What is a paper town in fiction and geography?

Paper towns, also known as phantom settlements, are non-existent locations deliberately or accidentally placed on maps. They often serve as copyright traps to catch unauthorized map copiers, though some can unexpectedly transform into real places when businesses open using the fabricated name. Other phantom settlements arise through mapping errors, misnaming, or running internet satirical conspiracy theories.

What we know

• Phantom settlements or paper towns are locations that appear on maps but do not actually exist in reality. [5]
• Paper towns can be created as copyright traps or Mountweazels to catch illegal map copiers. [5]
• An invented paper town named Agloe, New York, eventually became a real place when a general store opened and adopted the mapped name. [5]
• Cartography is the study and practice of making and using maps, combining science, aesthetics, and technique. [2]

Where to go next

• how it workedHow do mapmakers choose what to include?
• a case in pointAgloe, New York
• the bigger pictureCartography
• compared withArgleton
• an unexpected connectionWhy do people joke that Bielefeld does not exist?

Sources

• [1]cartography (Wikidata Q42515) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Cartography · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]History of cartography · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Map · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Phantom settlement · CC BY-SA 4.0