No Local News

"There are 206 counties in the United States with no news outlets. There are 1,561 counties with only one. More than two newspapers a week are closing, and print frequency is shrinking. Some 7,000 newspaper jobs were eliminated in the past year, almost 2,000 of them in newsroom positions." - The 2024 State of Local News Report

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University has released its 2024 State of Local News Report. Every year, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolving local news landscape in the United States. This year's edition highlights the growing challenges faced by local news outlets, including the continued decline of local newspapers, the spread of news deserts across communities, and the rapid rise of mergers and acquisitions as regional chains dominate the market. 

The Maps and Data section of the report features an interactive map that visualizes the number of news outlets in each county, including newspapers, digital sites, network sites, ethnic outlets, and public broadcasting. In counties that are not complete news deserts, users can click through to view the names of all local news outlets.

The report is not entirely focused on bad news. The Bright Spots in the Local News Landscape section includes a map highlighting some local news startups that are successfully navigating the challenges faced by traditional newspapers, websites, and broadcasters.

The Reemergence of Nuclear Power

When I reviewed the Nuclear Stations Map in August, I was surprised to see that, a little over a decade after the Fukushima disaster, Japan appears to be building at least three new nuclear power plants on its coastline. The Nuclear Stations Map shows all the nuclear plants in the world, whether decommissioned, in operation, or under construction. Currently, the map highlights over 60 new nuclear reactors being built around the globe.

After the Fukushima disaster, Germany decided to phase out nuclear power, a process completed in 2023. At the time, the environmental and human cost of the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 seemed to signal the decline of nuclear power as a viable energy option for most countries. However, the war in Ukraine and the subsequent surge in energy prices appear to have sparked a renewed interest in nuclear energy.

The Straits Times directly addresses this resurgence in its scrollytelling story map On the nuclear trail: The dawn of a global renaissance in nuclear energy. Poignantly, this guided tour of the world’s renewed interest in nuclear power starts with just three locations highlighted on the world map: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima - the sites of the world’s three worst nuclear disasters.

The recent announcement that Microsoft had signed a deal to purchase nuclear power from Three Mile Island is emblematic of how energy security now seems to outweigh lingering fears of nuclear accidents. The Straits Times story map goes on to show the large number of nuclear power stations currently under construction across many countries. According to the accompanying article, “25 countries – including France, Japan, and the United States – have pledged to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050.”

The article is also illustrated with an interesting gridded cartogram that visualizes how much of each country’s electricity generation comes from fossil fuels, renewables, or nuclear energy. As you scroll through the article, individual countries are highlighted on the cartogram to explain the reasons behind their energy mix. For example, “In France, nuclear energy powers up to 70 percent of the country’s electricity needs. However, it has not built a new reactor since 1999 and is now planning to construct 14 more reactors by 2050.”

The reemergence of nuclear power signals a pivotal moment in the global energy landscape. Faced with the dual crises of climate change and energy insecurity, countries are increasingly turning back to a power source many had once sworn off. However, while the promise of clean, reliable energy is alluring, we shouldn't forget that past nuclear disasters have left parts of Chernobyl and Fukushima uninhabitable.

The European Cycle Map

Cycling in Europe just got easier with the launch of VeloPlanner, a new interactive map that aims to simplify route planning for cyclists by highlighting 'signposted' cycling routes across the continent. By leveraging detailed data from OpenStreetMap (OSM), VeloPlanner offers a comprehensive view of designated bike routes, helping cyclists of all skill levels find paths that suit their needs. 

VeloPlanner is essentially powered by OSM data. It uses the bicycle route network tag to show whether a bike route is designated as an 'international' route, a 'national route', a 'regional' route, or a 'local' route. In my part of East London, the routes tagged as 'regional' (shown in green) tend to feature segregated bike lanes, while the 'local' routes appear to be regular roads with less motor vehicle traffic. However I am not sure whether this pattern applies across the whole of Europe. In my opinion, the map would benefit from an additional filter utilizing the OSM tag 'highway=cycleway', which would show only dedicated cycle paths that offer a separate, safer space for cyclists.

One significant advantage of using OpenStreetMap data is the incorporation of local knowledge from the OSM community. In my neighborhood, for example, a dedicated cycle lane is currently closed for an extended period of 18 months. Thanks to the vigilance of local OSM contributors, VeloPlanner not only reflects this closure but also displays the recommended diversionary route, marked as 'local' - indicating that it is not a separate cycleway. This kind of up-to-date information is invaluable for cyclists, helping them navigate disruptions and choose the safest available paths.

