Drawing an honest map of Louisiana is proving more difficult than ever before. The state is essentially sinking: it has lost 1900 square miles of land over the past 80 years, and is projected to lose another 1750 in the next 50:
“Louisiana has perhaps the most complex coastline of any state in the union. It’s not just a coastline but a coastal zone that has many inland lakes that are part of coastal change,” said Snead. “Any map you make of the Louisiana coast is obsolete the day you make it. It’s an exercise in futility.”
Louisiana Loses Its Boot by William Widmer is a remarkable deep dive into the world of cartography in the wake of the global sea-level rising and the transition from paper to digital media.