The Taco Bell Interstate Map

If you insist on only eating at a Taco Bell while driving cross-country then you need Think Outside the Bun. Think Outside the Bus is an interactive map of Taco Bell locations across the United States. For Taco Bell enthusiasts, this map is an invaluable tool, showing which states, cities, and even interstates offer the best access to affordable Mexican-inspired cuisine.

The map uses the size of each U.S. interstate to reflect the number of Taco Bells located along each route. According to the developer (via Reddit) , “I did a 5-mile buffer to count the number of Taco Bells for each major interstate. The ones that are marked are the ones with the most in that analysis.” Based on this method, Interstates 10, 95, 75, and 5 have the highest concentration of Taco Bells within the 5-mile buffer zone (although the data might be more insightful if adjusted for interstate length to provide a distribution ratio).

The map's sidebar reveals that the three states with the most Taco Bell restaurants are California, Texas, and Florida. Wait a minute - I smell a conspiracy here. Coincidentally (or not), these are also the three most populous states in the U.S. It’s almost as if Taco Bell strategically locates their restaurants near where people actually live and eat. However, I'm not sure that population density alone explains why Houston has the most Taco Bells of any city (66) - which is a full third more than Las Vegas (44)*.

You may also like the U.S. Chain and Independent Restaurants map, by the Georgia Institute of Technology's Friendly Cities Lab, which shows the locations of over 700,000 restaurants across the country, organized by restaurant chain and by frequency. 

* - I asked ChatGPT:  'Houston is known for its sprawling geography, with low-density suburbs and a car-centric culture. This layout is ideal for fast-food establishments like Taco Bell, which often rely on drive-thru business and larger properties for their locations. The density and urban planning in other large cities, like New York or Los Angeles, may limit the number of drive-thru restaurants.'

Moon 2.0

NASA is planning a crewed Moon landing in 2027, while the China National Space Administration (CNSA) aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030. India, too, has announced plans to send a person to the Moon by 2040.

This renewed interest in our closest celestial neighbor suggests that the lunar surface will soon be home to even more human-made objects. Currently, nearly 1,000 items from Earth litter the Moon. The publication NZZ, in its feature The Fate of Human-Made Objects on the Moon, uses an interactive 3D Moon globe to map the debris left on the lunar surface since the dawn of space exploration. Ever since the Soviet Union's Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the Moon, items such as golf balls and even astronaut waste have been abandoned on the lunar surface. The NZZ interactive globe highlights the nearly 100 locations on the Moon where these human-made objects can be found.

The diversity of human artifacts on the Moon ranges from scientific equipment to personal mementos. The U.S. Apollo missions, for example, left behind objects as varied as lunar rovers and dollar bills. NASA even left the ashes of Gene Shoemaker, a prominent geologist, on the lunar surface. According to NZZ, there are now, in total, more than 200 tons of human-made debris on the Moon.

You can learn more about the Moon on Bartosz Ciechanowski's amazing Moon visualization. This informative article about the Moon includes a superb interactive 3D globe which shows the phases of the moon by date (controlled using a sliding date control).

Another interactive feature allows you to track the current position of the Moon in the sky. With two slide controls—one for adjusting the date and another for the hour of the day - you can explore how the Moon’s position changes over time. By sharing your location with the map, you can determine the Moon’s exact position in the night sky from your location at any given hour on any given date.

A series of visualizations further illustrate the Moon’s motion and the role of gravity in space. From Earth, the Moon appears to wobble slightly over time, a phenomenon explained through Ciechanowski's engaging animations. Additional illustrations delve into how gravity influences moving bodies, showing how the force of gravity depends on the masses of the objects and the distance between them.

Via: Webcurios

The Coldest Day of the Year

Did you know the coldest day of the year doesn’t arrive at the same time for everyone in the U.S.? While Groveland, California, is shivering through its chilliest day today, parts of the East Coast are still weeks away from their coldest temperatures. This is because the coldest day of the year, on average, occurs at least a month earlier on the western seaboard than on the eastern seaboard of the United States.

