Maps Mania

The Meaning Behind Our Place Names

Have you ever walked down a street and wondered where its name came from? Was it named after a historical figure, a local landmark, or an ancient word lost to time? The Open Etymology Map helps answer these questions by uncovering the stories behind place names - using data from OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.🏷 The Etymology Tag in OpenStreetMapThe OpenStreetMap (OSM) project includes an 'etymology

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-meaning-behind-our-place-names.html

The Anti-MAGA Protest Mapper

The Protest Mapper is a digital mapping tool designed to help journalists and community members contextualize local protests by visualizing them alongside broader regional or national trends. Using the tool, anyone can quickly create an embeddable, interactive map that displays all local protests occurring within a defined time period.Created by Rahul Bhargava, a journalism professor at

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-anti-maga-protest-mapper.html

A Panorama of Victorian London

The city of London has inspired many beautiful panoramic maps over the centuries, each lovingly crafted by talented artists. Interestingly, these panoramas almost always share a common perspective - north from the south side of the River Thames. This same viewpoint is used in Frederick James Smyth’s 1844 Panorama of London.Exeter University’s Digital Humanities Lab has created an interactive

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-panorama-of-victorian-london.html

Europe in Drought

Spring 2025 has been exceptionally dry in Europe, with nearly every country affected by drought. To help monitor the increasing threat of drought due to global heating, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has launched a new interactive drought map. Updated monthly, the tool provides near real-time insights into drought conditions across the EEA’s 38 member and cooperating countries.The Drought

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/europe-in-drought.html

Mapping Your Future Climate Risks

The Natural Hazards Index Map, developed by climate experts at Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness, is a new interactive map that visualizes how and where climate change is increasing risks from natural disasters across the U.S.
What Hazards Does It Show?
The map focuses on 14 different types of natural hazards, with a special focus on those getting worse due to

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/mapping-your-future-climate-risks.html

The 2024 Sea-Level Rise Map

The 2024 U.S. Sea Level Report Cards from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) reveal that Gulf Coast states, particularly Louisiana and Texas, continue to experience some of the fastest rates of sea-level rise in the country.Published annually, the VIMS sea-level report uses observed tide gauge data to track sea-level trends across the United States and project future changes based

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-2024-sea-level-rise-map.html

The W3W Cryptic GeoGuessing Game

Pin the Tale



Pin the Tale is an interactive storytelling game that uses the What3Words geolocation system as its foundation. Webcurios describes Pin the Tale as “a combination of cryptic crosswords and Geoguessr,” while the creators themselves call it a "treasure hunt."For those unfamiliar, What3Words is a geolocation addressing system that divides the entire world into a grid of 3

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-w3w-cryptic-geoguessing-game.html

The Marine Migration Map

tracked migrations of the Green Turtle

Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) is an interactive map visualizing the global migrations of more than 100 species of birds, mammals, turtles and fish. The aim of the map is to bring together knowledge about the migratory routes and connected habitats of marine species, such as marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and fish, in order to help

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-marine-migration-map.html

No News is Bad News

Over 200 counties across the United States now lack a single source of local news. Another 1,500 have only one. As a result, more than 50 million Americans live in what researchers call “news deserts”, areas with little to no access to reliable local reporting.
A new interactive map, developed by the Medill Local News Initiative, provides the most detailed view yet of this crisis. Their Local

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/no-news-is-bad-news.html

Serendipitous Street View Fun

Internet Roadtrip
Yesterday, I spent a lot of time virtually exploring cities around the world, guided by StreetWhip's impressive AI technology. Today's serendipitous Street View adventure, however, has been powered by the delightful Internet Roadtrip.Internet Roadtrip is the latest engaging project from the always entertaining Neal.fun. It takes you on a drive through Google Street

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/serendipitous-street-view-fun.html

A Guided Street View Tour of the World

StreetWhip



If you've ever lost an hour (or five) wandering the globe via Google Street View, you’re not alone. There’s something uniquely thrilling about virtually dropping into a faraway town and soaking in the details — the architecture, the people, the colors of everyday life. But what if you could do more than just look? What if you had a knowledgeable, curious local guide whispering in

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-guided-street-view-tour-of-world.html

The World's Terrorist Hotpots

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger all rank among the top five countries most impacted by terrorism (Pakistan and Syria are the other two). In fact, the Sahel region of Africa has become the epicenter of global terrorism, accounting for over half of all terrorism-related deaths worldwide. Notably, only seven Western countries appear in the top 50 most affected.You can explore the full rankings on

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-worlds-terrorist-hotpots.html

Kangaroos Don't Vote - People Do

If ever an election needed a cartogram map, it was the 2025 Australian federal election.
If you were to view The Australian’s Electorate Map - 2025, you could be forgiven for thinking the Liberals had cruised to a landslide victory. This traditional cartogram election map is visually dominated by the blue of the Liberal Party. It also appears as if the Labor Party (shown using salmon pink)

