dunno, but that messes up my theory about the grey areas
Aye, there be people in there - though the grey bits could be areas /you've/ not explored recently.
Impossible, the online map is essentially anonymous.
Hmm - so why block out large areas of the map at all - what purpose could it serve? :-/
Nah, it's just the updated map plugin draws darker than it did before. So as people re-explore areas they'll all get darker until it's all the same.
Right you are.
Carry on. :|
the black bits? chunks don't exist until someone goes there
Yes and no. :S
That yellow 8px square in the center is the size of a 1x1 block... but it's actually representing a torch (which is much thinner than a block).
I guess you can say, every coloured square on the map is a single block, but it's colour may be different to it's actual colour based on having something on-top of it which is actually smaller than one block (torches, signs, doors, ladders, flowers, etc).
Oh, and also in-game the blocks are not solid colours, or sometimes not even close to those colours.
Still it looks like the new darker map images are improving things - if you head north from the Citadel until you reach another shaded area - the dark green in there is grass, which used to be coloured purple as you'll see if you look at the surrounding areas.
To be slightly more accurate, chunks don't exist until somebody goes nearby (at which point they are generated from the game's current algorithms).
However, the black areas on the map might exist as chunks, but haven't been rendered because they've not yet been visited/modified by players.