According to NOAA's Coldest Day of the Year interactive map, the farther west you are in the United States, the more likely it is that you have already experienced the coldest day of the year. The map is based on 30 years of temperature data and shows the average coldest day of the year at thousands of weather stations across the country. 

NOAA explains that in the eastern part of the United States, the "coldest day of the year is typically later ... thanks to cold air from snow-covered parts of Canada dipping down into the area."

Thanks, Canada!

If you want to know when the first snow of the year is most likely to fall, you can refer to NOAA's handy interactive First Snow Map. This map provides a nationwide guide to when you can expect the first snow of winter. It displays the date at your location when the chance of snow is at least 50%, based on historical weather records from 1981 to 2010.

Latitude and altitude play the biggest roles in determining when you are most likely to experience snow. On average, the farther north you are and the higher your altitude, the earlier you are likely to see snow.

An Earth Powered by the Sun

Australia's ABC has used data from TransitionZero to map out the astonishing growth in solar energy around the world. Using machine learning to analyze global satellite imagery, TransitionZero has discovered that solar farms now cover approximately 19,000 square kilometers of the Earth. And the number of solar installations is doubling every three years.

Using a 3D globe of the Earth, ABC has mapped out the world's solar farms to visualize where and how solar power is reshaping energy systems worldwide. In A Survey of the World's Solar Energy Boom you can explore for yourself the regions driving this revolution. 

China is leading the charge in solar power, installing more solar capacity in 2023 than the rest of the world combined, with vast arrays in the sparsely populated west and north. India follows closely, leveraging government subsidies to build mega-projects like the Khavda Renewable Energy Park, which will power over 16 million homes. Meanwhile, countries, such as Pakistan and Namibia, are rapidly embracing solar through grassroots initiatives and affordable imports from China.

Solar power’s meteoric rise can be attributed to a combination of technological innovation, economic scalability, and urgent climate goals. Advances like UNSW’s PERC technology have revolutionized solar efficiency, while mass production in China has driven down costs, making solar the cheapest form of electricity. 

Global solar capacity is now projected to provide 12% of all electricity in just three years time. By 2034, experts predict solar could account for nearly half of the world's power generation, underscoring its central role in the transition to a sustainable energy future.

The CEO Murder Map

For the past two weeks, the United States has been reeling from the shocking murder of Brian Thompson in New York. As a data scientist, my instinct is always to ask how data can help make sense of what, on the surface, appears to be a senseless act of violence.

To that end, I have created the CEO Murder Map, to identify potential geographical patterns in the murders of millionaire executives. The map includes an interactive timeline that allows users to filter CEO murders in the United States by year.

My murder map was partly inspired by the K-12 School Shooting Database's Interactive Map of School Shootings , which documents 2,973 shootings across the United States. Disturbingly, this year alone, school shootings have occurred, on average, almost every single day. It is almost a bigger problem than the murder of CEOs.

The tragic reality is that the shooting of young school children in the United States has become a near-daily occurrence. Yet, these events seldom receive the same sustained media attention as the death of a CEO. The American media appears far less concerned with understanding why school children are being shot daily in classrooms than with the loss of one multi-millionaire, which has prompted endless analysis and soul-searching. I hope my CEO Murder Map can help provide some much-needed perspective on the broader context of violence in corporate America.

The K-12 School Shooting Database was established in 2018 following the Parkland High School Shooting. It now contains data on nearly 3,000 school shootings in American schools, spanning from 1966 to 2024. The Interactive Map of School Shootings includes powerful filtering options, allowing users to explore data by year, number of fatalities, school level, and time period.

The WaterwayMap

The WaterwayMap is a visually beautiful interactive map that uses OpenStreetMap data to visualize the structure and flow of rivers around the world.

