The Geography of the World's Religions

Recently Pew Research released an interactive map called How Religious is Your Country?. This map visualized how many people in each European country identify as being religious. If you were wondering which religions those European believers follow you can find out with the World Religions Map.

The World Religions Map shows the most practiced religion in each country of the world. On this interactive map countries are colored to show the largest religious group. If you select a country on the map you can view the percentage of the population which follows the major religion and the percentages which follow all the other main world religions.

The World Religions Map also allows you to view the global distribution of the all the main religions. Select a religion from the map's drop-down menu and you can view a choropleth map showing the level of the religion's believers around the globe.

The Sound Maps of the the Wild West

Montana State University and Esri have collaborated to map Montana's varied ecosystems. The Sounds of the Wild West takes you on an audio tour of the state's prairies, mountains, parks, rivers and national parks.

The Sounds of the Wild West includes four audio tours in total, Yellowstone National Park, the Crown of the Continent, the High Plains and Upper Missouri. Each ecosystem's tour combines photography with audio recordings of the natural soundscapes. For example in the Yellowstone National Park tour you can listen to waterfalls, geysers, elk calls, wolves and bears. While in the High Plains tour you can hear bird song, bison, coyotes and prairie dogs.

All the sounds featured on The Sounds of the Wild West come from Montana State University’s Acoustic Atlas. The Acoustic Atlas includes over 2,700 natural sound recordings. You can browse these recordings geographically and listen to the recordings on the Acoustic Atlas' own Sound Map.


If you enjoy natural sounds then you will love Cornell University's amazing Wall of Birds map, which features recordings from every surviving bird species in the the world.

The GBIF Soundscape is another interactive map which allows you to  listen to natural sound recordings from across the globe. This map allows you to recreate the soundscapes of different natural environments around the world by creating your own mix of bird and frog songs recorded at specific different locations.

The OpenLitterMap

I am sure that you are aware of the huge environmental damage being caused to the world's oceans by plastic waste. One way you can try to minimize that damage is by minimizing your use of plastic. The creator of OpenLittterMap believes you can also help to minimize that damage by recording and reporting waste.

The OpenLitterMap is an open mapping application that anyone can use to record and report litter that they find on the streets. If you photograph and report enough litter you might even make it to the OpenLitterMap high score list of most active users or help your county win the OpenLitterMap World Cup.

All the data on litter you contribute to OpenLitterMap becomes free and open data. The OpenLitterMap is working to make this data available to anyone who wants it. Until that data is made downloadable you can always use the map to help organize your local clean-up teams in their efforts to keep our streets beautiful and clear of litter.

The Racial Dot Map of U.S. Prisons

The University of Virginia's Racial Dot Map is one of those maps which I find myself referring to over and over again. Nearly every time I see a geographical breakdown of social and economic conditions in the USA I find myself referring to the Racial Dot Map.

For example, The Opportunity Atlas allows you to see which neighborhoods in America offer children the best chance to rise out of poverty and in which neighborhoods kids are trapped by their upbringing. The map uses data from the lives of 20 million Americans, following them from childhood to their mid-30s, to show which neighborhoods offer the best opportunities for children.

The Racial Dot Map uses data from the 2010 US census to show the racial composition of every neighborhood in the USA. If you compare the Opportunity Atlas with the Racial Dot Map you can see a similar pattern repeated in towns and cities across the USA. Those neighborhoods where children have the most opportunity just happen to be mostly those neighborhoods with a large white population. Conversely those neighborhoods which seem to have offered very little in economic or educational opportunity are often those with the largest black populations.

Of course educational and economic opportunity aren't the only areas of American life which seem to be racially segregated. 25% of the world's prisoners are in American jails. America likes locking people up. It really like locking black people up. The NAACP reports that "African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites" in the USA. If you don't believe them you can always look at prisons on the Racial Dot Map.

This is exactly what Libby Jones did. After she kept stumbling upon small compact areas with predominately black populations in rural areas on the Racial Dot Map Libby discovered that correctional facilities are reasonably easy to determine on the University of Virginia's map. For example the screenshot above shows the Louisiana State Penitentiary, which is the largest maximum security prison in the United States. The prison shows up as an isolated area with a large black population on the Racial Dot Map. Libby has a number of other examples in her article The Most Sobering Thing about the Racial Dot Map.

