Atlas of the Invisible

An unprecedented portrait of the hidden patterns in human society – visualised through the world of data

Humans create data with nearly everything we do. This world of information is invisible, but it shapes society in profound ways.

In Atlas of the Invisible, award-winning geographer-designer team James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti redefine what an atlas can be. Transforming enormous data sets into rich maps and cutting-edge visualisations, they uncover truths about our past, reflect who we are today, and highlight what we face in the years ahead. With their joyfully inquisitive approach, Cheshire and Uberti explore happiness and anxiety levels around the globe; they trace the undersea cables and cell towers that connect us; they examine hidden scars of geopolitics; and illustrate how a warming planet affects everything from hurricanes to the hajj.

Years in the making, Atlas of the Invisible invites readers to marvel at the promise and peril of data, and to revel in the secrets and contours of a newly visible world.

Author Biography

James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti’s complementary skills enable them to produce graphics and book pages that few others can match. As a lecturer at University College London, James applies his cartographic and programming skills to the staggering amount of data that scientists are now collecting. In 2017, he was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Cuthbert Peek Award in recognition of his work ‘advancing geographical knowledge through the use of mappable Big Data’. Oliver has more than a decade of experience visualizing and writing about wildlife research-from 2003 to 2012, he worked in the design department of National Geographic, most recently as Senior Design Editor.