How Green is Your City

Jena is the greenest city in Germany. Berlin ranks as the 21st greenest German city and Munich comes in at number 16 in the list of the country's most green cities.

In the recent elections for the European parliament the Green Party were the second most popular party. The party more than doubled its number of seats by winning twenty-one. The Berliner Morgenpost has been wondering if the areas which voted in the highest numbers for the Green party are also the most green in terms of lifestyle. It has therefore created a number of interactive maps to measure how green each municipality is in a number of different areas.

The maps in Where Germany is Really Green visualize a number of different 'green' categories. These include the percentage of electric cars, the amount of garbage produced, the share of green energy and the percentage of bicycle use. For each of these areas it has created a choropleth map showing the levels in each municipality and the top three green cities judged by the mapped measure.

Using each municipality's results for each measure the Berliner Morgenpost has been able to rank all German municipalities based on their combined scores. Readers can enter the name of their town or city to see where they rank among all German municipalities. As well as discovering a city's overall rank you can also see how they score in each of the different individual areas.

Worldwide Climate Change

A new interactive map from the University of Cincinnati shows how climate change could effect every location on Earth. The map uses 50 years worth of data from 50,000 different locations around the globe to predict how the climate could change in the next 52 years

ClimateEx provides a map layer which show the changes to the climate between the years -6000 and 2000. It also provide two different layers which use a predictive model to show how the climate could change between -6000 and 2070 and between 2000 and 2070. The green areas on these three different map layers show where the climate has (or will) change the least. The brown and white areas have (or will) see the most climate change.

Clicking on the map opens an information window displaying a climatogram for the selected location. This climatogram shows values of temperature and precipitation. Clicking between the different map layers will update the climatogram to show the results from the predictive model for the chosen location.

Award Winning Mapping from the Times

The New York Times has created another stunning mapped visualization. In Easter Island is Eroding the Times has created a 3d map of the island showing the locations of all the island's famous moai statues. It also shows the position of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.

The purpose of the New York Times' story is to raise awareness of Easter Island's vulnerability to rising sea levels. One of the purposes of the map is to help emphasize this vulnerability. It does this with a stunning cinematic zoom-out from the island to a view of the whole Earth - revealing the island's isolation in the Pacific Ocean. Easter Island is one of the remotest inhabited islands in the world and this cinematic zoom-out from the island to the whole globe demonstrates this superbly.

If you want to make your own award winning mapped visualizations then you might want to check out Derek Watkins' How We Animated Trillions of Tons of Flowing Ice and Adam Pearce's Hurricane How-To. These two articles, by developers at the Times, explain how the Times' created two of their award winning mapped visualizations from last year.

The Weather Forecast for 2090

July 2090 is going to be a hot month. Most places can expect to experience temperatures of at least 100 degrees. Things will be cooler in December of 2090, however it probably won't be that much fun for fans of winter sports.

NOAA's Climate Data Snapshots allows you to view maps showing the projected average temperatures across the USA for any decade up to the end of 2090. The map show projections based on 32 global climate models. The map allows you to view the projected average temperatures for any month in any decade. It also allows you to view temperature projections based on current global emissions and projections based on relatively large reductions in global emissions.

The Indigenous People of Colombia

Over recent year the government of Colombia has been helping to secure the territorial land rights of some of the country's indigenous peoples. More than 1,630,000 acres of land has been legally titled to indigenous communities, helping to ensure the survival both of the indigenous peoples and the important ecosystems which exist within those territories.

The Amazon Conservation Team's Legalization of Indigenous Territories in Colombia is a story map revealing the impact that this process is having both on the indigenous peoples and on the conservation of important ecosystems. The map provides a really interesting overview of the territorial land rights of the different indigenous tribes, the ecosystems which exist within those territories and how the tribes contribute to the sustainable management of that land.

