Maps aren't just for getting around anymore; they've become so ubiquitous--and so easy to manipulate--that they're more like raw materials that artists, designers, and everyone else use to make sense of the world as it is, or just make a new one. Sharing the shelves with dozens of newly compiled atlases of historic cartography [2] are books like The Map as Art [3] or Strange Maps [4], which show all the weird, alternative uses people find for boring old geography. There's an imaginary, world-wide metro [5], or Christian Nold's [6] San Francisco Emotion Map [7]. And now, Christoph Niemann's [8] on the case.

Niemann, the man behind the blog-post-now-book [9] I LEGO N.Y [10]., takes on Google Maps as his newest canvas, turning daily life (like making omelets or going through airport security) into tangles roads and highways. No street view necessary: the map is the picture.

[More at The New York Times [11]]