VeloPlanner is already proving to be a useful tool for planning cycling routes, even in its current form. However, the homepage suggests features like the ability to download GPX files and access detailed route information, both of which appear to be missing at the moment. Presumably, these features are still under development and will be added soon. Additionally, while VeloPlanner currently focuses on European bike routes, there are plans to extend coverage globally in the near future.

Dressing Miku

tldr: miku-earth is an interactive map of people's drawings of the virtual idol Hatsune Miku dressed in the national costumes of countries and subcultures around the world.

I like to imagine that Hatsune Miku is just the first step in a new era of virtual celebrities, paving the way for the likes of William Gibson’s Rei Toei to suddenly emerge as real virtual beings. Both Miku and Rei Toei embody the concept of digital stardom, blurring the boundaries between the real and the virtual, and challenging our notions of what it means to be a celebrity.

While Hatsune Miku was initially created as software, she has evolved far beyond that. She has become a global phenomenon, adored by fans who treat her almost like a mythic figure, similar to the way Rei Toei is idolized in Gibson’s Bridge trilogy. Miku’s rise, driven almost entirely by her community of users, contrasts with Rei Toei’s fictional world, where digital personas possess self-awareness and agency. Yet, in a sense, Miku’s popularity hints at our growing comfort with digital companions, inching closer to the kind of future Gibson envisioned. We are now living in a world in which the line between human and digital virtual star continues to blur.

miku.earth shows how a digital celebrity can transcend cultural boundaries and take on a global identity. Fans from around the world have taken to drawing Hatsune Miku in their own national costumes, and this fan-driven project demonstrates how Miku can be personalized and reimagined by different communities, making her a universal figure that exists in the digital ether - while having a very real presence.

In 2025 the Canadian singer Grimes announced her engagement to the virtual idol Hatsune Miku ... (to be continued)

Via: Webcurios

The Indigenous Treaty Map

The Yellowhead Institute has released The Treaty Map, a comprehensive historical overview of land treaties "negotiated" between Indigenous Nations and the Canadian federal government (and previously, with colonial governments and the British Crown). The Institute aims to use the map to foster a deeper understanding of Indigenous land rights and the ongoing disputes surrounding these treaties.

The interactive Treaty Map includes an historical timeline control which can be used to filter the treaties by date (1725 – 2012). The treaties can also be filtered by type (or historical period):

1. Pre-Confederation Treaties (1763-1867): Early agreements primarily focused on trade, peace, and military alliances between Indigenous Nations and European settlers, including the Peace and Friendship Treaties and the Royal Proclamation of 1763.


2. Confederation-Era Treaties (1867-1921): Also known as the Numbered Treaties, these were agreements negotiated as Canada expanded westward, aimed at acquiring Indigenous lands in exchange for promises of land reserves, education, and other support.


3. Modern Treaties (1975-Present): Often referred to as Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements, these address land rights in areas where historical treaties were not signed, including notable examples like the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the Nunavut Agreement.

Clicking on a treaty boundary on the map reveals a summary offering Indigenous perspectives on the treaty’s context, key negotiators, terms (often with differing interpretations), and subsequent events. These entries are informed by extensive research, with input from advisory committees of Indigenous treaty experts.

If you are interested in Indigenous nations and their lands then you might also want to refer to the Native-Land interactive map. This map visualizes information on Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties across the world.

The map is designed to increase awareness and education about Indigenous histories, territories, and the diversity of Indigenous cultures, encouraging users to consider the ongoing significance of land acknowledgment and Indigenous land rights.

How Big is Your Country's CO2 Footprint?

Jo Wood, a professor of visual analytics, has released an impressive cartogram visualizing each country's annual CO₂ emissions over the past 200 years. The map was created for the #30DayMapChallenge.

Press 'play' on the Global C02 Emissions map to view an animated timeline of annual CO₂ emissions by country, from 1800 to 2022. This dynamic visualization offers fascinating insights into the history of global pollution since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution

At the start of the visualization, in 1800, the United Kingdom stands out as the highest emitter of CO₂. The UK's central role in the Industrial Revolution, which began in the late 18th century, led to extensive coal consumption, far outpacing most other countries at the time. Belgium is also notable on the map as an early high emitter of CO₂. As one of the first continental European countries to industrialize, Belgium followed closely in the UK's footsteps. The country’s southern region, particularly Wallonia, had abundant coal deposits, making coal a primary energy source for its industrial activities.

