A neat way to fold a sheet of paper

I wonder why this hasn't been a standard for maps for years. By far the most frustrating thing about road trips (pre-iPhone) used to be dragging out the map then trying to put it away again.<p>Also, as a total aside, this: "over their conventionally folded*" should be punishable by death. Putting an asterisk next to something then not explaining it is pure evil.

Another neat way to fold a sheet of paper: <a href="http://pocketmod.com/" rel="nofollow">http://pocketmod.com/</a>

Here is a video showing it clearly: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71HTB8UXVII" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71HTB8UXVII</a><p>And another guide (pdf): <a href="http://mars.wnec.edu/~thull/combgeom05/handout7.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://mars.wnec.edu/~thull/combgeom05/handout7.pdf</a><p>Link: <a href="http://www.britishorigami.info/academic/miura.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.britishorigami.info/academic/miura.php</a><p>Ted Talk (11m 35s): <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.h...</a>

This is actually very similar to a method of doing tessellated origami with a grid of folds. [1] I wish I could find a picture of it, but I've got an origami tessellation I folded that has this same 1 degree of freedom that allows it to be folded and unfolded by pushing and pulling. Only difference, is that instead of going flat, it turns into a spiral when you compress it. Very similar to [2]. This all being based on the work of Taketoshi Nojima.<p>[1] <a href="http://spacesymmetrystructure.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/origami-electromagnetism/" rel="nofollow">http://spacesymmetrystructure.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/origa...</a> [2] <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53416300@N00/1028178660" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/53416300@N00/1028178660</a>

I am pretty sure that this is similar to how the german Falk plans do it for ages. Sadly, I cannot find any english explanations.<p>Update: its not. But if you are interested: patent (in german) with visual explanation can be found here:<p><a href="http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?locale=en_EP&#38;KC=C&#38;ND=2&#38;date=19520331&#38;NR=835219C&#38;DB=&#38;CC=DE&#38;FT=D" rel="nofollow">http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?loc...</a>

This company has been doing it for years: <a href="http://www.zcard.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.zcard.com/</a>

This is the neatest map folding I've ever seen: <a href="http://www.thezoomablemap.com/the-map.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.thezoomablemap.com/the-map.html</a>

I give up.<p>I wasn't able to get is into the compact folded shape. As far as I can tell, I have the correct folds, but I did some guessing to follow each step.

As a math teacher who's always on the lookout for cool geometric tricks for all levels, I'd love to be able to do this by hand. Does anyone have any advice for how to do this without a ruler? (For example, I don't even know how to fold a paper in 5ths, so I can't get past the very beginning.)

brillant! I'm eager to try that at work tomorrow for my todo list. I like it small (fitting in the pocket) but the way I fold it it quickly falls into pieces

Has anyone implemented this digitally with CSS animations?