The Island Map

The Island Map project is one year old today, so this seems like a good time to post what will most likely be the last map update.

The official LOST Encyclopedia came out a few months ago. It included most of the individual maps seen on the show, but it appears that the authors didn’t attempt to create a comprehensive map of the entire Island. Therefore I don’t feel the need to make any major revisions due to some geographical revelation from the encyclopedia.

Now that LOST is over, there’s not much more that can be done with the map, although there is obviously still lots of room for speculation. In the end, this map is simply my best guess based on the various bits of evidence. I’ve really enjoyed working on this project, and thanks to all of you who stuck around to see it to its conclusion.

Click here for extra hi-res version.

The Heart of The Island

I think enough time has passed since the finale that it’s safe to post spoilers, so the first order of business is to identify the location of the Heart of The Island. Jacob gave Jack clear directions on how to find it: the “source” is over a ridge, just beyond the bamboo grove where Jack first woke up in the pilot episode. We know that the bamboo grove is very close to the fuselage crash site, since Jack was able to run from the grove to the plane wreckage in a matter of moments. Therefore, the Heart must also be close to the southern coast, just a short hike from the survivors’ beach camp. Its location is indicated by the gold starburst northeast of the fuselage. Even though it’s this close to the beach camp, the survivors wouldn’t have discovered it since only the protector of The Island can find it.

After watching the final episode, it is also obvious that the cliffside cave is not located along the northern shore of The Island. The Man in Black and Jack reached the cliff far too quickly for it to to be at the extreme other end of The Island. Based on the appearance of the terrain, the cave is most likely located south of the volcanic crater. We know that, although they frequently explored the southern areas of The Island, the survivors never discovered the cave, which would indicate that they must have found another path around the crater, or that the ladder is situated in a way that makes it difficult to see.

One minor revision before the finale this weekend:

After this week’s discussion about the Black Rock, it does make sense that the ship would not have ended up on the upper ridge of the eastern mountains. So I’ve moved it out of the highlands to the base of the mountains near the Mesa. This location is still consistent with the notation on the blast door map, but also satisfies the need for some logic, at least as much as it can be satisfied when we’re talking about LOST.

Everyone enjoy the finale this weekend, and look for another update sometime next week.

The Island Map for 4/26/2010. A few minor changes have been made to the coastline, and a new marker has been added for the stone bench. The Unknown C4 marker has been removed, because frankly, I think that one is going to remain unknown. The big change, of course, is the relocation of the Hydra Island notation, based on the latest evidence presented during the episode “The Last Recruit.”

Click here to see the most recent version of the map.

The appearance of a new map in this week’s episode makes it necessary for us to revisit an old question - one that has never been definitively answered: Where the hell is Hydra Island?

Anyone who has been following this project for a while knows that my location for Hydra Island is simply an educated guess. There just hasn’t been enough evidence to determine a conclusive location. This map clearly shows a portion of the east coast of The Island. It even contains a compass rose so that there can be no doubt as to what we’re looking at.

Based on the dialogue in this scene, we can conclude that the smaller island further to the east [under the thumb] must be Hydra Island. So we finally have some evidence to help us find its real location. That’s good, right? Sure it is, except for the fact that this map disagrees completely with my location for the Hydra.

But it’s OK. Seeing this map is causing me to reevaluate some of my arguments regarding the location of Hydra Island. So I’m gathering some more evidence now to present in a new post soon.

The Island Map for 2/27/2010

There are new markers for the cliffside cave and the Lighthouse, even though those are purely educated guesses on my part.

I’ve noticed something about this season so far. The producers seem a lot more interested in getting the story told and “answering questions,” rather than showing our characters hiking around The Island.

I have a feeling that we’re not going to see characters spending a lot of time studying maps and compasses this season, like they did all the time in the first two seasons. Now when they venture out into the jungle, they rarely even carry packs or provisions anymore. Again, I think the producers are most interested in arriving at a satisfying conclusion for the show, so if that means that a nearly thirty-mile hike from the Temple to the caves gets condensed down to about three minutes, that’s OK.

Click here to see the most recent version of the map.