When it absolutely, positively needs to have a map

Those people who know me personally already realize that I'm a big fan of cargo freight.  I have a extra-special fondness for shipping container freight, but I find air freight interesting too.  Add to this the simple fact that I've found a lot of FedEx related maps lately, and you get a post solely about FedEx.

FedEx is based out of Memphis, Tennessee, where it has its "superhub" at the Memphis International Airport.  It has a fleet of nearly 700 aircraft flying to almost 400 destinations.  And one extremely overwhelming distribution center.

The constant movement in these and other similar distribution centers are amazing.  Conveyor belts run everywhere, forklifts scuttle about, and you have to be on your toes that you don't get run over. These places are darn near hyperactive.

But on to the maps...

FedEx, with its famed overnight delivery service, runs 24-7. And with that 24-7 business, they have flights flying into their Memphis superhub and Indianapolis and Dallas regional hubs constantly. Here is a time lapse video of 25 hours of FedEx flights back and forth across in the continental US:, accompanied by a little acoustic Led Zeppelin.  Watch the timing of how almost all the planes are on the ground in Memphis at the same time to sync their delivery routes.

I find it a little ironic that a time lapse video of airplanes flying to Memphis is accompanied by Zeppelin singing a song entitled "Going to California", especially when there are both more appropriately titled groups and songs that mention flying into Memphis available.

It should be noted that this is Memphis, which is located in the South, where summer storms can wreak havoc on even the best run air traffic systems.  When storms develop, the orchestration of in-bound flights can look like a well-choreographed dance.

Part of FedEx's website has been devoted to demographic and sociological cartograms.  Cartograms are a different kind of map -- one where some variable, such as life expectancy or happiness rating or population, is substituted for land area in a map.  (For example, many people are familiar with cartograms from US Presidential elections.)

FedEx cartogram showing differences in R&D expenditures.

These cartograms on FedEx's site are some of the most dynamic collections of cartograms that I've seen in a long time. They display worldwide demographic data, usually three related topics at a time, morphing the world to show each set of data.  The data range over a wide range of topics as well -- from airline travel to mobile phone usage to coffee imports to education spending -- just to name a few. The demographics expressed within the project are fairly extensive and they are constantly adding more. 

Flip through them and you'll find a wealth of information.  The one drawback is that you need to hover over the unlabeled country to get specific information.  When the countries get distorted you may find yourself hovering over several likely candidates if you have a specific country you want to find.  But still, it's a wild method of displaying worldwide demographic differences.

One last comment about FedEx that appeals to the font geek in me.  Their logo is one of the most subtly creative logos currently in existence. The company created its own font in order to achieve a hidden extra something within the logo that adds to their brand.  See if you can find it.  If you can't, the answer can be found here.