As you progress through the map you learn about the traditional homes of Colombia's indigenous peoples and about the ecosystems in which they live. You also learn more about the process of land titling and how that process is helping to ensure the future of both the people and the ecology of Colombia.

Memorial for Planet Earth

Now that chief climate change denier Myron Ebell has been appointed to lead the overhaul of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it might be a good time to begin the grieving process for planet Earth. If you are not ready to mourn the loss of the planet then you might want to spare a thought for all the endangered and extinct species of life.

What is Missing? is a global map and timeline of animal species around the world that have either become or are in danger of becoming extinct. What is Missing? includes both a global map and a timeline view of these animal species. In both the map and timeline view you can select any of the individual markers to learn more about the individual endangered or extinct animal species,

What is Missing? includes a number of videos and stories providing information about some of the planet's most endangered species. It also includes information about actions that you can take as an individual to help protect endangered animals, prevent habitat loss and reduce emissions.

Deep Sea Mining Watch

Over one million square kilometers of the world's oceans have received claims for deep sea mining. Mining in the Earth's oceans can be very destructive of delicate marine ecosystems and can lead to the loss of unique species and sensitive deep sea habitats.

Deep Sea Mining Watch is a global map showing where these mining claims are known to have been made. The map also shows the GPS tracks of ships that are believed to be prospecting for minerals for deep sea mining. If you select a deep sea mining vessel on the map you can view its GPS track and learn more about who the ship belongs to and where and what it is prospecting for.


The Deep Sea Mining Watch map also contains general information on how deep seabed mining is carried out and the effect it can have on biodiversity and deep sea ecosystems.

The map itself includes bathymetry data from Natural Earth. Natural Earth's bathymetry data is free to use in any project. You can therefore download the data yourself for use in your own interactive maps.

Leaflet in the Amazon

National Geographic is using the Leaflet mapping library as part of its journey into the Amazon. However it isn't only using Leaflet in the way you might expect.

Amazonia Under Threat is a detailed examination of the effect of people and human industry on the delicate ecosystem of the Amazon region. You might expect Leaflet to be used in this investigation just to map the Amazon, to show the extent of deforestation and the encroachment of people on the area. However it is also being used to help illustrate the various ecosystems found in the region.


The National Geographic's report does include Leaflet maps. For example, Leaflet has been used to map the Rain Forest's protected areas and current land-cover. It is also being used to map the encroachment of roads in the forest, the extent of deforestation, the areas effected by mining and the rise of gas and oil exploration.


However Leaflet has also been used in the report to present some beautiful illustrations of life in the Amazon. Using the Leaflet mapping library as an illustrative device is a clever idea. It allows readers of the National Geographic's report to explore the illustrations in detail using the panning and zooming controls which they are used to from the Leaflet maps in the investigation.

Mapping Agricultural Landuse

One of my favorite maps from last year was Bert Spaan's Netherland's Building Age Map. His map, created for the Waag website, visualized the age of a staggering 9,866,539 buildings in the Netherlands.

All of the buildings in the Netherlands are colored on the map by their age of construction. You can even click on any of the nearly 10 million buildings to view their exact year of construction. When you select a building on the map you can also view details about its land area and function.


Bert Spaan has now created another map for Waag, which visualizes rural land use in the Netherlands after World War II. Mansholt, Landscape in Perspective is a story map which explores how the rural landscape in the Netherlands changed during Sicco Mansholt's term as Minister for Agriculture.

Sicco Mansholt was a Dutch politician who became Minister of Agriculture after the Second World War. While Minister of Agriculture Mansholt revolutionized agriculture in the Netherlands and initiated land reclamation in many areas of the country.

As you progress through the story of Mansholt's initiatives as Minister of Agriculture you can view maps of some of the rural landscapes which saw dramatic change under his term of office. The maps include a land use layer which allow you to view the agricultural or recreational use for each parcel of land. The land parcels on the map are colored to indicate the type of crop which they are used for.

