Live London Underground Trains

Live maps displaying the movements of planes, trains, and automobiles have been among my favorite mash-ups over the years, so it seems fitting to launch the third decade of Maps Mania with a beautiful illustration of a live, real-time transit map.

The Live Tube Map is a fully interactive, real-time 3D map that lets you watch underground trains move across London as they shuttle through tunnels, stations, and lines. It’s like the classic Tube map - but alive. Built by Ben James, the Live Tube Map uses real-time data from Transport for London (TfL) to visualize each train’s location, progress, and route. Each moving colored line you see gliding across the screen is a real train, updated in near real-time and placed on a highly stylized 3D map of London.

The choice of using moving colored polylines with transparent tails gives the map a beautiful and mesmeric aesthetic (although I think the blocky trains used by Mini Tokyo 3D are hard to beat). 

Under the hood, the map is powered by:

• MapLibre GL for rendering a high-performance, interactive map in WebGL
• TfL’s live feed to gather real-time train movements and trip plans
• MapTiler map tiles with 3D buildings

Hovering over a train on the map reveals a clean tooltip: line name, current status, journey progress (with a neat progress bar), and even upcoming stations. Beyond the sheer visual appeal, the Live Tube Map is a fascinating demo of what’s possible when you mix open data with open-source tech. It transforms a complex network of live infrastructure into something playful, transparent, and informative. 

It shows you moving trains on a map in real-time!

Celebrating 20 Years of Maps Mania

It was 20 years ago today Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play when Mike Pegg first started writing about Google Maps. Which means Google Maps Mania is 20 YEARS OLD TODAY! 

🎉 Celebrating 20 Years of Maps Mania: A Cartographic Journey

For twenty years Maps Mania has been tirelessly chronicling the evolving world of interactive maps. Since its inception on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 Google Maps Mania has been celebrating and showcasing the wonderful online interactive maps created by the cartographic community, and for two decades, Maps Mania has been one of the go-to destination for map lovers, geospatial techies, data journalists, and curious minds worldwide. 

In this time tt has showcased everything from quirky custom visualizations to groundbreaking tools that have reshaped how we interact with space and place online.

So today, we celebrate not only Maps Mania but also the incredible journey of online interactive mapping over the last 20 years. Let’s take a look at some of the pivotal developments that Maps Mania has tracked - and perhaps help shape since 2005.

🌍 2005–2010: The Birth of the Mashup Era

When Google Maps launched in early 2005, it didn’t take long for developers to start “hacking” the platform, overlaying their own data onto the base map. This gave birth to the map mashup - an entirely new genre of DIY cartography.

Maps Mania was there from the start, curating early examples like:

- Real estate listings on maps

- Live transit tracking

- Crime mapping

- Flickr photo maps

Soon, APIs from Yahoo, Microsoft, and OpenStreetMap joined the party, and online mapping became an even bigger playground for creativity.

🧰 2010–2015: The Rise of Tools and Platforms

As the web matured, so did mapping. This era saw the emergence of powerful tools like:

Leaflet.js and Mapbox GL JS, enabling slick, custom maps in the browser

CartoDB (now CARTO), democratizing geospatial data analysis

D3.js, pushing the boundaries of data-driven cartography

Maps Mania didn't just report on these tools - it spotlighted how people were using them to tell stories, explore data, and visualize everything from climate change to historical journeys.

📱 2015–2020: Mobile, Real-Time & Story Mapping

With smartphones in everyone’s pockets, maps have now become more than just static guides - they have become live, reactive, and personal. Highlights from this period include:

- The explosion of story maps (via Esri, Knight Lab, and others)

- Maps for activism and crisis response (like during Hurricane Harvey or COVID-19)

- Location-based games and apps like Pokémon Go, changing public space experiences

Maps Mania tried to capture it all, curating the finest examples of maps that moved - both emotionally and physically.

🧠 2020–2025: AI, 3D & the Future of Place

In recent years, interactive mapping has leapt into new dimensions - literally and figuratively:

- 3D mapping with Google, Cesium and Mapbox adds realism and immersion

- Machine learning now detects buildings, roads, and land use from satellite images

- Digital twins of cities are enabling simulations for climate, traffic, and urban planning

- WebGL and immersive web tech are making maps feel more realistic

💚 A Labor of Cartographic Love

For 20 years, Maps Mania has been more than just a blog - it has been a living archive of the internet’s mapping imagination. 

Here’s to the next 20 years of exploration. The world is always changing - hopefully, Maps Mania will continue to help make sense of it, one map at a time!

Spinning at a Thousand Miles an Hour

I'm currently sitting in London, spinning at 640 miles per hour. 

