London's Dangerous Air

A new London Air Quality map reveals that anyone who lives or works in central London is breathing air which is dangerous to their health. The map visualizes the most recent London wide modelling of air pollution undertaken in 2016 and reveals a very worrying picture about the quality of the air being breathed in the nation's capital.

The European Union's air quality directive (2008/EC/50) states that the annual NO2 mean value may not exceed 40 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3). The London Air Quality map reveals that nowhere in central London was below that level in 2016. On the map the pale yellow color indicates where the annual mean value of NO2 rises over 40 micrograms per cubic metre. In other words only the areas colored in green recorded a level that met the EU's annual limit values for the protection of human health. None of those areas are in central London.

The London Air Quality map also includes information on some of the measures being introduced by the Mayor's office, which are designed to improve the quality of London's air. These measures include the Low Emission Zone, introduced this month, and its planned expansion in 2012. Parents may be particularly interested in the map layer which shows the schools & nurseries exceeding the NO2 legal limit. Even many schools outside that permanently dangerous inner-London zone have recorded NO2 levels above the legal limit.

3D Climate Change

Usually I'm not a huge fan of 3D bar charts on maps. However the 3D data towers on Global Temperature Anomalies do reveal some interesting patterns in climate change around the world. Global Temperature Anomalies shows where temperatures around the world are above or below the long-term average temperature for every year since 1950.

You may have heard the news this week from Canada's Environment and Climate Change Department that Canada is warming at twice the rate of the average across the rest of the world. Climate scientists have been aware for a number of years that the Arctic is also warming more than the global average. This pattern of higher than average temperature changes in the extreme north of the planet is apparent on the Global Temperature Anomalies 3D globe.

The temperature towers on the globe are colored to show whether temperatures in the selected year were higher or lower than the long-term average. The height of the towers reflects the scale of the temperature anomaly recorded. If you spin the globe around you can see that there is a distinct bulge at the Arctic. This reveals that the temperature anomalies being recorded here are bigger on average than the rest of the world. It is an interesting way to visualize this geographical pattern in global warming. However I still think this pattern could be more clearly visualized using a 2D choropleth map (using a polar projection). 

How to Avoid Cancerous Wind Power

While speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee the Orange Supremacist of the United States claimed that the noise from wind turbines causes cancer. This has rightly caused panic in America and Trump voters across the country have been mobbing stores in a desperate search for cancer-cancelling headphones.

But don't worry! You don't need cancer-cancelling headphones. In response to the bewildered, golden-helmeted moron's news that Wind Turbines CAUSE cancer the USGS has rushed out a map showing the location of every wind turbine in the USA. The U.S. Wind Turbine Database shows onshore & offshore wind turbine locations in the United States. The map visualizes 57,636 turbines, which combined have a total rated capacity of 89,197 MW. That is a lot of cancer!

At this point all you can really do is memorize the location of all 58,449 wind turbines and close your ears when you approach one. If you are unfortunate enough to live within earshot of one of these wind turbines I advise you to just ignore the demented ramblings of the brain-damaged baboon with the radio-active spay tan.


Scientists are actually only in the very early stages of research into how noise from wind turbines causes cancer. We therefore cannot be 100% certain that it is the noise from wind turbines which is causing cancer. It could be the noise of the wind itself which is the source of the cancer. Therefore we need a map which shows us where all the cancerous wind is across the globe.

The Technical University of Denmark and the World Bank have worked together to create a tool for potential wind energy. The Global Wind Atlas is designed to visualize the potential for wind power generation across the globe. The map uses both mesoscale and microscale modeling in order to help utilize wind energy.

The Global Wind Atlas can provide wind resource information for individual countries & regions or you can use the drawing tools to view wind resource data for a custom defined area. This wind data includes information on power density, wind direction and wind speed. Unfortunately it doesn't include any information on wind turbine noise cancer.

A Virtual Drive Around Japan

This morning I've been taking a gentle virtual drive around the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. My virtual drive was made possible by 'Map Fan Traveling Image', an interactive map created by Increment P. Increment P is a Japanese mapping company which provides map data for the car navigation system industry. One way in which Increment P collects this mapping data is by driving survey vehicles around Japan. These survey vehicles are fitted with cameras which continuously take still images while they drive.

MapFan Traveling Image is an experimental map which uses these images to provide a 'Street View' type tour of Tokyo. MapFan is currently preparing an API which will provide access to the company's 'street view' images. MapFan Traveling Image is a demo of what this API will provide. At the moment the demo allows you to explore the imagery captured by Increment P's survey cars in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro neighborhoods of Tokyo. The demo allows you to virtually drive around the two neighborhoods steering the survey car as you go.

If you click play on the street view image on the Traveling Image map you can sit back and watch as the map takes you on a virtual drive around Tokyo. As the images play the map automatically moves to keep you centered on the location shown in the current image. You can change the direction that you are facing by clicking on the arrow on the Street View image. This allows you to either have a 'rear view mirror' view of your journey or a forward looking view. When you are approaching an intersection left and right arrows appear on the Street View image which allow you to steer the car and change direction.

Screwing the Poor

If you wanted to recover the most money from tax cheats then you might think that auditing the country's highest earners would be a good place to start. Not if you were the IRS you wouldn't. No, the IRS tend to concentrate their auditing efforts on America's poorest counties and poorest families.

ProPublica has mapped Where in The U.S. You Are Most Likely to Be Audited by the IRS?. When reading choropleth maps of the United States, whatever the subject data of the map, you should check to see if the 'black belt' is revealed on the map. It only takes one glance at PropPublica's map to see that poor counties in the South-East of the country are being targeted by the IRS. There may be no logical reason why the IRS would target the poorest people in the USA but ProPublica's map of the counties audited at the highest rate shows that poor, predominantly African American, rural counties in the Deep South are the most audited.

