Florida's Waffle House Index Score

In the wake of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast with devastating winds and flooding, emergency responders are working to assess the damage. One unconventional but, some argue, effective tool for gauging the situation is the "Waffle House Index," a metric used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to evaluate the severity of storms and guide disaster recovery efforts.

Named after the resilient Southern restaurant chain, the Waffle House Index has, in the past, proven useful in post-storm assessments and could now play a role in the recovery process following Hurricane Milton.

Riley Walz has created what is the first map to track the “Waffle House Index” in real-time. His Waffle House Index map currently shows that 106 Waffle House restaurants are closed in Florida. Waffle House, which operates extensively across the southern U.S. where hurricanes are frequent, has developed strong risk management and disaster preparedness strategies. The chain is known for staying operational during extreme weather and quickly reopening, often with a limited menu, after major storms like Hurricane Milton.

Dan Stoneking, FEMA’s director of external affairs, explains:

“The Waffle House test doesn't just tell us how quickly a business might rebound – it also tells us how the larger community is faring. The sooner restaurants, grocery stores, and banks can reopen, the sooner local economies will start generating revenue again – signaling a stronger recovery for that community."

The Waffle House Index map can therefore serve as a useful tool for assessing which areas in Florida are struggling to recover from Hurricane Milton, if used alongside a broader recovery strategy.

Real-Time Animated Wind Maps

In recent weeks, ferocious winds have dominated the headlines. The devastating impact of Hurricane Milton, arriving so soon after Hurricane Helene rampaged through Florida, has left many communities reeling from the destructive power of these tropical storm-force winds. 

In the last fortnight, I've often found myself drawn to Earth Nullschool's real-time map of global wind conditions. At the time of writing, Earth Nullschool shows the eye of Hurricane Milton centered northwest of Orlando (animated map above).

Earth Nullschool is just one of several interactive maps providing near real-time maps of current wind conditions. Windfinder uses data from over 20,000 weather stations worldwide, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to provide real-time wind reports. The map offers real-time and forecasted wind speeds, wind direction, air temperature, and other meteorological data, with global wind forecasts available up to 10 days in advance.

Windy.com also offers a real-time map of global weather conditions. Windy.com includes a timeline feature that allows users to view an animated forecast of the upcoming week's wind patterns. This feature can help you track Hurricane Milton as it follows its predicted path out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Animal Migration Tracking

The Atlas of Ungulate Migration

Ungulates, large herbivorous mammals with hooves, are a vital part of many ecosystems across the globe. These animals, including species like wildebeest, caribou, elk, and zebra, often migrate seasonally over vast distances. These migrations play a crucial role in maintaining the resilience of ecosystems, supporting biodiversity, and even sustaining local economies. However, human activities have increasingly disrupted the natural migratory routes of animals. As a result, tracking ungulate migration has become an essential tool for conservation efforts aimed at preserving both the animals and the ecosystems they depend on.

The UN has now launched a new interactive map, the Atlas of Ungulate Migration, to serve as a vital resource for tracking and conserving ungulate migrations across the globe. Powered by detailed GPS tracking data, this repository of migration maps is designed to inform conservation planning, infrastructure development, and policymaking efforts.

By providing insights into the migratory paths of some of the world's most iconic species - such as the Serengeti wildebeest, African elephants, and the Central Asian saiga - the Atlas allows stakeholders to make evidence-based decisions that balance development with environmental preservation.

Understanding Ungulate Migration and its Importance

Ungulate migration refers to the seasonal movements of hooved animals that traverse vast landscapes in search of food, water, or suitable climates. In temperate regions, animals often move between summer and winter ranges, while in tropical areas, they follow the availability of water between dry and rainy seasons. These migrations are essential for the survival of species, influencing the health of ecosystems, supporting biodiversity, and even sustaining rural economies through hunting and ecotourism.

However, human activities, such as urban development, road construction, and agricultural expansion, have increasingly fragmented the landscapes that ungulates rely on. This has disrupted migration routes, leading to population declines in species like bison, wildebeest, and elk. In this context, the Atlas of Ungulate Migration plays a crucial role by mapping out these routes and highlighting areas where conservation efforts are most needed.

Tracking the Migratory Routes of Bird Species

The eBird Status and Trends maps offer another powerful tool for understanding wildlife movements, complementing the insights provided by the Atlas of Ungulate Migration. These maps, developed by the eBird Science team, utilize sophisticated statistical models and machine learning to analyze vast datasets, including raw bird observation data submitted by the public and satellite imagery from NASA, NOAA, and USGS. By integrating these sources, eBird creates predictive visualizations that showcase bird migration patterns, population trends, and range boundaries with high precision. This information helps decision-makers, scientists, and birders alike to better understand the dynamics of bird populations throughout the year.

One of the key features of these tools is the eBird Trends maps, which reveal long-term patterns in bird abundance. These maps show where certain bird species have been increasing or decreasing since 2007, offering the most detailed insights available on bird population changes. Such data is invaluable for conservationists working to reverse the widespread declines in bird populations by targeting the areas where species are most at risk.

By visualizing seasonal abundance patterns, these maps enhance our understanding of bird biology and migration ecology. The animations generated from this data are not only mesmerizing but also serve as practical tools for guiding conservation efforts, helping scientists and policymakers protect critical habitats along migratory routes.