My friend Sofía lives in Quito, Ecuador, and because of the equatorial speed bonus, she’s currently spinning much faster than me - at 1,037 mph.

The Earth rotates once every 24 hours (roughly), and we all rotate with it. The circumference at the equator is about 24,901 miles, so at the equator, you're spinning at about 1,037 mph:

24,901 ÷ 24 hr = ~1,037 mph

But this speed decreases as you move toward the poles. The speed you're traveling is determined by your latitude, because - unless you live at the equator - you're moving in a smaller circle.

London is around 51.5° North, so I can calculate my rotational speed with this formula:

        Speed = equatorial speed × cos(latitude)

So:

        Speed = 1,037×cos(51.5)

        cos ⁡(51.5) ≈ 0.623 

        Speed = 1, 037 × 0.623 ≈ 646 mph

To calculate your speed, just plug in your latitude using the same formula.

Or you could just use the Earth Surface Rotatio Speed Calculator. 

Enter your location into this interactive map, and you won’t need to do any math - this map will automatically show you your tangential speed based on where you live.

The Most Beautiful Places in the World

Hollow Rock. Grand Portage, MN by @TuckOlson

The Earthporn Map is a simple interactive map that showcases the top 1,000 images submitted to r/EarthPorn. r/EarthPorn is a subreddit on Reddit dedicated to sharing stunning, high-quality images of natural landscapes and scenery from around the world.

To be clear—despite the name, there's nothing explicit or NSFW here. Just a whole lot of beautiful photography of nature from across the globe.

The Most Beautiful Countries in the World Are:

Based purely on the number of photographs featured in the top 1,000 posts, the most beautiful countries in the world (according to r/EarthPorn) are:

1. United States: Posts - 544 photos
2. Canada: Posts - 69 photos
3. Iceland: Posts - 60 photos
4. New Zealand: Posts - 29 photos
5. Norway: Posts - 29 photos

Conversely, the "least beautiful" countries on the list (again, based solely on the number of photos featured) are:

69. Kenya: Posts - 1 photo

70. Romania: Posts - 1 photo

71. Costa Rica: Posts - 1 photo

72. The Bahamas: Posts - 1 photo

73. Thailand: Posts - 1 photo 

Obviously, this is a definitive list, and I will not be entertaining any comments suggesting it's merely a reflection of the EarthPorn user base’s geographic distribution or where they can easily travel. Definitely not. Nope.

Geolocating the EarthPorn Top 1000

To determine the locations of the top 1,000 posts, a combination of AI and manual methods was used. A Large Language Model (LLM) extracted location data from post titles and comments. In about 10% of cases, manual review was required to refine or determine more accurate locations. Once each location was identified, the data was geocoded using the Google Maps API to retrieve latitude and longitude coordinates. This data was compiled into a GeoJSON file and mapped using Leaflet.js.

You may also like: r/MapPorn

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Mapping the Red Sea Attacks

The International Crisis Group has released an interactive story map, The Red Sea Attacks Explained, that does a great job of breaking down the background and consequences of the Houthis’ attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.

The map uses Mapbox's Story Map template to great effect, illustrating the Houthis’ strategic strongholds and their disruptive impact on global trade routes. I would like to give a huge amount of personal credit to the developer behind the ‘red-sea-scroll’ URL address.

The Houthis’ dominance of Yemen’s western coast and Red Sea islands (like Kamaran and the Hanish archipelago) becomes starkly clear when visualized on an interactive map. These chokepoints enable the group to harass ships near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow passage just 18 miles wide - effectively turning geography into a weapon. The consequences ripple outward: over half of Suez Canal traffic has evaporated as ships reroute around Africa, adding weeks to delivery times and inflating costs. 

The result is that around 12% of global trade has been disrupted by the Houthis attacks. Thanks to this ICG story map we can clearly see how and why.

Via: Data Viz Dispatch

The First Cuckoo of Spring

The Cuckoo Tracking Project

At the end of March, Hafren (a male adult cuckoo) left the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire to begin his epic migration north to England. From Côte d'Ivoire, Hafren skirted the eastern border of Guinea, crossed south-eastern Mali, motored through Mauritania, and—after a journey of around 1,370 miles—arrived in Western Sahara.

By early April, Hafren had reached Mijek in Western Sahara. Over the following days, he continued north, cutting up through Morocco. His path took him near the major cities of Marrakesh and Fes, before reaching the north Moroccan coast near Temsaman commune in Driouch Province on Saturday, 5 April. Hafren's most recent signal shows that he has now set off across the Mediterranean. If all goes well, he should soon arrive in Spain, somewhere between Malaga and Almeria.

