Maps Mania

Losing BIG, Very SAD!

The Economist has mapped President Trump’s approval rating in each state, and the results look bleak for the president and the Republican Party ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Drawing on data from YouGov polling, The Economist finds that Trump holds a positive net approval rating in only 11 states.In its cartogram of Donald Trump's Approval Rating, the magazine shows that the

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/losing-big-very-sad.html

Trump's DEPT of ILL HEALTH

NBC News and Stanford University have created a powerful interactive map that visualizes the percentage of students vaccinated for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) at the county level. The map is a key component of their six-month investigation - Childhood vaccination rates are backsliding across the U.S.. What the Map Shows (and Doesn't Show)The map's core purpose is to show the current

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/trumps-dept-of-ill-health.html

Is This 2024's Most Detailed Election Map?

VoteHub has launched a new interactive national precinct map for the 2024 election. The map is designed to provide a granular look at the US Presidential election results, allowing users to explore the data at the most detailed level possible.The 2024 Election at a Precinct Level is a goldmine for election junkies, providing several features that go beyond simply showing who won which state.

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/is-this-2024s-most-detailed-election-map.html

What States Would You Live In?

Last year I created the World Level O map for Tripgeo. This fun travel-tracking tool colors the countries of the world based on whether you have lived there, stayed for a while, visited, passed through or never been. You are then awarded a level based on how well you’ve “covered” the globe.States I'd Live In is a map in the same sort of personal tracking ballpark. However on this map

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/what-states-would-you-live-in.html

Here Be Animated Monsters

One of the most underused features in Maplibre and MapBox is the video overlay, which enables developers to display a video on top of a base map layer.The Hailou AI Video Generator currently has a trial that allows you to create unlimited videos from a starting and finishing image. I decided to make use of this offer to create an animated sea monster. First I asked Gemini to create two images of

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/here-be-animated-monsters.html

The 3D Dot Map

Everybody loves a good dot map, such as:CNN's Racial Data Map of the USAThe UK's ONS Census Dot Density MapThe Dot Map of South AfricaHowever the Toronto Dot Density Map is not just your average, run-of-the-mill dot map of census data. Yes, the map uses 2021 Canadian Census data to create dot map layers of gender, age, income, ethnicity, immigration, commute modes and commute time in Toronto -

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-3d-dot-map.html

The Google Maps Platform Awards Winners

Google has announced the winners of the very first Google Maps Platform Awards. The awards were launched to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the Google Maps API and were open to anyone who has used the Google Maps Platform over the past two decades.As one of the judges for the competition, I can attest to the overall quality of the maps submitted. Winners were named in 10

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-google-maps-platform-awards-winners.html

Data Visualization in VR

Flow Immersive is a platform that specializes in immersive data visualization for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) environments. It transforms data into interactive 3D visual stories - called “Flows” - which can be viewed on a variety of devices, including VR headsets, desktop browsers, and mobile screens in AR.CO₂ Emissions Per Household is a demonstration “Flow” that uses a

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/data-visualization-in-vr.html

The True Size of Africa

There has been much written in recent weeks about the African Union's endorsement of the Correct the Map campaign. Reuters The true size of Africa is one of the better explanations of why Africa is encouraging the use of the Equal Earth map projection over other maps.In a neatly illustrated article Reuters explains how for centuries, the Mercator projection has dominated classrooms and

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-true-size-of-africa.html

The College Football Imperialism Map

The CFB Charts Imperialism Map is a fan-created, season-long project that turns the college football season into a map-based "conquest" game. It started on Reddit and Twitter a few years ago and has become a tradition among college football fans.Here’s how it works (I think):Each FBS team begins the season owning the county in which its school is located (and probably all the nearest counties).

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-college-football-imperialism-map.html

The Ancient Ley Lines of Britain Map

Ley Line Locator

The idea of ley lines was first proposed in the 1920s by the amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins. In his book, 'The Old Straight Track', Watkins suggested that many ancient sites in Britain - such as standing stones, barrows, and old churches - could be joined by drawing straight lines across the landscape. He believed these alignments were not accidental but reflected a

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-ancient-ley-lines-of-britain-map.html

Isochrone Tokyo

Tokyo has one of the most comprehensive public transit systems in the world. Curtis Fenner has built an isochrone map that allows you to see where you can travel in the city by train in a given time.The purpose of the map is to help people make crucial decisions about where to live by visualizing real-world commute times. It effectively achieves this by not only showing the reach of the entire

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/isochrone-tokyo.html

The 2025 Fall Foliage Map

The nights are beginning to draw in which can only mean one thing: autumn is nearly upon us! And for "leaf-peepers" everywhere, that means it's time to consult the annual Smoky Mountain 2025 Fall Foliage Map. This incredibly popular interactive map is back to help you predict the best time to see the vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows of fall across the United States.Every year, Smoky Mountain