ProPublica says that the reason why poor counties tend to be audited more than richer counties is because of Republican pressure on the IRS to target families on income tax credit. The IRS audits about 11,000 returns in Mississippi every year. It would be interesting to know the cost of those audits and how much money was actually recovered. The ProPublica article includes another choropleth map which shows the least audited counties in the country. These counties tend to be middle-income communities with largely white populations.

Scotland with Exaggerated Elevation

The National Library of Scotland's 3D Map Viewer is a great tool for viewing georeferenced maps from the library's historical collection. The National Library of Scotland has digitized thousands of old historical Scottish maps. The library's 3D Map Viewer allows you to explore these vintage maps from a unique bird's eye view.

In the 3D Map Viewer the vintage maps are draped over an elevation model, which allows you to see the terrain of the areas being mapped. Recently the library added a new slide control which allows you to control and change the vertical exaggeration of this terrain model. By exaggerating the elevation it is possible to explore subtle changes in the terrain.

The 3D Map Viewer also includes a transparency control which allows you to adjust the opacity of the vintage map. Using this transparency control you can adjust the visibility of the overlaid map and even turn off the map to explore the modern map imagery underneath. Two drop-down menus in the map sidebar allow you to browse the library's collection of vintage maps and to select a historical map to view with the 3D Map Viewer.

The Increase of Measles in Europe

Last year there was a three fold increase of measles cases reported in Europe than in the previous year. The main reason for this increase is the gaps in the vaccination rates of children against the disease. Many of these gaps are caused by misinformed parents who refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated.

Measles in Europe is a story map which shows the latest incidence rates of measles in European countries. It also explores some of the reasons why most European countries have seen such huge increases in measles cases. The data for the map comes from the World Health Organization. This data only includes the number of reported cases of measles in each country. The actual number of measles cases is probably much higher across the whole continent.

The Measles in Europe story map was made using the Leaflet.js mapping library. If you are interested in how to make a similar choropleth map then you should follow the Interactive Choropleth Map tutorial on the Leaflet website. The story map element of Measles in Europe was adapted from Mapbox's demo map Fly to a Location Based on Scroll Position. Feel free to re-use and adapt this story map as you see fit. The code for the map can be viewed, adapted and copied on Glitch.

Washington D.C. in 1823

The Center for Digital Research in the Humanities is attempting to map who lived in 1820's Washington D.C.. Their interactive map Early Washington, D.C. uses data from the 1822 city directory to map the names, occupations and homes of people living in the city in the early part of the 19th century. Using the map you can explore who was living where in 1820's D.C. and what jobs they did.

The 1822 city directory includes details on the home and business addresses of about 2,000 people living and working in Washington D.C.. The 1820 census recorded 13,000 people living in the city, so the map shows a little over 10% of the population in 1820's D.C.. 'Early Washington D.C.' shows the locations of the city's residents on top of a vintage map of D.C.. This map is S. A. Elliot's 1822 Plan of the City of Washington from the Library of Congress Maps Collection.

'Early Washington D.C.' was created as part of the 'O Say Can You See: Early Washington D.C., Law and Family' project. This project is documenting the challenges to slavery in early Washington D.C.. As part of this project it is collecting and digitizing documents from the early 19th century, including the city directories.

If you enjoy learning about how people lived and work in the 19th century then you might also be interested in the New York Public Library's NYC Space/Time Directory. The library are calling this project 'a digital time-travel service for New York City'. The project is using historical maps, photographs, newspapers, business directories, literary references, census data, and much more in order to help create 'a searchable atlas of New York City's past'.

Ukraine Election Map

A comedian who plays the president of Ukraine on television is the favorite to become the next real president of Ukraine. With just over 80% of the votes counted in yesterday's Ukraine election the comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in the lead with over 30% of the votes. He has almost twice the percentage of votes as the current president Petro Poroshenko.

The Presidential Elections in Ukraine 2019 map shows the election results in each voting district in Ukraine. Polling stations are shown on the map colored by the presidential candidate who won the most votes in that district. Volodymyr Zelenskiy seems to have had much more appeal across the whole country than the current president, except in the north-west where Petro Poroshenko seems to have won most of the districts. You can click on individual polling booths on the map to view the turnout percentage and the total number of votes cast. You can also see the percentage of the votes cast in the district for each of the presidential candidates.

It looks like none of the candidates will get an overall majority after all the votes are counted. This means that a second round of voting will take place on 21 April. This will be a straight race between the two candidates with the most votes in yesterday's election. This means that former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko (currently in third place) will probably not be on the ballot.

Unboxing the South Shetland Islands

Last year the Scottish Government introduced new rules which bans public bodies from putting Shetland in a box on all official maps of Scotland. Because of the distance between Scotland and the Shetland Islands cartographers had previously tended to place the islands in a small inset box when making maps of Scotland. This helped cartographers avoid having to design maps which are mostly sea.

The 'Islands Bill' was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament in May of 2018. This year the Scottish Government has decided to introduce a new amendment which will extend the Islands Bill to include the South Shetland Islands. If the new amendment is passed by the Scottish Parliament all official maps of Scotland will have to include the South Shetland Islands and these islands can not be placed inside a box as an inset map.

The Scottish Government has released a map to illustrate how official maps will look when the new amendment passes. The Scotland and South Shetland Islands map shows how Scotland and the South Shetland Islands can be displayed on one map, without the need for an inset box.