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Movies & TV

15th Apr 2014

Pic: This interactive map of Westeros is a must-see for all Game of Thrones fans

We’re guessing that the person or people responsible for this have a lot of time on their hands, but they certainly put it to good use.

Conor Heneghan

We’re guessing that the person or people responsible for this have a lot of time on their hands, but they certainly put it to good use.

Of all the great TV shows that have been released in recent years, Game of Thrones would appear to be the easiest for fans of the show to lose track of what exactly is going on, or more pertinently in this case, where exactly every character is gone.

In Breaking Bad, for example, the action never strayed too far away from Albuquerque, ditto House of Cards and Washington, but there are so many kingdoms, fiefdoms, strongholds and the likes in Game of Thrones – all of which are fictional, of course – that it’s very easy to get lost.

Enter a Game of Thrones fan who goes by the name serMountainGoat who, in 2012, created a map based on the series of books – A Song of Ice and Fire – on which the TV show is based, a map which has subsequently been updated with a Google Maps API (application programming interface) so you can interactively follow the paths taken by the various characters to date. Check it out here.

gotmap

If that’s not impressive enough, the map also comes with a slider which enables the user to dictate the paths taken by the respective characters relative to how far the user has gone while either reading the books or watching the TV series, just so, you know, they don’t go and spoil it for themselves.

Users can also click on the names of the characters and be re-directed to the Wiki of Ice and Fire database to uncover even more information about the Starks, Lannisters and the rest of the colourful cast of characters that make up the fascinating fantasy world of author George R.R. Martin.

Although Martin praised the original map, he did also point out some inaccuracies and suggested that there was information the creator of the map had no way of knowing, but only if you’re being really picky would you allow it to take anything away from an appreciation of what is a ridiculously detailed and well-researched piece of work.

A tad geeky perhaps? For sure, but very impressive all the same.

Hat-tip: The Guardian

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