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/kangaroos-dont-vote-people-do.html

The Democracy Sausage Map

The 2025 Australian federal election will be held tomorrow, 3 May 2025. One of the most iconic and uniquely Australian traditions on election day is the “democracy sausage.” As voters head to the polls to cast their ballots, many are greeted by the smell of sizzling sausages at local polling places, where community groups and schools run sausage sizzles as fundraisers.The Democracy Sausage Map&

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-democracy-sausage-map.html

Drinking & Eating in the Sun

Sunseekr

London is actually having one of its rare weeks in the sun so I have been using Sunseekr to help me find cafes and pubs which are in the sun.SunSeekr is an interactive map with a sunny twist. The map helps users locate cafés and pubs currently bathed in sunlight, so you can sip your espresso or enjoy your pint while enjoying some rays. What makes Sunseekr shine (pun intended) is the

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/05/drinking-eating-in-sun.html

Mapping the Sudanese Civil War

Two years into Sudan’s civil war, the country remains gripped by a humanitarian catastrophe and a relentless power struggle that has devastated lives and reshaped its landscape. What began on April 15, 2023, as a clash between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has since escalated into a nationwide conflict. With over 14 million people displaced

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/mapping-sudanese-civil-war.html

2025 Canadian Election Maps

The Liberal Party, led by Mark Carney, has won the Canadian election but may fall just short of securing enough seats to form a majority government. Even if it falls short, it will still be seen as a massive victory for the incumbent party.Just a few months ago, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives were riding high in the polls and seemed poised to return to power. That momentum shifted dramatically

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/2025-canadian-election-maps.html

19th Century Street View of Chicago

Imagine stepping straight into the heart of history - and finding yourself surrounded by the wonders of 1893. The Chicago 00 Project makes it possible, weaving authentic vintage photographs of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago into a breathtaking, time-traveling Street View adventure!For example, click on the White City Court of Honor map marker, and you are transported into

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/19th-century-street-view-of-chicago.html

Introducing Smart Maps

SmartMapIn the past two years, we’ve witnessed remarkable advancements in AI-powered mapping technologies. One of the most transformative innovations is the integration of natural language processing into interactive maps, enabling users to perform spatial searches using everyday language. This shift is revolutionizing how users interact with geographic data - not just by simplifying search, but

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/introducing-smart-maps.html

Find Your Birthday Tree

Every year, the city of San Francisco plants a tree to celebrate my birth. Well, not just one - each year, it plants several. So far, the city has planted 455 trees on my birthday. And now, thanks to the thoughtful residents of San Francisco, there’s an interactive map that shows the exact locations of all my birthday trees.If you’re curious, you can view the locations of all my birthday trees

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/find-your-birthday-tree.html

Snakes on a Plane(t)

Last year, I created Map Snake - a playful adaptation of the classic computer game. The concept was simple: maneuver an ever-growing snake around a map of cities while avoiding collisions with your own tail. Well, now Engaging Data has released their own take, called Snake on a Globe. And let me be clear: I’m not annoyed that they stole my idea - I’m annoyed that they made it better. And a lot

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/snakes-on-planet.html

Some Musical Maps in Motion

Elevation Music
Everybody hates elevator music but everyone will love Elevation Music.Elevation Music is an interactive map in which the elevation data is styled based on the intensity of an accompanying music track. It is a dancing map!If you want to know how Elevation Music works the author's blog post explains: 'This demo uses Mapbox GL JS raster-color-value and other raster-* paint

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/some-musical-maps-in-motion.html

The Walk Management System

🥾 The Walk Management System: I’ve decided to walk the length of the Jubilee Line on the London Underground. But before setting off, I figured I needed a WMS (Walk Management System) to help plan and document each stage of this epic hike.With a little help from ChatGPT and MapLibre GL, I’ve built a lightweight web app that lets me create, edit, and view walking routes - complete with

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-walk-management-system.html

Russia's Disinformation Network Mapped

The Pravda DashboardThe Pravda Network is a coordinated Russian disinformation campaign designed to disseminate pro-Kremlin content across the globe. At its core, the network launders news from sanctioned Russian media outlets and questionable Telegram channels, distributing it through a constellation of country-specific websites. In each country the news is recycled to fit local narratives

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/russias-disinformation-network-mapped.html

The Hotness Map No One Needed

LooksMapping is a digital map that rates restaurants not by food or service, but by the attractiveness of their clientele. It scrapes millions of Google Maps reviews, runs each reviewer’s profile photo through an AI model trained to score “hotness” out of ten, and then color-codes restaurants accordingly - red for hot, blue for not.LooksMapping feels like a relic from a digital past - with the

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-hotness-map-no-one-needed.html