Monday, February 24, 2025

2025 German Election Maps

The conservative CDU party emerged as the biggest winner in yesterday's German election. Another clear winner from Sunday's vote was the far-right AfD party, which doubled its vote share to 20.8%. Meanwhile, the center-left SPD (the party of incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz) suffered its worst-ever results, securing just 16.4% of the national vote.

The Berliner Morgenpost's Federal Election 2025 Results includes an interactive map visualizing the winning party in each electoral district. This "winner-takes-all" view highlights a stark contrast between the results in former East Germany and the rest of the country. In nearly all West German regions, the CDU emerged as the most popular party. However, in almost all of former East Germany, the extreme far-right AfD was the dominant party.

Zeit's 2025 Election Results map uses a similar shaded margin layer to illustrate the election results. Both maps employ party colors to represent the winning candidates in each electoral district, while also using varying shades to indicate the strength of each party's winning margin.

On both maps, users can click on individual electoral districts to view the percentage of votes won by each political party in that area. Additionally, the Berliner Morgenpost map allows filtering by individual party. For example, selecting the far-right AfD reveals how well they performed across Germany—confirming that the party fared significantly worse in former West German regions compared to areas of former East Germany.

Tagesspiegel's Federal Election 2025 map also includes options to view both 'first' and 'second' votes and to view maps of all German elections dating back to 1990. The first vote is used to determine the candidate who will represent the constituency. The second vote is used for each party's state list. 

About half of the Bundestag consists of directly elected candidates (determined by the first votes). The rest of the seats in the Bundestag are determined by the proportion of second votes won by each party. The total number of seats a party gets is determined by the share of the second vote it receives (as long as it surpasses the 5% threshold or wins at least three direct mandates). Each party then fills these seats using candidates from its state party lists.

Saturday, February 22, 2025

2024 - Another Year of Record Heat

Last year, two-thirds of the Earth’s surface experienced at least one month of record-breaking heat. The Guardian has visualized data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service to illustrate the average temperatures around the world for each month in 2024.

The animated map at the top of the article comes from The Guardian's feature,  Two-thirds of the Earth’s surface experienced record heat in 2024. See where and by how much – visualised. The map displays the number of degrees (Celsius) by which previous monthly temperature records were surpassed worldwide from January to June 2024. As the article states, throughout the year, "65% of the world’s surface recorded at least one month hotter than scientists had ever previously observed there."



The Guardian's visualization of Copernicus Climate Change Service data allows users to explore where and when previous temperature records were broken in 2024. For example, in September, parts of China exceeded previous temperature records by more than 5°C. In August, temperatures in Antarctica were up to 6.5°C above the previous record.

The Paris Agreement of 2015 set a target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century. However, The Guardian reports that the world is now on track to reach 2.7°C of global heating. A rise of 2.7°C could lead to more frequent and intense extreme climate events - such as heatwaves, wildfires, and hurricanes - while accelerating polar ice melt will lead to rising sea levels, threatening coastal communities and ecosystems worldwide.

Friday, February 21, 2025

Zoom, Pan, and Explore: Sutro Tower in 3D

Vincent Woo has released an astounding 3D model of Sutro Tower in San Francisco. Sutro Tower in 3D is a fully interactive representation of the city's 977-foot (298-meter) tall radio and television transmission tower. The model was created using thousands of aerial images of the tower, all captured by drone. These images were then processed into a fully interactive 3D model, thanks largely to Gaussian splatting

Because the model is interactive, you can fly around the tower and zoom in and out to examine any detail of the 977-foot-tall structure. It even includes interactive markers that, when clicked, provide information on various features of the tower.

If you want to experience the views from the top of Sutro Tower, you can explore three gigapixel images taken from the tower by Explore Sutro Tower. These annotated images offer a panoramic view of San Francisco as seen from the tower’s peak. Explore Sutro Tower also provides a guided tour featuring its own detailed 3D model of the transmission tower.

For those interested in exploring 3D models of other locations around the world, check out SuperSplat. SuperSplat is a free, open-source, browser-based tool designed for inspecting, editing, optimizing, and publishing 3D Gaussian Splats. Its homepage showcases hundreds of 3D models uploaded by its community of users.

Thursday, February 20, 2025

How Climate Change is Destroying Crops

world map with 100 colored markers showing the locations where crops have been destroyed by extreme weather. The colors of the markers are related to the type of weather event responsible for the destruction

Carbon Brief has analyzed global media reports to identify where and how extreme weather events have destroyed crops over the past two years. In How Extreme Weather is Destroying Crops Around the World, Carbon Brief has mapped this analysis, highlighting 100 instances of crops being lost to heat, drought, floods, and other extreme weather events in 2023-24.

