Quite often you can reduce the complexity of a phenomena to be mapped right down to basic principles. Elimination of detail is a key concept in cartography and often we’re too afraid to remove content. Take a road trip though…really it’s just a single line and some means of saying something about the journey.

A road trip by designers Minh Anh Vo and Victor Schuft turned into a beautiful abstract linear map. Using a timeline as a guiding principle they use simple colours to differentiate days, marker flags, places and mileage. It almost looks like a kite flying across a page.

Flags mark where State boundaries were crossed. Red and black blocks of colour on the timeline alternate to differentiate days. A geographically accurate line above the main diagram shows the real route. No other detail is necessary and what makes this map beautiful is the brilliant use of white space…plenty of it.

It’s certainly at the abstract end of the cartographic spectrum but a very effective approach to the mapping of this journey.