Maps Mania

Man Made Star Signs

Space Trash Signs has hit upon a novel and fascinating way of visualizing the problems of space pollution. According to NASA there are around 9,000 tonnes of debris now floating around Earth at speeds of up to 25,000 km an hour. Space Trash Signs uses this debris to create new astronomical constellations or 'star signs'.In 1978 NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler published a paper which

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/man-made-star-signs.html

Segregation in the U.S.

Stanford University's Segregation Explorer visualizes the levels of segregation between schools and school districts in the United States. Developed by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, this new interactive map shows the levels of segregation across various regions, including states, metropolitan areas, school districts, and neighborhoods.The new map includes

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/segregation-in-us.html

Warmer Stripes for 2023

average global temperatures since 1850
Ed Hawkins' Warming Stripes visualization has now been updated to include 2023. Last year was the warmest year since accurate global records began. Globally the average temperature was 1.18°C (2.12°F) above the 20th-century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F). This means that your local warming stripes will probably now end with a very dark maroon colored stripe

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/warmer-stripes-for-2023.html

Is Europe Ready to Burn?

This week Spanish news site El Diario wondered if Europe was ready for megafires. One of the most noticeable consequences of global heating over the last few years has been the increase in large wild fires across the world. In Megafires Burn Europe El Diario has mapped out all the wildfires in Europe this century which have burnt an area of more than 500 hectares. Two accompanying

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/is-europe-ready-to-burn.html

Welcome To Your New Gardening Zone

In November of last year the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) updated the US plant hardiness map based on the latest weather data (1991–2020). The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is a tool which is designed to help gardeners determine which plants are most likely to thrive in their location. The USDA map is divided into 13 zones based on average coldest temperatures. Zone 1 is

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/welcome-to-your-new-gardening-zone.html

Can You Draw America?

This morning I discovered that my geographical knowledge of the United States is ten times worse than I previously thought. Judging by my attempts to draw the outlines of all 50 states onto a blank map of the U.S. my application to the American Geographical Society is probably going to be summarily rejected.Regular readers of Maps Mania (yes both of you) may remember that in March I posted a

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/can-you-draw-america.html

Active Video

Glen Chiacchier has devised an interactive mapped, timeline for the American civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize. His 'active video' of Eyes on the Prize turns what might otherwise be a passive viewing exercise into an active learning experience by providing viewers with the opportunity to browse the documentary by date and location. The civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/active-video.html

The Secret Life of Bridges

This amazing animated map visualization shows the cumulative growth of bridges in the U.S. since 1800. The map reveals the development of mass transport over the last two centuries and the enormous role that bridges play in the U.S. economy.

The animation is just one of a number of impressive mapped visualizations in Esri's Secret Life of Bridges. The Secret Life of Bridges is an Esri story-map

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-secret-life-of-bridges.html

Virtual Road Trips

This summer why not go on that huge cross-country road-trip that you've always dreamed of undertaking? The great American Road Trip is a call to freedom. It is a chance to craft your own adventure while witnessing the vast beauty and the diversity of landscapes that America has to offer. Whether you crave the thrill of the Pacific Coast Highway or the charm of Route 66, a road-trip promises

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/virtual-road-trips.html

The Future of Street View

In 2007 Google began adding 360 degree panoramic images to Google Maps. It is no exaggeration to say that the introduction of Street View revolutionized online mapping. Now users could not only zoom into their neighborhoods in satellite view but they could also virtually explore their area in Street View.It is almost impossible to predict the next major revolution in online mapping. For a

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-future-of-street-view.html

Hexagen World

Hexagen World is a game world generated by players using AI prompts. The game is similar to the popular r/Place project. However in Hexagen World instead of users adding one pixel to a collaborative image they can add AI generated hexagon tiles to a world map.Register with Hexagen World and you can add your own hexagons to the map. Just click on a blank hexagon and enter an AI prompt to

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/haxagen-world.html

540 Million Years of Planet Earth

540 million years ago the Earth's climate was very different from how it is today. During the Cambrian period global temperatures were warmer than they are now. It is believed there were no polar icecaps and there was likely to have been high levels of precipitation and humidity over much of the planet. Of course our world hasn't always been so warm. The last Ice Age was during the 

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/540-million-years-of-planet-earth.html

The 2024 World Press Freedom Rankings

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its annual World Press Freedom Index report. The 2024 report analyses and maps the levels of press freedom in countries around the world. The map ranks the level of press freedom in countries based on five different indicators. Norway, Denmark and Sweden respectively lead the 2024 rankings. The United States has fallen to 55th overall. Once seen as a

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-2024-world-press-freedom-rankings.html

Whose Plaque is it Anyway?