At its core, WaterwayMap utilizes the directional data of waterways recorded in OpenStreetMap (OSM). In OSM, waterways are represented as ways - ordered lists of nodes that indicate the sequence and direction of flow. WWM uses this directional information and calculates additional hydrological details to provide a comprehensive visualization of water systems.

Thanks to a recent update by Amanda McCann, the map's creator, the widths of rivers now represent cumulative stream lengths. This means that the width of a river segment on the map reflects the total cumulative length of all upstream waterways feeding into that segment. Thicker lines represent rivers with larger upstream networks, such as major rivers fed by extensive tributary systems.

The colors of the rivers indicate grouped waterways and are randomly assigned. These colors help users visually separate different river systems or watersheds on the map. Each color corresponds to a connected network of waterways, typically a river and its tributaries. This allows users to easily identify which rivers and streams belong to the same system.

You can also explore watersheds on the Global Watersheds interactive map. By clicking anywhere on the map, you can view a visualization of the upstream watersheds calculated from your selected location. The map enables you to quickly see the origin and destination of water at any point on Earth.

The screenshot above shows the vast 1 million km² watershed flowing from the Andes into the Solimões River in Brazil. To explore the world's largest watersheds, you can click downstream in the Amazon Basin (the world's largest watershed) or in the Mississippi River Watershed in the United States.

If you're interested in tracing the flow of a watercourse, you can select the 'downstream' option on the map. This will display the flow path of the selected river from your chosen location to the ocean. Other options allow you to download watershed data in geoJSON, shapefile, or KML formats.

Also See:

River Runner and River Runner Global - uses elevation and hydrology data to calculate and animate the probable ultimate journey of a drop of water from any location to the sea. 

Draw Your Neighborhood

DETROITography has released an innovative interactive map that allows Detroit residents to outline their neighborhoods based on their personal perceptions. The aim of the Detroit Neighborhoods Mapping Tool is 'to collectively map neighborhoods as an image of the city in maps and words'.

The tool starts with a blank base map, devoid of predefined neighborhood names or boundaries. Users are encouraged to draw their own interpretations of their local neighborhood. To assist with orientation, optional overlays such as the locations of schools, churches, and community groups can be toggled on.

Additionally, the tool provides a feature to view all user submissions. On this collective map, the drawn neighborhoods are displayed as overlapping colored polygons. Hovering over any area reveals insights into how the community perceives its boundaries, including the percentage of submissions identifying it as part of specific neighborhoods.

The Detroit Neighborhoods Mapping Tool inspired me to revisit my own interactive project, Where is Texas. This map functions similarly, asking users to draw their interpretation of the Texas border. After submitting their outline, users can view all other submissions as well as the actual Texas boundary, which is displayed in green for comparison.

If you’re interested in creating your own regional survey tool, you can clone my map on Glitch. To do this, simply "remix" the project and replace all references to "Texas" in the text with the location you want to survey. Additionally, you’ll need to either remove the Texas polygon from places.js or update it to reflect the new geographical area you’re focusing on.

The Real-Time GPS Spoofing Map

Airlines around the world are reporting an increase in GPS spoofing and jamming incidents. GPS spoofing involves deliberately transmitting false GPS signals to trick a GPS receiver into believing it is in the wrong location. This manipulation can lead to navigation errors and pose significant security risks.

GPS jamming, on the other hand, involves intentionally blocking or interfering with GPS signals using a device called a GPS jammer. These devices transmit radio signals on the same frequency as GPS satellites, disrupting the ability of GPS receivers to pick up the legitimate signals needed to function. A GPS device receiving a jammed signal becomes unable to determine its true location.

As expected, GPS spoofing and jamming are most often encountered in conflict zones. For instance, in 2022, Space reported that Russia was jamming GPS signals during its invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, since Finland and Norway joined NATO, the Baltic region has experienced a marked increase in GPS jamming, which is widely attributed to Russian activity.

