About Maphover

Hi, I’m David Moloney. I’m the creator of Maphover. Maphover is the first interactive printed world map. It combines the beauty of a printed map with the functionality of your smart phone – to give you up to the minute information about each country.

To see more information and to watch how it works, view Maphover’s interactive world map.

About me

I’m a father, a small business advisor and a scooter rider. I’m very proud of the whole Maphover team – from cartographers and graphic designers to website coders and print specialists. My interest in geography and maps bloomed after an embarrassing post on Facebook.

This is a story about a sad Facebook post and a happy taxi ride. They are joined by a map.

The Facebook bit

In 2014 I sucked at Geography. I really sucked. I didn’t know Sri Lanka was an Island off India, or that Kuwait was a separate country – I thought it was a part of Iran. I probably also thought the United Arab Emirates was a UN-collection of Middle Eastern countries.

This was horribly made public, when I took a Facebook geography quiz and scored well below all my friends. It was embarrassing. So I did something about it.

I looked at an online world map, took a few more geography quizzes. As my score got better, I felt better.

But it felt like an empty form of learning. Sure I was becoming great at picking out Norway vs Sweden (hint: Norway starts with N, like ‘North’ and Sweden has a ‘S’ for south – so Norway is above Sweden) but I wasn’t learning about each country beyond map borders.

The Maphover Bit

It was time to give the traditional world map a makeover with 21st century technology. After conducting research, I found that no one was producing world maps that were supported by real time country information.

I wanted one. And I was going to build it.

So I put together a crack team of designers and coders from Australia, Belarus, the Philippines and Ukraine. 6 months later my first test print was stuck together with sticky tape. Vigorous scrutiny ensured. I ended up scrapping the Mercator map projection and moved to its cousin the Gall stereographic projection (it shows more land). I even incorrectly noted the disputed Western Sahara border (apologies Morocco). Further testing and prints testing refined the map into what it is today.

The interactive bit was harder. I purchased many tools promising map interactivity and data. Some were great at one thing, but not another – and vice versa. At one stage my developers laptop was stolen. That sucked. But we all got back on board and pushed onward to the technology launch. I celebrated with a nice bottle of red wine.

The Taxi Bit

During the testing phase I jumped into an airport taxi. Making small talk with the taxi driver, I asked where he was from. He challenged me to guess. As he looked African, I tossed out ‘Kenya’. He replied ‘A bit further north’. Knowing the countries in Africa I knew Somalia was further north, So I guessed Somalia – and he was impressed.

But I was even more impressed.

I had passed a real life geography test. One that earned me respect and made me feel like a well showered relaxed businessman.

How Maphover helped me

Maphover isn’t a cure for faulty heart valves or lowering cholesterol – but it’s helped me become a more informed citizen.

Now when reading and discussing world news, I can instantly place the countries discussed. This makes it far easier to understand how world events have flow on effects to surrounding countries. For instance, Tunisia sounds a World away from Europe, but it’s only 250km from Italy – across the Mediterranean sea.

The painstaking research involved in creating this world map has opened my eyes into the wonderfully diverse and precious world we live in.