This morning I was browsing Gary Gale's Vaguely Rude Places map and realised that thanks to my deteriorating eye-sight I could no longer read all the hilariously rude place-names around the world. Instead of simply diving into my browser settings and magnifying the page I decided it would be far more satisfying to create my own map. Luckily for me Gary has provided links to easily download the data for his map.
Having access to the raw GeoJSON made things very easy. I pulled the data into a simple MapLibre GL JS setup and started experimenting with how best to display the labels. Using Maputnik, which is an excellent visual editor for base-map styles, I was able to customize an OpenFreeMap base-map to suit my specific design. The key change was removing all city, town and village label layers from the style. By doing this, I eliminated the visual noise that would otherwise compete with the rude place-names. With the basemap simplified, I then simply styled the GeoJSON labels to mimic the standard map typography.
I also added a simple search tool so you can type in your favourite rude words and see if they appear in place-names anywhere in the world. The end result is a lightweight, easy-to-read map of Gary’s rude places dataset.
The Rude Places Map
If you want, you can create direct links to your favourite views on the map and share them with others. The map’s URL automatically encodes the current position, so you can link to a specific location and zoom level, for example:
Alternatively, you can link directly to a filtered view of the data by adding a search term to the URL. For instance:
