Mapping Future Climate Change

The Climate Impact Lab's Climate Impact Map visualizes how global warming will effect temperatures around the world over the rest of this century.

Using the drop-down menu you can choose to view predicted global temperatures for each quarter of the year or for the whole year. You can also choose to view the number of days which will be below 32 degrees Fahrenheit or above 35 degrees Fahrenheit. The timeline below the map allows you to view a choropleth view of any of these selected temperature predictions for the years 2020-2039, 2040-2059 and 2080-2100.

The map includes two choropleth views. The 'absolute level' shows the predicted temperatures around the world for the year selected. The 'change from historical' view shows how much the temperature will increase above the 1986-2005 averages around the globe.


The University of Hawaii has released a similar interactive map which uses expected temperature increases to predict the number of deadly days we can expect from extreme heat around the world for each year up to 2100. Heatwaves: Number of deadly heat days provides a timeline control which allows you to select any year from 1950-2100. The blue dots on the map show historic extreme heat events that have occurred around the world before 2014.

If you click on the map you can view two charts for the selected location. One chart visualizes the number of annual deadly days over time and the other shows the humidity vs. temperature for the current year.


Thanks to NOAA's Sea Level Rise Viewer we can observe how these increases in temperature will effect sea levels.

By the end of this century the National Climate Assessment estimates that sea levels may rise by up to 6.6 feet. NOAA's interactive map uses the most accurate elevation data available to model how different extents of sea level rise will impact coastal areas in the USA. You can adjust the sea level displayed on the map by adjusting the water level tool from 0-6 feet.

You can also use the 'Local Scenarios' tab to view the potential impact of different sea level rise scenarios on different areas of the country. The Local Scenarios option allows you to adjust the map to view the impact of sea level rise of different orders of severity. It also allows you to see how this impacts the local area by decade (up to the year 2100).

Aerial Video Mapping

Leaflet version 1.1.0 has been released. The latest version of Leaflet's mapping library includes a new L.VideoOverlay class which allows you to add videos as an overlay to your maps.

To see what you can do with L.VideoOverlay you can view the Leaflet documentation demo map. To get started adding videos to your Leaflet maps then you should have a look at the L.VideoOverlay Tutorial.

Adding a video to a Leaflet map is now very simple. You just need your video and the geographical bounds of your video. If you know the geographical bounds of the video then it is a simple job to just add the video (as you world add an image overlay) in the correct position on the map.

Unfortunately L.VideoOverlay will only work if north is at the top in your video coverage. If your video doesn't have a 'north-up orientation' things get a lot more complicated. A number of plug-ins have been written which allow you to rotate images added using L.ImageOverlay. You could have a look at these image overlay plug-ins to get some ideas about how to rotate a video overlay in Leaflet.

Alternatively you could try MapboxGL to add a video to a map. As you can see in this Add a Video demo map you can rotate a video overlay in MapboxGL to ensure that north is always at the top.

If you want some inspiration for what you can achieve by adding a video overlay on a map then have a look at the amazing Interactive Map of A Year In The Life Of Earth's CO2. This wraps an HTML5 version of NASA's narrated video of a year's Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide concentrations around an interactive globe.

You could create something similar to the above map with Leaflet if you created your own narrated video. The new L.VideoOverlay class allows you to add video playback controls to your map. By adding video controls you can allow your users to pause, rewind and forward through a narrated video.

If you want to start playing with L.VideoOverlay you can download some aerial video footage from NASA's GOES Project.

Melbourne's Future City Skyline

Last year Miami's Downtown Development Authority began using the Cesium mapping platform to visualize in 3D how Miami's skyline could look in the future. The map includes 3D models of building projects in the city which are either proposed, under construction or recently completed.

The Miami DDA 3D Map used the Cesium mapping platform to present a 3D map of downtown Miami which allows you to explore the effect of the new buildings on the skyline from any angle. You can even click on the individual buildings on the map to learn more about the developer, status and building type.


It is now also possible to use Mapbox GL's extrude property to show building planning proposals in 3D. The City of Melbourne has done just that in its new visualization of Melbourne's skyline. The city's Development Activity Model is a map which gives you a good idea of what Melbourne's skyline will look like once all the building's currently under construction have been completed.

The map shows buildings which are under construction, which have been approved by the city and buildings which have submitted planning applications and are awaiting approval. You can use the menu to turn on or off any of the 3D buildings under construction, approved or applied. You can also click on individual buildings on the map to discover its planning application number and information about the number of planned floors, dwellings and car parking spaces etc.

Mapbox Cartogram

Mapbox has a fun new tool which allows you to create your own map style instantly using the color scheme from any picture or photograph. This means that you can instantly create a map style inspired by your favorite painting, your favorite photograph or even your favorite cartoon.

Cartogram couldn't be easier to use. Just drag & drop your image into Cartogram and it instantly creates a map style using selected colors from your image. If you aren't entirely satisfied with the color scheme automatically selected for your map you can adjust the style by custom picking different colors from your image for different map features.

When finished you can of course save your map style and open it in Mapbox Studio, where you can develop the style even further (perhaps with custom fonts).

Cartogram is a lot of fun. You don't need to be a cartographer to enjoy Cartogram. Go and play with it - I promise you'll enjoy it.

Free Eclipse Glasses

The STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net) has developed this map as an addition to its Eclipse Resource Center. Credit: NASA@ My Library initiative and the Moore Foundation.

It is now less than 8 weeks to the solar eclipse. You can experience the total eclipse anywhere along a narrow band stretching from Oregon to South Carolina.

If you are planning to view the eclipse then you will need a pair of eclipse glasses. Thanks to the Space Science Institute (SSI) and the generous sponsorship of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Research Corporation and Google, two million pairs of free eclipse glasses are being given away by participating libraries across the United States.

