The main purpose of the Personal World Map is to give awareness of the user’s actual position in the world in relation to other places by taking into account the “effort” needed to get to a certain destination. Because the Personal World Map is based on flight data, this effort is defined not only by time (travel time) but also by money (ticket fares). In order to visualize such “effort”, the world map is immersed in travel time space and money space. “Travel time distances” and “travel costs distances” define spaces differently than geographical space. These spaces are constantly changing and constitute geometries that follow different rules than Euclidean geometries.

The “personal” aspect of representing the world in this way is that the user is allowed to choose the center of his/her world, and that the world map will be based on the user’s time and money availability. The world map representation therefore shows the physical world and the actual possibilities for its exploration. Looking at a “Personal World Map” is a way to change our perception of the world. Apart from this personal aspect, a look into the Personal World Map reveals global issues such as travel costs, the closeness of Europe, North America and East Asia, and the isolation of Africa.