Adventures In Mapping

Here is a look at the “absolute” world record progression since 1960. Last night Bear and I stayed up to watch the Men’s Pole Vaulting event, where Brazil’s Thiago Braz da Silva and France’s Renaud Lavillenie battled it out in a terrific competition. Lavillenie is the current world record holder, which got me to wondering what the … Continue reading Men’s Pole Vaulting World Record Progression

*** This method has been used more recently to map the past six months of drought afflicting the southeastern United States. *** Maps This is a map showing over five years of drought data (285 weeks, combined into a single view) in the United States. The dots are proportionally sized by the amount of time over the past five … Continue reading Five Years of Drought

Ah the trusty old, well-worn, United States of [Thiessen Polygon] Map. But at least I was a relatively early adopter (the original version was made in…yikes!…2011). Sure, this post will show you how to make these boundaries, but more interestingly, it will show you how to make a chalkboard-style map! Now pay attention or teacher … Continue reading How-To: United States of Craigslist, Chalkboard Map

This is The Global Sharknado Threat Map. Created by an unprecedentedly cross-discipline team of nameless chain-smoking scientists in white lab coats, this map is intended as a resource to coastal communities regarding the nature and likelihood of a sharknado incursion. Right? This map was originally conceived by Drew Skau, and commissioned by Visual.ly. This is … Continue reading How-To: Sharknado Map

Here is a run-down with all the carto nitty-gritty on how to make the following map: It shows the locations of each recorded hurricane and tropical storm since the mid 1800s. When viewed in aggregate, the hurricanes appear to coalesce into a single great hurricane eye. It’s a basic map, with some cartographic punch. Super simple to … Continue reading How-To: Hurricane Map

http://vannizhang.github.io/blasts-viz-app/ Here are recorded seismic events since 1963 that have been deemed to be man made. One benefit of covering the globe in a network of seismic sensors to detect earthquake and volcanic activity, is that you also tend to pick up the rumblings of a not-so-natural source. What sorts of explosions could be big enough to … Continue reading Blast Map

To my eye, calm, clear, seas have a distinct look to them. A shallow aqua that deepens to blue. The gradual reduction of seafloor clarity at greater depths. A faint web-like reflective surface. But maps that I see of the oceans, or deeper waters, don’t really look like that. For all the efforts in getting brown-to-green … Continue reading Carto Hack: Mapping Water Depth with Opacity