Chinese ghost towns -- a "tour map" made by one of my classmates

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Maps and the Geospatial Revolution assigned a mapping project in the last week of class.  There were several templates we could use, which would allow us to make really cool maps with relatively little effort on our part (IF our pics were geotagged!).  One of the templates is for "tour maps."  I thought of lots of cool tour maps I could have made, like "Where I went in Italy" or "Where I slept in Italy" or "What I ate in Venice"..........

But as we were not given the assignment until the last week of class, and we also had a final exam that week, I decided not to do the project.   (Next time I hope he gives that assignment in the first week of class, so people have time to think about what they want to do, and choose their pics (and get geotags for them)......................

One of my classmates made a tour map of brand-new, never-occupied, housing and other construction in China.  This is the descriptive info on the page:

“Build and they will come” is the urban development strategy of China, multiplying new projects. But a lack of planning, a frenetic growth and the artificially expansive prices consequently to a housing bubble resulting from massive real estate investments are creating "Ghost Towns", cities or districts meant for millions but remaining empty for many years after their construction (64 million vacant apartments). This story map proposes to have a tour of those. 

"64 million vacant apartments"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't begin to get my mind around that number!

Have a look at this tour -- it's creepy!  Perfectly maintained, lovely plantings, totally empty......  I think it gives a very good taste of the magnitude of the problem.

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