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!