SkAI Data Services' Live GPS Spoofing and Jamming Tracker Map is an interactive map that uses live ADS-B data from the OpenSky Network to detect spoofed aircraft positions and areas of GPS jamming in real-time across the globe. As shown in the screenshot at the top of this post, the map currently highlights high levels of GPS spoofing and jamming activity in the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, and the Baltics.

Similarly, FlightRadar's GPS Jamming Map analyzes NIC (navigation integrity category) data to determine where in the world GPS signals are currently being jammed or experiencing interference. NIC is a metric used to determine the quality and the consistency of navigational data received by aircraft and this metric indicates the reliability of an aircraft's position data. FlightRadar uses the NIC values of planes around the world to determine where GPS jamming or interference is currently affecting GPS signals.

Mapping Marine Light and Noise Pollution

The AquaPLAN (Aquatic Pollution from Light and Anthropogenic Noise) is a new interactive map designed to address the pressing issue of pollution in aquatic environments. It is the first interactive map to visualize the extent of artificial light at night and anthropogenic noise pollution in European marine and freshwater habitats.

Recent studies highlight the adverse impacts of light and noise pollution on diverse aquatic species. Artificial light at night (ALAN) disrupts natural behaviors, such as the migration patterns of fish, turtles, and other marine life that rely on darkness as a cue. For example, sea turtles often become disoriented by artificial lights near beaches, leading hatchlings away from the ocean. Noise pollution, predominantly caused by shipping, underwater drilling, and industrial activities, also poses significant threats. Loud anthropogenic noises can mask communication signals among marine animals, such as whales and dolphins, affecting their ability to navigate, find mates, or avoid predators.

AquaPLAN uses NASA's Black Marble map of global light pollution as its basemap layer. NASA's Black Marble map is a highly detailed visualization of Earth's nighttime lights, created from data captured by satellites. The Black Marble map provides a unique perspective on human activity and its environmental impacts by showcasing the distribution and intensity of artificial lights across the globe. Using AquaPLAN this light pollution map can be augmented by a number of other map layers, These include map layers which visualize: Global Ship Noise, ALAN (a metric used to assess the risk associated with Artificial Light at Night and its impacts on the environment), and marine habitats.

AquaPLAN’s map can be used to overlay these layers of data on light and noise pollution, either independently or in tandem. This capability allows researchers, policymakers, and environmentalists to assess the spatial extent and intensity of these stressors across rivers, lakes, coastal waters, and offshore marine habitats. As the platform evolves, AquaPLAN hopes to incorporate even more habitat maps, offering users a more nuanced understanding of how these pollutants intersect with sensitive ecosystems. 

One goal of AquaPLAN is to raise public awareness about reducing light and noise pollution. Practical tips for individuals to minimize their environmental footprint are available on the project’s website.

The Interactive Murder Map

Norwegian newspaper VG has been mapping murders in Norway since the turn of the millennium. The cumulative data in Murder in Norway allows the paper to provide some fascinating insights into Norwegian homicides. For example, this year, 61% of murder victims have been killed by a family member or a partner/ex-partner. Last year, 45% of murder victims were killed by their partner or ex-partner. Unsurprisingly, in most of those cases, the victim was a woman killed by her male partner or ex-partner. So far this century, 90% of murders in Norway have been carried out by men.

Drap i Norge has used VG's homicide data to create an interactive map of all Norwegian murders since 2000. This map plots where each murder occurred and allows users to filter the results by murder weapon and the murderer's country of birth. Pen portraits of each murder victim are also displayed in the map sidebar.

I rarely review crime maps on Maps Mania because I often find them uninformative. One major issue with most crime maps is that they only plot crimes reported to the police, which can be misleading. For example, I have had three or four bikes stolen over the last 20 years and have never reported any of these thefts to the police. 