There are over 2,000 participating libraries. You can find your closest on the Participating Eclipse Libraries interactive map. The participating libraries will also have eclipse background information for anybody who wants to learn more about the astronomy of solar eclipses.


If you are still planning where to view the eclipse on August 21st then you might want to consult NOAA's Cloudiness Map of the Eclipse. The map not only shows you where you can see a total eclipse (the umbral path) but also tells you the chance of clouds along the eclipse's path, based on historical weather data.

The map includes a number of circles which are colored based on the chance of cloud cover. If you click on these circles you can view the percentage chance of having an unobstructed view of the eclipse (based on the amount of cloud cover at that location on August 21st in previous years).

Judging by the map Nebraska, Wyoming and Idaho are the states where you will have the best chance of an unobstructed view. However these states are not the best places to view the eclipse in terms of duration. If you want to experience the eclipse with the longest duration you need to be near Carbondale in Illinois, where the sun will be completely obscured for two minutes and 40 seconds.

NASA's Total Solar Eclipse Interactive Map also shows the path of the eclipse across the United States. NASA's map doesn't include information about the likelihood of cloud cover but it does allow you to find out the duration of totality (how long the sun will be obscured) anywhere along the eclipse's path. Just click anywhere on the map to discover the time of the eclipse at that location, how much of the sun will be obscured and how long the eclipse will last.

Mapping the Jewish Occupation of Hebron

Mapping the Apartheid argue that the Jewish settlements in the Palestinian city of Hebron and the creeping Jewish occupation of the Old City restrict "freedom of movement and suffocate the social and economic life for Palestinians".

To help illustrate this situation Mapping the Apartheid has created an interactive map showing the current situation in the historical center of Hebron. The interactive map shows the locations of the Jewish settlements in Hebron. It also shows the locations of checkpoints, watch points, cameras and barriers and the location of those roads which have been closed to Palestinians and Palestinian vehicles. Mapping the Apartheid argue that the map shows "how the Old City of Hebron is gradually being sterilized to facilitate colonization and Judaization of the Old City".

The map also includes links to the stories of Palestinians living in Hebron and affected by the occupation. If you click on these links you can read first-hand personal experiences of life in Hebron under occupation.

You can read more about Hebron and its importance to Jewish history and culture on the Jewish Virtual Library, Hebron: History & Overview.

Great Journeys in Time

In 1768 it took Captain Cook 1 year and 8 months to sail from Plymouth to Botany Bay, Australia. Today he could complete the journey by car and plane in 26 hours and 7 minutes.

Travelbag has created a series of interactive maps of some of the world's most famous explorations and journeys. The maps plot these historical journeys over time and then allow you to see how these same journeys could be completed today. Each map of the equivalent modern journey also shows you how much quicker the journey could be completed today.

A Race of Discovery features such famous journeys as Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the New World and Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery Expedition. There are 13 famous journeys to explore in all, each featuring both past and present interactive maps.

How to Make an RPG Game with Google Maps

Badass Quest is a new RPG game engine built on top of the Google Maps API. The engine makes it relatively easy to create your own map based game featuring real world places, Street View images, sound effects and music.

You can see the type of map based game you can create with Badass Quest by playing the demo game, Badass for President. In this game you play the part of a very dodgy businessman who has to take over control over the city by extorting businessmen and buying up local businesses (any similarity to Donald Trump is intentional).

At the beginning of the game you can choose where in the world you want play. The game then features real world locations which you can interact with and try to take over in the game. The map also features local restaurants, which you need to visit periodically in order to maintain your health.

Insects in the City

There are over 560 species of insect living in Melbourne. The most common species is the Minute Brown Scavenger Beetle Cortinicara. All these insects play a very important role in maintaining the bio-diversity of Melbourne. They pollinate flowers, transform biomass, regulate pest populations, recycle nutrients, disperse seeds and provide food for other animals and birds.

Between January 6th and March 10th 2015 insect surveys were undertaken in parks and gardens throughout the City of Melbourne. Each insect survey recorded the number and types of insects that live in each habitat. You can explore the results of Melbourne's insect survey on Insects - The Little Things that Run Our City.

You can view which areas of the city were studied using the Insect Biodiversity in the City of Melbourne interactive map. If you select the individual survey sites displayed on the map you can view a scatter-plot, beneath the map, showing the number of insects and the number of different insect species found in the site's insect survey.

If you scroll down to the 'Interaction' section you can view more details of the individual surveys carried out at each park and garden. An interactive graph breaks down the survey results for each site to show the number of different insects of each species, the number found in each type of habitat and the number of insects in each function group.

City Cycling Stress Scores

Moovel Lab's What the Street? provides an interesting analysis of how much space is dedicated to cars, to cycling and to trains in cities around the world. According to What the Street cyclists in most cities around the world can typically expect much less than ten percent of the physical space that is dedicated to cars.

The quality of a city's cycling network however is far more than just a reflection of the amount of physical space dedicated to bikes. It also relies on how well a cycling network connects people to the places that they want to go and to the levels of stress that they experience while on their bikes. PlacesForBikes has therefore carried out a detailed analysis of local bike networks across the United States and ranked its towns and cities on how good they are for cycling.

The PlacesForBikes Bicycle Network Analysis allows you to view the results of this cycling network census in 299 towns and cities. You can view an interactive map for each town and city. The maps show the selected city's street colored according to their cycling stress score. Each map also includes the town or city's overall Bicycle Network Analysis score and individual scores for how easy it is for the population to access different places (e.g. parks, stores and health services) by bike.

You can read more about how the Bicycle Network Analysis scores are calculated on the PlacesForBikes Methodology page. The methodology partly relies on how streets are tagged on OpenStreetMap in terms of the roadway characteristics important to bikes and cyclists.