Hafren is just one of 15 cuckoos being tracked as part of the British Trust for Ornithology's Cuckoo Tracking Project. Since 2011, the project has tagged more than 100 birds and tracked their annual migratory journeys from the UK to Africa and back again. Now is a great time to check out the project's live tracking map. Male cuckoos typically arrive in Britain towards the end of April or the beginning of May, which means the map is about to become very active. Wilfred and Hafren have already begun their northward journeys, and they will soon be joined by the other 13 cuckoos.

Over the years, the project has uncovered important insights into cuckoo migration. There are two main routes taken by the birds: one through Spain and one via Italy. Data shows that cuckoos migrating via Spain have a higher mortality rate than those taking the Italian route. Interestingly, the birds using the Spanish route also tend to come from areas of the UK where cuckoo populations have declined.

3D Racing Games

GLENN is a fun (though very basic) driving game built on a 3D Mapbox map. Essentially, it lets you drive a small 3D car around a map of any location in the world.

A lot of the appeal of GLENN comes from being able to explore a 3D version of your own neighborhood. However, there are several other enjoyable features that help keep the game interesting. For example, there are four time-trial races where you can test your driving skills on predefined routes set in some of the world’s most iconic locations.

There's also an option to view the locations of other players and 'teleport' to join them. You can then chase each other around the map, aided by a handy inset map showing the locations of nearby drivers. When you're tired of driving yourself, you can even kick back and enjoy 'cinematic' tours of famous cities around the globe. These 'cinematics' offer quick sightseeing tours of each city's most iconic landmarks.

The major drawback of GLENN is the lack of collision detection. This means you can drive straight through buildings (which I guess may not be seen as a drawback by some).

Via: Webcurios 

I’ve seen quite a few 3D simulation games over the years, and GLENN has quickly joined Travel Cat as one of my favorites. In Travel Cat, you pilot a feline-flown plane - and soaring past the Eiffel Tower in Paris or around the Statue of Liberty in New York as a cat is just as enchanting as it sounds. It’s also a lot of fun.

Travel Cat uses Google Maps API’s 3D view to create a flight simulator that lets you explore anywhere in the world. The game’s charm lies primarily in its whimsical protagonist - a fearless feline pilot. Google's 3D map view enhances this experience, delivering a surprisingly immersive low-altitude flight simulator. Whether you're gliding over landmarks or cruising through streets and waterways, Travel Cat offers a delightful blend of exploration and whimsy that sets it apart from other map-based 3D simulators.

The History Quiz Map!

Journey Through Time: Test Your Knowledge with "1000 Years"!

Are you a history buff? Do you love maps? If so, get ready for an exciting adventure through time with 1000 Years! This engaging map-based game challenges your knowledge of world history by asking you to guess the years of significant events.

What is "1000 Years"?

"1000 Years" is a unique educational game that combines geography and history. You'll navigate a world map, select countries, and answer questions about historical events that occurred within them. Your goal is to get as close to the correct year as possible, managing your "remaining years" as you go.

How to Play:

1. Start the Game:

   • When you first load the game, you'll see an introductory screen. Click the "Start Game" button to begin your historical journey.
   • The world map will appear, displaying various countries.

2. Select a Country:

   • Countries highlighted in red have questions associated with them. Click on a red country (either the country's label or its polygon) to begin a question round.
   • Completed countries will appear in green, with their achieved score displayed alongside their name.

3. Answer the Questions:

   • You'll be presented with 10 questions related to the selected country.
   • Read each question carefully and enter your guess for the year in the input box.
   • Click "Check Answer" to see how close you were.
   • If you are incorrect, the number of years you were off will be deducted from your remaining years.
   • If you run out of years, the game will end.
   • After answering all 10 questions, you'll see a summary of your scores for that country.
   • Click "Pick Another Country" to return to the map.

4. Manage Your "Remaining Years":

   • You start with 1000 years. The closer your guesses, the more years you retain.
   • An incorrect answer will deduct the number of years you were off from your remaining total.
   • A progress bar at the bottom of the map will display your remaining years.

Viewing Statistics:

Want to see how well you're doing? The game provides detailed statistics:

• Click the "Game Stats" button located at the bottom of the map.
• You'll see:
  • The number of countries you've completed.
  • Your completion percentage.
  • Your average score.
  • A progress bar showing your completion percentage.

Clearing Your Score (Clearing Local Storage):

If you want to start fresh and clear your progress, follow these simple steps:

• Press Ctrl + X (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + X (Mac) while the game is running.
• A confirmation alert will appear, and your local storage will be cleared.
• The page will automatically reload, resetting your game to its initial state.

Play 1000 Years