For much of the 19th century, Europe stands alone as the world’s great polluter. Kuwait appears to be an outlier, with some unexpectedly high per capita emissions throughout the 19th century. From the middle of the century, the United States also began to emerge as a global leader in air pollution.

The 20th Century

As industrialization spread worldwide during the 20th century, CO₂ output became a near-global phenomenon. In the early part of the century, the U.S. emerged as the largest per capita emitter of CO₂. The Global CO₂ Emissions cartogram illustrates how, in the latter half of the century, oil-rich Middle Eastern states became some of the highest per capita CO₂ producers. The cartogram also highlights how most African countries have maintained relatively low per capita emissions of CO₂ over the last 200 years.

There is much to admire in this historical cartogram. The use of distinct colors for each continent not only helps users locate individual countries on the map but also provides added context for the accompanying streamgraph. This streamgraph emphasizes the significant "cumulative effect of increasing (though now gradually decreasing) CO₂ emissions" over time. The colored bands correspond to the five continents and depict the cumulative CO₂ output of each continent over time.

The growth of the blue band on the streamgraph reveals the rise of Asia as an industrial powerhouse in the late 20th century. Notably, while China has become one of the world’s largest emitters of CO₂ in total, its per capita emissions remain much lower than those of the United States and many other 'western' countries.

The 2024 US Election Maps

The winner of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election is becoming clear, as shown by today's newspaper election maps. Donald Trump has secured two key battleground states, North Carolina and Georgia, and leads over Kamala Harris in several states already called in his favor.

In U.S. elections, traditional choropleth maps - where regions are shaded to represent the winning or leading candidate - can often be misleading. These maps color each state or county based on the majority vote, creating expansive areas of a single color that distort the geographic distribution of voter support. This approach tends to exaggerate the dominance of one party in states with large but sparsely populated regions, while densely populated urban areas, which may vote differently, occupy smaller spaces and are visually minimized.

As a result, choropleth maps can misrepresent the actual balance of voter support, making it challenging for readers to accurately grasp election outcomes. Alternative visualizations, such as cartograms and dot-density maps, offer a more accurate reflection of the electorate by resizing regions or representing individual votes, providing a clearer and more informative view of the political landscape.

For instance the New York Times has used a proportional symbol margin map to illustrate the strength of support for each candidate across counties. In this map, colored circles are “proportional to the amount each county’s leading candidate is ahead,” effectively visualizing the size and distribution of margins.

Additionally, the Times includes a traditional choropleth map (with states colored by the leading candidate) and a "swing map," which visualizes the shift in the margin of votes cast for Democrats and Republicans in each county. On this swing map, if more voters have chosen the Democratic candidate compared to 2020 (in percentage terms), the arrow is colored blue - even if Trump is currently leading in the total percentage of votes (and vice versa for a Republican shift).

The “Shift from 2020” map perhaps provides the clearest picture yet of the 2024 election dynamics. As seen in the provided screenshot, there has been a significant swing toward Trump in a large number of counties that have already been called.

The Washington Post's Presidential Results 2024 offers a cartogram view as an alternative to its traditional choropleth map. In this cartogram, each state is represented by a number of squares, corresponding to its electoral votes. The squares are colored by the leading candidate, and hovering over a state reveals the vote count for each candidate and an estimate of the votes counted.

The Guardian's scrollytelling cartographical analysis of the 2020 Presidential Election was produced before all the results were in, however the map still provides a fantastic overview of where and how Trump won and the Democrats failed. As you scroll through The key swing states and counties that handed Trump the White House different map visualizations explore some of the key geographical and demographic areas which swung the election for the Republicans.

Using a series of arrow swing map views The Guardian shows how the Republicans made gains in both urban and rural areas; made gains in both majority-Black counties and heavily Latino counties, had strong support in areas with lower levels of educational attainment; and that there was little impact of the abortion issue on voting patterns.

Your Hour-By-Hour Guide to Election Night

Even though the results of the election may not be known for days, many people will still be glued to the news overnight. If you're one of those who will be tracking every rumor for clues about the outcome of the U.S. Presidential Election, you might want to bookmark these interactive maps from The New York Times and The Washington Post, which show when polls close and when to expect updates from the key battleground states.