We have already established that America is very fond of imprisoning its black citizens. However some states are more keen than others. You can explore further the incarceration rates of individual U.S. states in the Maps Mania post Unequal Under the Law.

The BBC's Alarmist Migrant Map

The BBC has today come under fire for misrepresenting the scale of the number of migrants who have recently attempted to enter the UK. In 2018 539 migrants were discovered trying to enter the UK on small boats. The number of migrants attempting to enter the UK in this manner has risen over the last few months.

The BBC has attempted to visualize the recent rise in the number of migrants discovered trying to enter the UK using an animated interactive map. The BBC's Where Migrants Have Been Discovered by Authorities map animates through the time period from November 1st to Jan 3rd, showing the day and the locations where migrants have been found trying to enter the UK.

The map uses scaled markers to represent the number of migrants discovered at each location. It is these scaled markers where the BBC has run into trouble. To aid legibility the BBC has provided a handy key to this scale:



Can you see the problem with this scale? Jo Wood has. On Twitter she pointed out that on this scale "the '80 or more' circle is over 130 times the area of the 'fewer than 5' circle". Jo has even helped the BBC out by providing a proportional scale.



The issue of immigration is hugely contentious in a Britain preoccupied by Brexit. The BBC's map only serves to hugely exaggerate the problem of migrants trying to enter the UK on small vessels. I would like to think that this misrepresentation of the problem is an unintentional error by the BBC's cartographers. But then I would also like to think that the BBC would take a little more care over its graphics.

The 1940 Wooden Model of San Francisco

The David Rumsey Map Collection has released an interactive map of a 1940 wooden model of San Francisco. The 1940 WPA San Francisco Model allows you to explore up close the incredible detail in this hand crafted wooden model of the city.

At the end of the 1930's the Work Progress Administration in San Francisco spent three years creating a huge wooden model of the city. The completed model measured 38 x 42 feet and was intended to be used for both planning and educational purposes. The model was unveiled in a lightwell of City Hall in April of 1940. However the model was only briefly on display and was removed shortly after the start of the Second World War.

The 158 pieces of the model have now been reassembled. I understand that the model will be on display in different local libraries around San Francisco throughout this winter but that no permanent display home has yet been found for the model. If you can't track down the model's current location then you can at least now explore this digitized interactive map of the model. You can also learn more about the model at the David Rumsey Map Collection.


San Francisco isn't the only city with a huge historical town model. In the nineteenth century Swiss architect Auguste Magnin created an amazing 3d model of the walled city of Geneva. You can visit the model at the Maison Tavel in Geneva. If you can't get to Geneva then you will need to visit Geneve 1850 instead.

Geneve 1850 is an epic online interactive model of 1850's Geneva. The map allows you to immerse yourself in and explore Geneva as it looked in the mid-nineteenth century. To create this digital model of historic Geneva engineers scanned Magnin's original model in high definition. They were then able to recreate the 2,000 buildings (and their 40,000 windows and 8,000 skylights) in this digital 3D model of the original.


Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany is the world’s largest model railway. Miniatur Wonderland also includes detailed models of a number of German and Austrian towns and even a few famous places in America.

You can actually explore this amazing model for yourself using Google Maps Street View. The Miniatur Wunderland Street View includes a lovely custom designed map which allows you to navigate to the different Street View scenes which have been captured from around this huge model railway.

Mapping Medieval Comet Sightings

Medieval Comet Sightings is a story map exploring how comet sightings were recorded by medieval historians and used to explain subsequent unfortunate events. The map uses research by Dr Marilina Cesario which combines medieval history with astrophysics to explore how comets were understood in the Medieval period.

Medieval historians often used the appearance of a comet (in hindsight) as a portentous sign of some calamitous event. The map shows some of the locations where medieval historians reported comet sightings, sightings which they believe foreshadowed subsequent events. For example the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that a comet in 676 anticipated the end of Bishop Wilfred's control of Northumbria.

One of the most significant events in British history is the Norman Conquest in 1066. Halley's comet is recorded in the famous Bayeux Tapestry. It's appearance in 1066 was possibly very bad luck for the English. Although strangely the comet appears to have had the completely opposite effect on the luck of the Normans, who went on to conquer Harold at the Battle of Hastings and subsequently the whole of England.