I suspect that unreported crime is less of an issue with homicides, making murder maps somewhat more reliable. However, despite being less affected by data collection issues, a 'murder map' still has many of the shortcomings commonly associated with crime maps. For instance, VG's Murder in Norway map (shown below) misleadingly appears to suggest that people are far more likely to be murdered in the south of the country than in the north.

The reality, of course, is quite different. Both the Drap i Norge interactive map and VG's Murder in Norway map are simple plots of all the murders that have occurred in Norway this century. Neither map normalizes the data by population.

In data visualization, normalizing by population means adjusting data values to account for differences in population size, enabling fairer comparisons between different regions. The density of red dots on both Drap i Norge and Murder in Norway maps is merely a reflection of population density, offering little insight into murder rates across the country.

Instead of displaying raw totals, which can be misleading, these maps could provide the option to normalize the data 'per capita' for each county. This would give viewers a much clearer picture of murder rates across the different regions of Norway. To be really informative the maps could even provide other demographic and socioeconomic data layers - allowing the user to explore what may be some of the underlying contributing factors to localized homicide rates.

How Good is Your Map Memory?

Discover the World, One Click at a Time!

Tripgeo has released another exciting, map-based game that challenges you to explore your geographic knowledge like never before! Map Memory allows you to center an interactive map anywhere in the world to create a unique map game, entirely based on the local geography.

Whether you're a geography whiz or a curious traveler, Map Memory is perfect for anyone looking to test their global knowledge, challenge their memory, and have fun along the way.

How Does Map Memory Work?

At its core, Map Memory is a geography game with a twist. It combines geographic exploration with quick thinking and observation. Here’s how you play:

Click on the Map:

Start the game by clicking anywhere on the interactive map. This will reveal the twelve nearest towns to your selected location. The town locations are shown on the map with twelve red markers.

Drag Place-Name Labels:

As you explore the region, drag the names of the towns onto their correct location on the map. If you guess correctly, the town name will appear on the map and you’ll score a point. Guess incorrectly and the place-name label will turn red.

Complete the Challenge:

Aim to guess all twelve towns. The less incorrect guesses you make, the better! At the end of the game you will be scored on the number of moves it took you to place all 12 place-name labels correctly on the map.

How it Works

At the heart of Map Memory is the Overpass API, a powerful tool that taps into the OpenStreetMap (OSM) database to retrieve geographic data. When you click on a location on the map, the game sends a query to the Overpass API, requesting information about nearby geographic features - in this case, the twelve nearest towns to your clicked location. 

The Overpass API responds with data on the twelve nearest towns, including their names and precise geographic coordinates, enabling the game to identify and display the towns closest to your chosen point. This seamless integration allows Map Memory to dynamically adapt to any location you select on the map. Once the API returns the data, the game processes it to extract only the necessary information for the game. Markers are then placed on the map at the exact locations of the towns and their draggable name labels are added to the map sidebar.

Do You Live in 15 Minute City?

Imagine stepping out of your home and finding your favorite café, grocery store, and park just minutes away. For residents of New York or Seattle, this is a daily reality. But in sprawling cities like Houston or Indianapolis, such convenience remains a dream for many. Thanks to The Washington Post, you can now discover how walkable your city is compared to other U.S. cities.

The Washington Post has created an interactive map showing how long it takes "to walk to points of interest" in 200 metro areas across the United States. On the WaPo's How Walkable is Your Neighborhood? , neighborhoods are color-coded to indicate the time required to walk to locations in nine categories of amenities.

According to the research underlying the map, cities such as Atlanta, Nashville, Houston, and Indianapolis rank among the least walkable in the U.S. In contrast, Seattle, Washington D.C., New York, and Chicago are some of the most walkable cities.

The WaPo's map is based on a study conducted by Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Rome, titled A Universal Framework for Inclusive 15-Minute Cities. The "15-minute city" is an urban planning concept focused on ensuring that residents can access most of their daily needs - such as work, shopping, healthcare, education, and recreation - within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. This concept aims to create more livable, sustainable, and community-oriented environments where essential services are easily accessible to all residents.