For over 20 years I've wondered what the text on this plaque in East London actually says. This morning I finally decided to explore a few memorial interactive maps to see if I could discover why this bridge over Bow Creek has a plaque, and what the text on the plaque actually says. I thought it might also be a good opportunity to provide a little round-up of the growing number of memorial

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/whose-plaque-is-it-anyway.html

The Global Inflation Tracker

The Council on Foreign Relations new Global Inflation Tracker provides an intriguing guide to trends in prices across the world since the 1990s. On the map almost 200 countries around the world are colored to show their year-over-year rate of inflation (the darker the color the higher the rate of inflation).If you animate through the data on the map it is striking how stable inflation rates in

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-global-inflation-tracker.html

Live From Space

The 3D ISS Tracker shows the position of the International Space Station above the Earth in real-time. It also shows a stunning live HD view of Earth as seen and broadcast from the ISS. The position of the ISS is indicated by the little yellow dot slowly circling the Earth If you zoom out on the globe you can also view the current positions of the sun and moon. The cloud layer shown on

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/live-from-space.html

Weather or Not

Do you dream of the perfect vacation weather? Sunshine on the beach, crisp mountain air, or vibrant fall foliage?  Imagine a tool that helps you find the ideal destination for your desired climate, anywhere in the country and for any month of the year.  This is the promise of Weather or Not, a new interactive map that leverages average weather data to recommend the best time to travel

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/weather-or-not.html

The US Heat Risk Map

A new interactive map has been released to help warn Americans of extreme temperatures. The new HeatRisk map provides a weekly forecast of the lower 48 states showing where temperatures may be high enough to harm people's health.On the HeatRisk map areas are colored to show the forecast risks of extreme heat, using a color ramp that proceeds from green (little or no risk) to magenta (rare and/

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-us-heat-risk-map.html

Six Free Alternatives to GeoGuessr

I am a huge fan of GeoGuessr, but unfortunately without becoming a paid subscriber it is now a very limited game. I don't blame GeoGuessr for developing its subscription model. The Google Maps API isn't cheap and I'm sure Google sends GeoGuesssr huge invoices every month. However that does mean there is a huge potential market for a free Street View game. A market that OpenGuessr now hopes to

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/four-free-alternatives-to-geoguessr.html

The Stunning Beauty of Air Traffic Data

The ADS-B Massive Visualizer allows you to query and visualize the world's air traffic data. Using the visualizer you can query 50 billion flight data records, enabling you to: map the flight paths of different types of aircraft anywhere in the worldvisualize the flight patterns of military aircrafttrack police aircraftobserve the effect of war on civilian airline flight pathsThese are only a

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-stunning-beauty-of-air-traffic-data.html

America's Drunkest Counties

America's Booziest and Driest Counties is a choropleth map which shows the percentage of the population in each US county who are excessive drinkers. The map is based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which defines excessive drinking as either binge drinking (men 5 drinks in a single session, women 4 drinks in a single session) or heavy drinking (men

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/americas-drunkest-counties.html

Mapping a Global Coral Bleaching Event

Last week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that the 'world is currently experiencing a global coral bleaching event'. The Earth has experienced 10 consecutive months of global heat records,  and in the last year the average global temperature has exceeded pre-industrial levels by 1.58C. These unprecedented sudden rises in air surface temperatures are

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/mapping-global-coral-bleaching-event.html

Tiny World Map

Tiny World Map is a map of the whole wide world condensed into a very small file size. It has been designed to be used offline and with low-bandwidth web apps. The whole map is only 300 kB gzipped and apparently it works on even "low-end decade-old phones, with no discernible lag".
The main reason that Tiny World Map is so small is because it isn't much of a map. As far as I can tell Tiny World

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/tiny-world-map.html

Slim City

For a number of years I've had the idea of creating an incremental game which involves slowly creating a city map by adding different map elements over time. This week I decided to try and put that idea into action. The result is Slim City, an idle game which requires you to click on building footprints on an interactive map to build and create a map of a city neighborhood.In Slim City the more

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/slim-city.html

⅓ of Rafah’s Buildings Destroyed

Bloomberg has analysed satellite imagery of the Palestinian city of Rafah and determined that Israel has damaged or destroyed about 32% of the region's buildings.In How the Israel-Hamas War has Reshaped Rafah in Gaza Bloomberg presents a satellite image of the Palestinian city. As you scroll through the article a layer is superimposed on top of this satellite view to show buildings which have

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2024/04/of-rafahs-buildings-destroyed.html