Mapping the Anthropocene

Welcome to the Anthropocene explores the effect of the human race on planet Earth. This Smithsonian created Esri Story Map presents a series of maps demonstrating the influence of human activity on the planet and also explores some of the solutions being developed to try and re-shape the way we interact with the Earth.

This narrative map is in two distinct halves. The first part of the story map explores the effect of the human race on planet Earth by mapping population density, the percentage of land surface under human land management, the percentage of land given over to agriculture, the worldwide destruction of forests and animal extinction rates.

The second half of Welcome to the Anthropocene explores some of the approaches being undertaken to create a sustainable way of life on Earth in cities in the USA. These examples include bike friendly cities, the cultivation of rooftop vegetation, water desalination, green storm-water efforts and other sustainable projects.

Mapping Global Deforestation

Since the year 2000 the world has lost more than 500 million acres of forest. Global Forest Watch is a new Google Map from the World Resources Institute and over 40 other global partners designed to map the world's forest coverage and loss.

Global Forest Watch is attempting to establish a global forest monitoring network. The launch of this new map is part of an initiative to provide the tools for anyone to explore forest loss and forest gain across the globe. The map includes a number of layers, including forest cover and loss since 2000, worldwide tree height data, tropical forest carbon stocks and data about global forest use.

The map also includes links to forest-related stories. The links to the stories are embedded on the map at specific locations and the stories include photos, video, and explanatory text.

Explaining the Causes of Famine

Voice of America has used a series of Google Maps and over 10,000 separate data points on rainfall, food prices and refugee movement to explain How Somalia Descended into Famine.

The visualisation explains over a series of Google Maps how the non-occurence of last year's rain season in Somalia has led to crop failure, this year's spike in food prices and then widespread famine.

The rainfall map lets the user view rainfall levels throughout Somalia. If you click on one of the rainfall markers you can view a graph of rainfall at that location comparing 2010's rainfall with rainfall in 2009.

The food prices map allows the user to select different towns in Somalia and view graphs showing the sharp rise in price of a number of different crops and other essential commodities.

Finally the famine map provides a heat map of Somalia showing the scale of the famine at different locations in the country.

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Google Map of Pollution Emissions

Sandbag Emissions Map

The Sandbag Emissions Map is a Google Map that allows you to explore how the emissions trading system is operating in the European Union. Since 2005, factories and power stations have been subject to legal caps on their emissions. To comply with these caps, participants must submit pollution permits to match their emissions.

The Sandbag Emissions Map helps to show how much is being emitted, by whom and how many permits they were given. In 2009 emissions fell below the caps leaving 70% of sites with more permits than they need (coloured red on the map). The power station and factory icons shown on the map are scaled according to the size of the businesses' emissions.

You can search the map by postcode, CITL sector code and installation name. A company level search is also in development and will be available soon.

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Tracking Your Clothes with Google Maps

Rapanui

Eco-fashion retailer Rapanui is using Google Maps to help inform customers about the carbon footprint of each of their products. The map allows users to investigate the complete supply chain of products from source to dispatch.

The maps shows where the raw materials are obtained and the energy used in their production. The map then shows the distance the products travel and the mode of transport used in their shipping.

Rapanui say that you can view a Google Map showing the complete supply chain for every one of their men's and women's products.

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Mapping the Trees of San Francisco

Urban Forest Map

The Urban Forest Map is a Google Map application that is trying to map every tree in San Francisco.

One aim of the map is to calculate the environmental benefits the trees are providing, how many gallons of stormwater they are helping to filter, how many pounds of air pollutants they are capturing, how many kilowatt-hours of energy they are conserving, and how many tons of carbon dioxide they are removing from the atmosphere.

Using the map it is possible to search for trees near any location in San Francisco. You can find trees that bear edible fruits and nuts or those with beautiful flowers. You can also search the map for trees of a particular type.

Looking at the map you can see that the Urban Forest Map already has a huge database of trees in San Francisco but if you know of one that is missing you can add it to the map.

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