If you are interested in how comets are viewed and recorded in the 21st Century then you might want to visit the University of Maryland's Comet Wirtanen Observing Campaign. Comet 46P / Wirtenen is currently visible from Earth. The Comet Wirtanen Observing Campaign is attempting to provide a clearinghouse for observations of the comet.

UK Trade (pre-Brexit)

In 2019 the UK is set to leave the European Union. Currently the EU is the UK's largest trading partner. If no new trade deal is negotiated between the EU and the UK then trade could still take place under World Trade Organisation rules. This would result in the UK having to pay tariffs on a range of goods which are currently trade-free.

You can find out the size of the UK's trade with the EU and non-EU countries using tools developed by the Office of National Statistics. These tools show the size of UK trade with different countries around the world and also breakdown where different commodities are traded around the world. The Explore UK Trade in Goods interactive map shows the size of UK trade with 234 countries across the globe in 125 different commodities.

Using the map you can select individual countries around the world to view the size of the UK's import and export trade with that country. Choose a country and you can view the size in sterling of the UK's import and export trade with the selected country. You can also view the top 5 imported and exported goods and the rise and fall in the trade of those commodities over the last five years.

Beneath the ONS's interactive map is an interactive tool which allows you to explore the UK's trade in specific commodities. Select a commodity from the drop-down menu and you can view the percentage of that commodity which is currently traded with the EU and the percentage which is traded with non-EU countries. This interactive also lists the top 5 trading partners for each chosen commodity.

Remembering Australia's War Dead

Places of Pride is Australia's national register of war memorials. It is a database and interactive map of the thousands of honour boards, sculptures, statues and other memorials which have been erected to remember Australia's war dead.

At the heart of Places of Pride is an interactive map which allows anyone to search for a war memorial by location, the name of an individual memorial or by state. Individuals and organizations can record and submit their own local memorials to the map if they don't already feature.

The national register of Australian war memorials is being maintained by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The Australian War Memorial is the national memorial to members of the armed forces who have died or participated in service to their country. The Places of Pride project will be used as part of a new display at the Australian War Memorial in the capital. It will help to memorialize the role played by service men and women from across the country.

The 2018 Maps of the Year

It is always hard selecting a few maps from the thousands of visualizations featured on Maps Mania over the course of one year. Therefore this year I thought I would cheat a little in how I choose my favorite maps of the year. Instead of trawling through 365 days of Maps Mania posts this year I have selected my favorite maps from the Maps of the Year lists already compiled by other people.

National Geographic's Billions of Birds Migrate. Where Do They Go? is a fantastic story map which explores and visualizes the migratory flight routes of different species of American birds. The story map includes animated weather layers, an animated seasonal vegetation layer and animated distribution maps for a number of different bird species. It also features a simply stunning map graphic (pictured above) which shows the migratory flight paths of many different types of American birds.

The Billions of Birds Migrate story map features in National Geographic's own Most Memorable Maps & Graphics of 2018. This round-up features 10 maps and graphics chosen by the magazine's cartographers from all the maps and graphics created for the magazine in 2018.


Kenneth Field is a hard man to please cartographically. Therefore you can be assured that Cartonerd's Favourite Maps from 2018 is a selection of only the very best maps from the past 12 months.

Kenneth's collection includes Zeit Online's Streetscapes. In a series of articles Zeit analysed 450,000 German street names to explore how place-names can provide a fascinating insight into the cultural and social attitudes of the German people. If there was one map to push National Geographic's Billions of Birds Migrate close for map of the year it would be Zeit Online's Streetscapes.


The New York Times has also compiled a long list of 2018 articles which featured graphics and visualizations. 2018 The Year in Visual Stories and Graphics includes a number of maps which were created by the NYT to illustrate some of the year's biggest news stories.

This collection of maps includes one published to visualize the U.S. House Election Results 2018. The NYT's map of November's U.S. elections was rightly praised at the time for its imaginative use of both a map and cartogram visualization of the election results. The inclusion of a cartogram view of the results provided an accurate representation of the size of the votes won by the Democrats and the Republicans. While the map view allowed readers to accurately see where each party held sway.

FlowingData has also compiled a list of its favorite data visualizations of the past year. The Best Data Visualization Projects 2018 includes a couple of mapped data visualizations but isn't confined  to only geographical representations of data.