For those outside the U.S. (or without access to the Washington Post's article), the study's own interactive map is an excellent alternative. By selecting a city on the Sony CSL 15min-City users can view a hexbin map that illustrates how accessible services are from each hexagonal area in the city. The color of each hexagon corresponds to the number of minutes it takes to reach essential services by foot or bike. Users can toggle between walking and cycling times and filter accessibility data by specific service categories, such as outdoor activities, education, shopping, dining, transportation, cultural activities, exercise, general services, and healthcare.

For U.S. residents, the Close is another valuable tool. It helps users identify walkable, bikeable, and transit-friendly neighborhoods across the country. Close allows users to prioritize specific amenities and destinations, generating a travel-time map for walking, biking, and public transit options. This feature makes it easy to discover ideal "15-minute neighborhoods" in towns and cities throughout the U.S.

The Bellingcat Open Source Challenge

Wordle and Minute Cryptic and Scrambled Maps will have to a back-seat this month - there's a new daily challenge in town: the Bellingcat Open Source Challenge.

Launched by Bellingcat, a renowned platform for open-source research and investigative journalism, the Open Source Challenge is running throughout December. Five days a week, Bellingcat is posting a new challenge, inviting participants to use open-source tools to solve intriguing puzzles.

So far, five challenges have been set - each involving the analysis of a different photograph, primarily to uncover geolocation clues. After about 90 minutes of sleuthing, I’ve managed to solve only two of this week’s daily challenges (the photos outlined in green in the screenshot above).

I don’t want to spoil the challenge for you by giving away any answers, but I can share the tools I’ve been using this morning (none of which, ironically, are truly open-source):

ChatGPT

Gemini

Geospy

Google Image Search

Bellingcat maintains its own Online Open Source Investigation Toolkit, a comprehensive, categorized database of tools for verifying photos and videos, archiving web pages, and much more. To add to the collaborative spirit, Bellingcat has set up a Bellingcat Challenge channel on its Discord Server, where participants can work together to crack each daily challenge.

Via: Webcurios

US Segregation Maps

Visualizing U.S. Segregation Through Interactive Maps

Census Dots is an interactive map of 2020 U.S. census data. On the map, millions of colored dots each represent one individual. The colors indicate the race or ethnicity that individuals identified with in the 2020 Census. Although the map does not mention this explicitly, most census dot maps randomize the locations of dots within each census area for privacy.

Using this map, you can zoom in on any city to observe how segregated many American communities remain. To understand the historical context of this segregation, you can compare cities on the Census Dots map with historical redlining maps from the University of Richmond's Mapping Inequality:

Redlining in New Deal America.

Oakland California

In the image above, the redlining map of Oakland appears side by side with its Census Dot map. The red areas on the redlining map represent neighborhoods classified as "Hazardous" or "Type D." These were deemed the riskiest neighborhoods for investment and were effectively "redlined." Historically, the "Hazardous" category was often assigned to areas predominantly inhabited by Black or other "non-white" populations.

In the 2020 Census, these same neighborhoods show high densities of Black residents, according to the Census Dots map. By contrast, the green areas on the redlining maps represent neighborhoods deemed "Best" or "Type A" by redlining inspectors in the 1930s. These neighborhoods were primarily reserved for White residents. Today, according to the census, these "best" neighborhoods remain predominantly White.

Greater Seattle

The blue areas on redlining maps indicate "Still Desirable" or "Type B" neighborhoods. These areas were typically assigned to middle-class or upper-middle-class White residents.

Meanwhile, areas marked as yellow on the redlining maps - classified as "Definitely Declining" or "Type C" - represented working-class neighborhoods. These areas were often viewed as likely to "deteriorate" further and were generally excluded from favorable mortgage lending practices.