The Washington Post's When will we know the election results? includes a helpful map displaying when polls close in every county across the country. The accompanying article also offers predictions on when you can expect results from the seven battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The New York Times' What Time Do the Polls Close? also provides a mapped visualization of poll closing times by state. The article is divided into half-hour intervals, with maps showing which states' polls will close in each block up to midnight (Central Time).

For the actual 2024 U.S. Presidential Election results maps, check back tomorrow!

Vintage Street View Imagery

Imagine if Google Maps offered a way to view Street View panoramas of cities as they looked in the past. Unfortunately Google only began capturing Street View images in 2006 and 2007. Photography itself, however, was invented in the 19th century, which means we can explore vintage photographs to glimpse our cities as they used to exist.

In fact, one American photographer, Ed Ruscha, practically pioneered Street View photography. In the 1960s he mounted a motorized 35mm camera on top of a pickup truck and drove up and down Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, capturing a unique photographic record of this iconic street. He repeated this project in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. The result is an incredible time capsule, documenting the evolution of Sunset Boulevard across five decades.

Sunset over Sunset presents Ed Ruscha’s photographs of Sunset Boulevard across five decades, stitched into continuous photostrips that capture the changing landscape between Doheny Road and North Alameda Street. Using a strip map of Sunset Boulevard you can browse all five complete historical photostrips of the street from each of the five decades. 

Sunset Over Sunset integrates Ruscha’s images with historical data, such as city directories, census records, and local newspapers. Using the strip map, users can explore specific addresses, and uncover their history through their associated historical data. A 'Stories' section also picks out and explores some of the most interesting urban developments which have taken place on the 'Strip' since the 1960s.

The 12 Sunsets website also allows users to explore Ed Ruscha's photographs of the Sunset Strip overlaid on an interactive map. In this presentation, an interactive map is flanked by Ruscha's vintage photos of each side of Sunset Boulevard. Simply click on a year to change the date of the street-view photos shown on the map, and use the "Flip" button to rotate the page 180 degrees.

Los Angeles isn’t the only city that can be explored through vintage street-view photography; New York City also boasts extensive collections of historical street imagery.

1940s NYC and 80s.NYC are two fantastic interactive maps that let you explore vintage photographs of New York City street scenes. These photos, captured by the New York City Finance Department in the early 1940s and again in the early 1980s, document every building across the city’s five boroughs. Originally taken to assess property values, these images now serve as invaluable time capsules of New York’s urban landscape.

These interactive maps allow you to explore New York’s streets as they appeared in the 1940s and 1980s, giving you the chance to see how your favorite neighborhoods have transformed (or perhaps remained the same) over the past eighty years.

Scrambled Hex Maps

Fresh from creating a mobile friendly update for Scrambled Maps, Tripgeo has now released an even trickier puzzle, called Scrambled Hex Maps.  

If you love puzzles that challenge your spatial reasoning and problem-solving skills, Scramble Hex Maps is a game you won’t want to miss! This engaging daily challenge invites players to rearrange scrambled hexagonal maps into their correct configurations. With its unique twist on the traditional jigsaw puzzle format, Scrambled Hex Maps offers a refreshing and enjoyable way to test your wits and spatial awareness.

The game challenges players to rearrange hexagonal map tiles to reveal the correct order. As you dive into the world of hexagonal scrambled maps, you’ll soon find that the shapes and configurations offer a distinct challenge compared to the original version of Scrambled Maps.

Disclaimer: Having created the original Scrambled Maps I am a little biased. TripGeo is also kind enough to host my other map games Map Snake and Nightmare on View Street, as well as some, like Scrambled Hex Maps and TripGeo Trivia, that were not made by me.

The Interactive Map of Ambridge

The Archers is the world's longest-running drama series and yet it has taken 73 years for someone to finally create an interactive map of Ambridge.

The Archers is a long-running British radio drama, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, that first aired in 1951. This radio soap opera is famously billed by the BBC as "an everyday story of country folk". The series follows the lives of the residents of Ambridge, a fictional rural village in the English Midlands. 

Like many English villages, life in Ambridge revolves around the pub (The Bull), the village green, the community-run shop, and the parish church. The new interactive Ambridge Map, created by the Archers Wiki, is powered by Leaflet.js, allowing listeners to explore and understand the village’s geography.

