----------------------------Original message---------------------------- hi folks, Last night I attended a very lively folk music session at my friendly local hostelry. One of the songs performed - by a Dublin based band called "Hada to Hada" (don't ask me why) - referred to a piece of art as "a ballad for the optic nerve". This symbolism got me thinking cartographically: maps can be fairly dry reference documents, etc., but a good map can also "tell a tale", and a rare few actually have a strong artistic /aesthetic quality in their own right. So are there any maps that could justifiably be described as "ballads for the optic nerve"? I wondered would the MAPS-L community like to contribute their own suggestions of contemporary maps (preferably published ones that we could all get our hands on if desired) that have particularly meritorious aesthetic and artistic properties, in addition to their information content. In other words, what are the best examples of "beautiful" maps, and why? Darius Bartlett