Dallas, Texas

The 1930s redlining map of Dallas shows that the "Best" (green) neighborhoods were primarily located in the northern part of the city. According to the 2020 Census Dots map, these northern neighborhoods are now predominantly White.

Redlining maps, officially known as Residential Security Maps, were created by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s in the United States. These maps were used to assess the risk of mortgage lending in different neighborhoods. The colors assigned to areas indicated their "security" for investment, which was influenced by racial, ethnic, and economic factors, leading to systemic discrimination.

In this post I have compared three cities at random. You can use the Census Dots map and the Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America to make your own comparisons.

North America's Shrinking Railways

Passenger rail services in 1980 and 2024 interactive map visualizes the Amtrak (red) and VIA Rail (blue) systems in 1980 and 2024, alongside independent railways and commuter services (green). The map highlights a notable decline in the availability of passenger rail services in both the USA and Canada over the last 44 years.

Using the map's slide control, you can easily switch between the rail services available in 1980 and those in 2024. This quick comparison starkly illustrates the reduction in passenger rail services in both countries. Additionally, the 1980 map includes notable routes (in grey) that were discontinued after 1976, revealing an even more dramatic decline when comparing the situation today to earlier years.

Canada: Passenger Rail Decline

In Canada, VIA Rail’s 2024 service levels have significantly decreased compared to 1980, especially in terms of the number of routes and trains available outside the core Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The focus has shifted toward fewer but higher-quality services in high-demand areas, often at the expense of rural and remote connectivity.

USA: Amtrak’s Reduced Long-Distance Services

In the USA, Amtrak’s long-distance services are less frequent in 2024 than in 1980, with several routes entirely discontinued. The 1980 map also shows numerous additional routes (in grey) that were abandoned between 1976 and 1980. 

For a broader perspective, Vox’s animated map - the decline of passenger railway services in the US - illustrates the steady erosion of American rail since 1962. 

Freight vs. Passenger Rail in North America

It's important to recognize that while passenger rail has declined, the USA still possesses an extensive rail network. This is clearly shown on the National Rail Network map of Canada, the USA, and Mexico. However, this vast network is predominantly used for freight transportation rather than passenger rail.

The United States actually has one of the largest rail networks in the world, but freight railroads account for approximately 140,000 miles of track, while Amtrak operates on around 21,000 miles, most of which it does not own. Instead, Amtrak relies on agreements with freight railroads to use their tracks, often resulting in delays because freight trains are given priority.

Global Rail Network Comparisons

For a deeper comparison of the U.S. rail network with those of other countries, you can refer to OpenRailwayMap. This resource uses OpenStreetMap data to create a worldwide, open, up-to-date, and detailed map of global rail networks.

The Bird Migration Atlas

The European Turtle Dove is a relatively small bird, weighing only about 100 grams (3.5 ounces). Despite its size, the European Turtle Dove undertakes an incredible long-distance migration of around 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) from Europe to sub-Saharan Africa every year. This remarkable journey, along with the migratory routes of hundreds of other bird species, can be explored in detail on the Bird Migration Atlas.

The Bird Migration Atlas is an interactive map that plots the migration patterns of over 300 bird species across two continents: Eurasia and Africa. The map integrates data from historical European ringing schemes and modern tracking technologies to provide a comprehensive view of migration routes across both continents.

The Overall Connectivity map serves as the starting point for all species, revealing patterns of migratory connectivity. It highlights how birds from different geographic regions move, considering variations by age and sex. This map visualizes broad migratory trends, such as seasonal routes and key stopover sites that birds use during their journeys. Users can toggle additional layers for a more nuanced view, such as tracking data (where available), to better understand the specific migratory routes of individual species.

The By Region map allows for a deeper examination of bird movements based on where they were originally ringed and where they have been recovered. By color-coding encounters according to European ringing regions, this tool makes it easier to trace how individuals from specific populations migrate. The inclusion of tracking data (from sources like Movebank) further enriches the visual representation by displaying precise movement patterns, such as those derived from satellite transmitters or geolocators.