The colors of the 100 markers on the map indicate the type of extreme weather event responsible for the destruction. Some markers are multi-colored, representing "compound" events where crops have been affected by more than one extreme condition - for example, frost and drought impacting grain yields in South Australia.

With only 100 data points, the Carbon Brief analysis is likely too limited to draw definitive conclusions about how different extreme climate events are affecting crops in various regions. However, the map effectively illustrates the growing challenges faced by the agricultural sector due to climate change and global warming. As climate change intensifies, agriculture worldwide faces mounting threats, and the Carbon Brief map underscores the urgent need for adaptation strategies to ensure food security.

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

The Best (and Worst) Cities for Rail Transport

maps of London and New York with rail lines and population density visualized
London & New York - population density and railways

The citizens of Hong Kong have the best rail transport system in the world according to a new study by the University of Toronto. Osaka, Japan, and Madrid, Spain, rank second and third, respectively, while New York ranks highest among U.S. cities.

The University of Toronto's School of Cities analyzed how well the world's 250 most populated cities provide rail transit for their residents. The ranking is based on the percentage of each city's population that lives within 1 km of a rail station. In essence, the study measures how many people have convenient access to rail transit.

You can view the result for yourself on the University's Rail Transit & Population Density website. The interactive visualization allows you to compare maps of any two cities and see what percentage of their populations have easy access to rail. Each city's map displays population density overlaid on its rail network, with a breakdown beneath showing the share of residents living within 1 km of a major rail station.

The School of Cities highlights two main limitations in their analysis. The rankings focus solely on rail transit, excluding other public transportation systems that may offer comparable service, such as bus networks. Additionally, they do not account for service frequency, a key factor in the overall effectiveness of transit systems.

Via: Data Vis Dispatch

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Before New York

an animated 3D model of New Amsterdam showing two windmills, panning ans zooming to the wooded city walls

This is New Amsterdam in 1660, when Peter Stuyvesant was serving as the director-general of the colony of New Netherland. New Amsterdam, located on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, was the capital of New Netherland.

One of my favorite interactive maps of all time is the Beyond Manhatta. This project visualizes Manhattan Island and its native wildlife, as it would have looked in 1609. The Beyond Manhatta map allows you to explore New York's original natural landscape of hills, valleys, forests, wetlands, salt marshes, beaches, springs, ponds and streams. 

Thanks to the New Amsterdam History Center, we can now travel forward half a century to explore Manhattan after it had become a Dutch colony, administered and governed by the Dutch West India Company.

The New Amsterdam 1660 3D model (shown above) was created by the New Amsterdam History Center for its Mapping Early New York collection, which features maps and documents of New Amsterdam and New Netherland. This model allows you to explore the settlement’s houses, farms, taverns, and workshops, as well as its surrounding walls. It was developed based on the Castello Plan, a map of the settlement created in 1660 by Jacques Cortelyou.

You can view the original Castello Plan itself on the Mapping Early New York interactive map.

Monday, February 17, 2025

The Gulf of Kleptocracy

map with the Gulf of Mexico renamed to the Gulf of Kleptocracy
Apple Maps has joined Google Maps in kowtowing to the maggot infestation of U.S. geopolitical policy. This means you might want to bookmark OpenStreetMap, Bing Maps or Mapquest, - who now seem to be the only interactive map providers still interested in maintaining geographical accuracy.

As well as continuing to use the correct place-name label for the "Gulf of Mexico," MapQuest has also released a fun new tool that lets you participate in Google’s and Apple’s new era of crap maps. MapQuest's Name Your Own Gulf allows you to play at being an appeaser to a corrupt, incompetent U.S. president yourself.

With Name Your Own Gulf, you can spend your whole day renaming the Gulf of Mexico to whatever you want. Just enter a new name, and the interactive map will automatically update to display your latest crazy misnomic place-name label. Feeling lazy (or running out of ideas), then simply press the "Surprise Me" button to see the Gulf of Mexico randomly renamed.

If you want to take your deranged despot cosplay to the next level, you can even head over to X in the middle of the night and send demented tweets containing unique URL links to each of your crazy Gulf of Mexico names.

map showing the Gulf of Mexico with every location in the USA and Mexico renamed 'United States'

If you still have a few minutes to kill, you can also play my Where's the Gulf of Mexico? game. This game imagines a world where Google and Apple have taken their new MAGA mapping policy to its logical conclusion - renaming every location in the world "United States." However, the Gulf of Mexico has gone into hiding, still remaining somewhere among the thousands of "United States" place-name labels. You have just 60 seconds to find the Gulf of Mexico and report it to Google's ICE (Imaginary Cartographic Edits) team of enforcement agents.