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-2025-fall-foliage-map.html

Europe's Migration Crisis

The Guardian's map, Visualised: Europe's population crisis, is an effective and stark visualization of the continent's emerging demographic issue. The map's primary purpose is to highlight the dramatic difference migration makes to Europe's population projections by 2100. It successfully achieves this by comparing Europe's projected population "With migration" and "Without migration".It is often

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/europes-migration-crisis.html

Fall is Warmer Now

Meteorological fall started on September 1, but if you live in the contiguous U.S., you may not have noticed the typical crisp, cool air. That's because the season has been steadily warming for decades. Since 1970, average fall temperatures have risen in every single county in the country.On average, fall temperatures are now a remarkable 2.8°F warmer than they were in the early 1970s. This

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/fall-is-warmer-now.html

A Typographic Map of the World

Last week someone posted an animation of a Typographic Map of France on Reddit. This map gradually added the names of 1,156 French communes to a blank canvas, starting with those with the largest populations. I really liked the effect of the animation and remembered that TripGeo's Scrambled Maps has a database of around 11,000 cities worldwide - complete with population data.

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-typographic-map-of-world.html

Humanizing a Sea of Dots

Dot maps can be a powerful way to convey the scale of large numbers. But when each dot represents a human life, there’s a risk that the individual stories behind those numbers will be lost. Reuters’ latest visualization of European migration tackles this challenge head-on: instead of starting with statistics, it begins with a close-up of a single overcrowded boat, allowing viewers to see the

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/humanizing-sea-of-dots.html

The Methane Risk Map

In 2024, atmospheric methane levels reached their highest point in more than 800,000 years, with the oil and gas sector playing a major role in that surge. The methane leaks from oil and gas operations don’t just warm the planet - they also release toxic pollutants that can harm people’s health.The Methane Risk Map plots significant methane leak events across the United States. By combining

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-methane-risk-map.html

The New Geologic Map of the United States

The United States Geological Survey has released a new geologic map of the United States that lets you click anywhere in the country to see the rocks, sediments, and geologic units under your feet, along with their age and material type.The Cooperative National Geological Map was created by combining around 100 state and regional maps into one seamless, nationwide view of U.S. geology.

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-new-geologic-map-of-united-states.html

GeoGuesser - Hosted by an AI

The geo-guessing genre has seen a sudden surge in AI-powered experimentation. Just yesterday, I reviewed GeoGPT, which pits players against an AI to identify locations using Mapillary imagery. Today, I came across GeoGuesser AI, a geo-guessing game that’s actually hosted by an AI..In many respects, GeoGuesser AI follows the familiar geo-guessing format: you’re dropped into a

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/08/geoguesser-hosted-by-ai.html

Play GeoGuessr Against an AI

GeoGPT is now one of my favorite geo-guessing games. GeoGPT follows the usual GeoGuessr inspired format: you’re dropped into a random street-level image, and your task is to figure out where in the world you are. But here’s the twist - rather than competing against other humans, you’re up against an AI, which makes its own guesses alongside yours. The closest guess to the true location wins

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/08/play-geoguessr-against-ai.html

Growing a World Wide Web

Every year Telegeography publishes a comprehensive, annually updated map that visualizes active and planned submarine telecommunications cables around the world. The futuristic looking 2025 Submarine Cable Map was released back in January. This map shows the current extent of the world’s active submarine telecommunications cables and those currently under construction.The Internet

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/08/growing-world-wide-web.html

How Big is Anything?

The Size of Anything is an interactive map that lets you compare the sizes of different locations around the world.To be honest, when I first heard about The Size of Anything I thought, “Not another size comparison map.” Just off the top of my head I can think of several similar tools:The True Size Of ... GeoSize Compare Country Size Comparison Reprojector - all of which let

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/08/how-big-is-anything.html

Letters Found on the Moon

This isn’t a tale about Lunar correspondence, but of letters shaped from the craters and shadows of the Moon. Alphabet Moon uses imagery of Lunar contours and ridges to shape a typeface out of unfamiliar terrain. Each letter is drawn not with ink but with the valleys, peaks, and scars of the lunar surface, transforming geological history into the letters of the alphabet.Enter your name - or any

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/08/letters-found-on-moon.html

Changing Parking Lots to Homes

Over recent years, a number of urban planning maps have revealed just how much valuable city land is devoted to surface parking lots. For example, the Parking Lot Map highlights the percentage of land in U.S. city centers taken up by parking.The School of Cities at the University of Toronto has gone a step further with its project From Parking Spaces to Living Spaces. Using a

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2025/08/changing-parking-lots-to-homes.html