You can explore the migration patterns of American bird species on the impressive Bird Migration Explorer. The Bird Migration Explorer is an interactive map that visualizes the migratory patterns of 458 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada. Using the map, you can explore the journeys of individual bird species and discover when different species are likely to migrate through your town or city.

The Bird Migration Explorer allows you to view animated maps showing the full migration routes of these 458 species. By entering a location into the interactive map, you can also discover which bird species migrate to or through that location and when they are most likely to be seen.

The Joy-Plot Map of Europe

The Ridgeline Map of European Population Density is an interactive map that provides a multi-resolution visualization of Europe's population density in the form of a joy-plot.

Joy-plots, also known as ridgeline plots, draw their inspiration from one of pop culture’s most iconic visuals: the album cover of Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division. Designed by Peter Saville in the 1970s, the cover features a mesmerizing depiction of radio waves emitted by a pulsar (the image was originally published in the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy). Over time, this striking design has transcended its musical roots to become a cultural and artistic symbol. In the world of data science, visualizations that echo this pulsar-inspired aesthetic are affectionately dubbed “joy-plots,” paying homage to the legendary album and its enduring influence.

This interactive joy-plot map of European population density was made using Gridviz. Gridviz is 'a JavaScript library for visualizing gridded data ... using a large variety of cartographic styles and techniques.' The resulting joy-plot map leverages the Eurostat GISCO Population distribution dataset to represent population density as horizontal ridgelines, where vertical peaks convey the density of the population across different areas of the continent.

Gridviz even offers three unique joy-plot styles for exploring European population density data: the basic joyplot, the shaded joyplot, and the random colored joyplot. As users zoom in on these maps, higher-resolution joy-plot lines appear, revealing finer details about population density at more localized levels. Additional place-name labels are also displayed, making it easier to navigate and understand the data at different scales.

Geotripper - the Traveling Salesman Game

Only a few days after the release of the flight sim game Travel Cat the prolific TripGeo is back with another entertaining geographical map game. GeoTripper offers players a unique challenge: charting the shortest possible route through a series of random destinations around the globe! 

GeoTripper is a lot of fun to play. I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek of the game over the weekend, and I’ve been hooked ever since. It is an original concept for a game which also manages to be very addicting!

Remember that - as I'm now going to get a little technical in exploring the dynamics of the game - 

Here's how it works:

1. You are given a list of locations.
2. You plot a route to connect them all in the shortest distance.
3. You submit your route and earn points based on how close your plan is to the optimal solution.

In essence, GeoTripper challenges players to solve a series of Traveling Salesman Problems (TSP). 

The Problem:

The TSP is a classic optimization problem in mathematics and mapping. Imagine a salesperson who needs to visit a number of cities. The challenge is to determine the shortest possible route that visits every city exactly once. The TSP has clear real-world applications, such as optimizing delivery routes for goods.

The Solution:

There are several methods for solving a TSP, including the Held-Karp algorithm and the Christofides algorithm. GeoTripper uses a brute force approach. This method involves calculating all possible permutations of the listed cities and determining the total distance for each route.

It's Fun!

You don’t need to worry about solving complex TSP algorithms while playing GeoTripper. Instead, you can just use your geographical knowledge to plot the best-looking route on the map. Your score depends on how close your route is to the optimal one.

With 12 different routes to complete in various regions of the world (plus a global challenge), GeoTripper offers plenty of variety. Players earn points and gold cups for each route, and the ultimate goal is to collect gold cups for all 12 routes.

A Race Against Time

Geotripper resets every 15 minutes (at :00, :15, :30, and :45 past the hour). This means you have only a quarter of an hour to complete all 12 routes - but it also means there are 12 new rounds to play every 15 minutes!