse our map of the Unreal City, which contains hundreds of fictional places in the capital.Londonist editor-at-large Matt Brown, and co-author Rhys B Davies, have taken the concept to the entire planet in their Atlas of Imagined Places. We're especially looking for locations outside of the centre. Whole swathes of Greater London, and much of Inner London are still empty. We're interested in central locations, too, but only the more mainstream additions will find room.

Additional thanks to: @brugeoise, Phil Douglas, @Joost, Tom Joyce, TomO, Kahani, Chris Roberts, Jay Roches, Melvyn Windebank and Marie-Claire Wyatt. The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It's a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out, but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you'll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh's home.If such thoughts have kept you awake at night, then the Atlas of Imagined Places: From Lilliput to Gotham City (Batsford Books; 2021) is just the book for you. Written by Matt Brown, editor-at-large for Londonist, and co-authored by Rhys B. Davies, this gorgeous book builds upon Mr Brown’s idea to map approximately 1,000 fictional British places, earlier depicted in Londonist’s ‘Fake Britain’ map ( more here), which now is expanded in this volume to include more than 5,000 fictional locations around the world. Special thanks to Tyler McChantelle who, as on previous maps, has provided many locations. Ditto Amanda Oliver, who continues to fill in blanks. What happens when someone simply lets their imagination conjure up places to see that have never been seen? What about plants or animals never seen? What would your drawings of a mapping of these places, plants, and animals actually look like? From Stephen King's Salem's Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.

From volcanoes that spew bubble gum to animals that change their coats whenever someone sneezes, this book is full of imagination. The dreamy illustrations are soothing and yet full of mystery. Imagine your child climbing to the tallest lighthouse and drawing out new galaxies with their finger. That is the kind of magic you can imagine by reading this book. Besides the city maps, artfully drawn by illustrator Mike Hall, the book also includes plenty of mini-essays exploring the fiction of the 14 cities. These explain how the authors sleuthed their locations. Often, it's obvious from the source material, but sometimes a bit of detective-work is needed to pinpoint a fictional home, business or event.

Who lives where in TV, books, games and movies?

Perhaps most surprising (to me, anyway, since it turns out that I grew up nearby) is the location for The Simpsons’ hometown, Springfield, the whereabouts of which the writers of the TV show are notoriously shy about pinning down. I had my suspicion confirmed that I did indeed grow up in The Hunger Games’ ruthless District One. As a lifelong dinosaur fan, I was excited that the mythical Isla Nublar, home of the ill-fated Jurassic Park, was also mapped. I also discovered a bounty of toys for any little girl or boy who wishes for a Christmas gift when I found the Isle of Mifsfit Toys. Another surprise for me was seeing that Winnie the Pooh’s home is next to where the Animal Farm revolution occurred. From the Ghostbusters HQ in New York to Nemo’s fish tank in Sydney, from the Phantom of the Opera’s Parisian lair to scenes from Grand Theft Auto in LA, this is an amazing atlas of imaginary locations in real-life cities around the world. Locations from film, TV, books, computer games and comics are ingeniously plotted on a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.

Robert Louis Stevenson may not have invented pop culture’s vision of the Golden Age of Sail, but he certainly codified it. His classic adventure Treasure Island bequeathed to the world a romantic paradigm best encapsulated in Long John Silver, the ruthless sea cook complete with peg leg and parrot.From Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot to the superhero land of Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver’s Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, this is a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps. The book includes interesting discoveries including George Orwell's Animal Farm being located right next to Winnie the Pooh's 100 Acre Wood.