Saturday, February 15, 2025

The Black History Month Map

The Black History Month Map is a new collaborative and dynamic map developed by kinkofa and PamPam to honor and document the significant places, individuals, and movements that have shaped Black history. To help you explore the invaluable contributions of Black Americans to U.S. history, the map is powered by PamPam's "Ask Pam" AI assistant.

The Black History Month Map allows you to discover and learn more about the places, people, and movements that have influenced Black history in the United States. To navigate the vast amount of information available, you can use the categories and themes highlighted in the map’s sidebar. For example, selecting "Movements" will filter the map to display significant movements in African American history and their associated locations.

Additionally, the "Ask Pam" AI assistant enables you to search and filter results with ease. For instance, you could ask "Show me significant locations in the life of Martin Luther King" or "Highlight key locations in the Underground Railroad," and the Black History Month Map will automatically display relevant results both on the map and in the sidebar.

The Black History Month Map is more than just a collection of locations - it is a living archive that invites everyone to participate by adding significant events, individuals, and landmarks. As more people explore and contribute, the map will continue to expand, creating an ever more comprehensive record of Black history.

Also See

The Sundown Town Map - mapping the locations of sundown towns across the USA
The Legacy of Redlining - exploring the HOLC's redlining of American towns and cities
Visualizing Emancipation - a map of slavery’s end during the American Civil War

Friday, February 14, 2025

What If Asteroid 2024 YR4 Hit Your Town?

an animated map visualizing a 1 mile fireball superimposed on New York

According to NASA, Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2.3% chance of impacting Earth on December 22, 2032. The asteroid is estimated to be between 40 to 90 meters (130 to 300 feet) in diameter.

If you want to know what damage Asteroid 2024 YR4 might cause if it lands in your backyard, you can use Neal.Fun's Asteroid Launcher to find out.

According to Neal.Fun's Asteroid Launcher, if a 200-foot diameter rock asteroid hit Manhattan at 38,000 mph at a 45-degree impact angle, it would cause a fireball almost 1 mile in diameter. As a result of the fireball, 3,671,280 people would die, and an estimated 2,904,736 people would receive third-degree burns. Homes within 8.2 miles of Manhattan would collapse, and nearly all the trees within 8.8 miles would be knocked down.

Neal.Fun's Asteroid Launcher is an interactive map that allows you to visualize the impact and effects of an asteroid hitting the Earth. The map allows you to define the size, composition, speed, and impact angle of an asteroid and then choose where on Earth the asteroid will hit. Once you have chosen an impact location, you can view information on the predicted width and depth of any impact crater, as well as data on the number of people who would be vaporized in the crater or killed by the resulting fireball, shock wave, and wind blast.

While the current estimated impact probability of Asteroid 2024 YR4 is 2.3%, it is important to note that this figure is likely to change as additional observations and data are collected. Continued monitoring and analysis by NASA and other space agencies will help refine the asteroid's trajectory and provide a clearer understanding of any potential threat.

The chances of Asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting your town are very slim - there is probably more chance of a nuclear war. But don't worry, Bomb Blast Bomb Blast can show you the likely effects of a nuclear missile landing on your home.

Outrider's Bomb Blast interactive map allows you to choose from a range of different types of nuclear weapons and select whether you want to detonate it at ground level or as an airburst. You can then view the likely damage of the selected weapon hitting your town, visualized on an interactive map. The map shows the likely radius of the fireball, radiation, shock wave, and heat. It also provides an estimate of the number of fatalities and injuries that the selected nuclear weapon would cause to your chosen target.

Thursday, February 13, 2025

What is Your Ecoregion?

map showing the distribution of the northern giraffe in Africa

Ecotenet is an interactive platform that provides users with a unique map of ecoregions across the globe. The map focuses on ecological boundaries in order to provide users with an understanding of different types of ecoregion and their unique biodiversity.

One of the most compelling aspects of Ecotenet is its emphasis on ecoregions, which are defined by the World Wildlife Fund as a "large unit of land or water that contain distinct species, natural communities, and environmental conditions".

Click on any ecoregion on the map and you can read a general summary of the region's ecological characteristics and history. The ECO-651 Filter can be used to view the global distribution of various animal or plant species. For example the screenshot at the top of this post shows the distribution of the northern giraffe in Africa.

The species distribution data on Ecotenet is sourced from organizations such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, World Wildlife Fund, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, USDA, and the Ocean Biodiversity Information System. This ensures that the data is both accurate and comprehensive, covering a wide range of species and their habitats.

Also See