Currently a work-in-progress, the map notably lacks St. Stephen's Church, though it includes the River Am, which recently featured in the jailing of George Grundy. Absent as well are key farms: Brookfield Farm (owned by the Archers family), Home Farm (owned by the Aldridge family), Bridge Farm, and Grange Farm (run by the Grundy family). Hopefully, markers indicating these essential locations will all be added soon.

Other interactive maps of fictional locations include:

• The Lord of the Rings Project's Map of Middle-Earth
• The Interactive Game of Thrones Map

Map Snake

I'm sure you remember playing the classic game of Snake. This simple yet addictive game required you to maneuver an ever-growing snake while eating pixels and avoiding collisions with the external walls and the snake's own tail. Now, imagine taking that nostalgic gameplay and placing it in the wonderful world of cartography - welcome to Map Snake!

Map Snake takes the cherished arcade experience and enhances it by integrating the gameplay with the interactive maps of major global cities. Now, you must guide your snake through a city landscape, collect markers, and avoid your own tail. This fresh take on a classic game combines the much-loved gameplay of Snake with the unique geography and culture of cities around the world. Get ready to slither your way through an exciting blend of nostalgia and cartography with Map Snake!

I coded Map Snake this morning for the #30DayMapChallenge. Utilizing the powerful MapLibre library, the game animates a linestring on top of OpenFreeMap map tiles. The animated linestring is controlled by keyboard event listeners that follow the player's directions. The game includes a simple collision detection system to determine when the snake interacts with its own tail and utilizes localStorage to keep track of a player's highest score. Each time a new game starts, the map shifts to a random location chosen from an array of seven global cities.

At the moment, the game is very simple, but I have a few ideas for improving the gameplay. For now, I have just one game tip: if your snake moves out of the current map view, don’t panic! Just perform a blind U-turn, and your snake should soon slither back into view.

Cryptic Cross World

My #30DayMapChallenge entry for 'Lines' is a fiendish treasure-hunt map game.

The premise of Cryptic Cross World is simple: you’re presented with a series of cryptic crossword clues, each leading you to a new location as you solve them. Points are awarded based on the distance you travel. To aid you in solving these clues, you can reveal letters in the answer - but beware, revealing letters comes at a cost. The first letter you reveal will deduct 1,000 miles from your score, and each subsequent reveal doubles in cost. So, the second letter will cost 2,000 miles, the third 4,000 miles, and so on.

While the rules of Cryptic Cross World are simple, the game itself is fiendishly hard. For now, there’s a built-in cheat to help players along. If you enter an incorrect answer, a prompt will reveal the correct solution, allowing you to proceed to the next clue.

I think Cryptic Cross World is currently very challenging, especially for those unfamiliar with cryptic crosswords. I have a few ideas to make gameplay slightly less demanding (which I didn’t manage to implement in time for the #30DayMapChallenge). In the future, I’d like to add three "clue" cards to give players additional hints on particularly tough clues. I also plan to introduce a limited number of "skip" cards, allowing players to bypass a clue entirely if it feels impossible to solve.

For now, if you’re stuck, you can simply enter random letters, and a prompt will reveal the correct answer.

Free Map Data Grabbers

The Overture Maps Foundation, founded in 2022 by Microsoft, Meta (formerly Facebook), Amazon, and TomTom, aims to provide accessible, interoperable open map data. 

At the time of its launch I remarked that 'hopefully in the future the Overture Maps Foundation will develop more user-friendly methods to access the data'. The Overture Maps Explorer (Beta) is exactly that. The Explorer allows developers to zoom in on any location in the world and download a GeoJSON file of any combination of 'Land', 'Transportation', 'Buildings', 'Places', or 'Addresses' map data.

Using the Explorer couldn’t be simpler: just center the map on your desired location, select the layers you need, and hit ‘Download Visible.’ Instantly, you’ll receive the selected data for the current map bounds as a GeoJSON file.

Another similar tool is Evan Applegate’s Overture Data Grabber, which also simplifies the process of downloading Overture Maps data. After centering on your area of interest and choosing the desired data, simply draw a polygon around your selection. The Data Grabber then downloads the requested data as a GeoJSON file, ready for use.

To test out the Overture Data Grabber, I used it this morning to map the Brighton Lanes. I downloaded building footprints and place data, then paired it with road polylines from Overpass Turbo. Within minutes, I was able to create an interactive MapLibre map showcasing shops, bars, and restaurants in the Brighton Lanes - which, by lucky coincidence, also happens to qualify as my 'Points' map for the #30DayMapChallenge.