The American Election & the Rest of the World

With the world closely watching the U.S. 2024 election, what could a Trump or Harris presidency mean for international stability? From rising tensions in Eastern Europe to critical climate action, the global implications of the U.S. election stretch far beyond American borders.

The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) has been exploring "how a Trump or a Harris presidency would affect key flashpoints around the world." The positions of the Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. Presidency differ significantly on many issues, particularly regarding how the U.S. should engage with the rest of the world.

In The US elections: what choices for Europe?, the EUISS outlines a number of key global flashpoints and examines the potential impacts on these areas if either Trump or Harris wins next month's election. Despite the title, this analysis covers flashpoints beyond Europe, many of which are global in nature.

As readers scroll through the EUISS article, an interactive globe spins and zooms in on each flashpoint in turn, highlighting how that area could be affected by the foreign policies of Trump or Harris. The flashpoints discussed include the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S.-EU trade relations, the Israel-Hamas war, and global climate change.

While the EUISS analysis centers on an EU perspective, it provides a compelling synopsis of each candidate's foreign policy vision. And with global media attention often locked on domestic issues, the international consequences of the 2024 U.S. election could prove to be just as important. Whether it's maintaining stability in Europe or confronting global climate challenges, the next U.S. president will have a profound influence on the future of international relations.

Guess Where You Are

I am currently ranked Number One in the world in the game GuessWhereYouAre. However, I suspect I won't stay on top of the leaderboard for long, especially after other players discover this exciting new Street View game.

GuessWhereYouAre is a fun and engaging location-based game that places players in random spots around the world using Street View. Your goal is to explore your surroundings and figure out where you are by navigating the virtual environment and using the clues you find.

How to play:

1. Explore your surroundings: Use the Street View controls to move around and investigate the area. Look for signs, landmarks, or any visual hints that could reveal your location.


2. Make a guess: Once you feel confident, click on the mini map and choose where you think you are. Confirm your selection when you're ready.


3. Earn points: After making your guess, you'll be awarded points based on how accurate your guess was to the actual location. The closer you are, the higher your score!


4. Rank Up!: Increase your total points to rank up and reach new levels. 

Additionally, GuessWhereYouAre offers two multiplayer modes. Invite one or more friends (up to 100) and you can play either cooperatively as a team or compete in a high-stakes, winner-takes-all live challenge.

If you enjoy playing GuessWhereYouAre then you might also enjoy the six other Street View games listed in the Maps Mania post Six Free Alternatives to GeoGuessr.

The Nicknames of America

Some U.S. cities have very quirky nicknames. Apparently, the citizens of Auburn, Alabama like to call their town the 'Armpit of the Confederacy'. While their nearby neighbors in Gordo, Alabama call their home the 'Armpit of Civilization'. 

Elmwood and Belleville in Wisconsin both claim to be the 'UFO Capital of the World' (presumably because of all the strange, alien-looking folk living in both towns). White Center in Washington likes to be affectionately known as 'Rat City' and Chatsworth, California has adopted the moniker 'San Pornando'.

You can find these five city nicknames and the nicknames of around 1,600 other cities on my new interactive US Nicknames Map.

I'll admit that browsing U.S. city nicknames will probably have limited appeal. However, I actually made the map as an example of overcoming a couple of issues I discovered this week when using OpenFreeMap and Versa Tiles with MapLibre.

Both OpenFreeMap and Versa Tiles are fantastic, free map-tiles that can be used with the MapLibre GL mapping library. This week, however, I discovered a couple of issues with using OpenFreeMap and Versa Tiles with expressions and with variable label placement with MapLibre. To be clear, this is not a problem with either OpenFreeMap or Versa Tiles, but the problem arises because the MapLibre documentation uses different map-tiles in their example maps.

In both cases, the problems with the MapLibre example maps are that they attempt to reference fonts which are not present in the OpenFreeMap and Versa Tiles map styles. For example, if I copy the code for the variable label placement map and attempt to swap in the OpenFreeMap Liberty map style as the tile layer, then I get this 404 error:  'https://tiles.openfreemap.org/fonts/Open%20Sans%20Regular,Arial%20Unicode%20MS%20Regular/0-255.pbf 404 (Not Found)'. 

Both OpenFreeMap and Versa Tiles use Noto Sans instead of Arial as the font for the map labels. So when you want to use variable label placement or use expressions to change map labels (as I am doing with my US Nicknames Map) you need to point the map to use the available font. So, for example, for the OpenFreeMap Liberty map style we have to change the demo code to add a map layer to: 

'layout': {
'text-field': ['get', 'description'],
'text-font': ['Noto Sans Regular'], // Specify the font here
'text-variable-anchor': ['top', 'bottom', 'left', 'right'],
'text-radial-offset': 0.5,
'text-justify': 'auto',
'icon-image': ['concat', ['get', 'icon'], '_15']
}

Similarly, if you check out the source code in my US Nicknames Map, you will see that the 'map.addLayer' custom layer also references "text-font": ["Noto Sans Regular"].

Finding Your Coordinate Twins

Did you know San Francisco shares the same latitude as Fukushima, Japan? Or that Chicago lines up with Rome? These surprising global connections can now be explored with a fun new interactive map that reveals your latitude and longitude twins from across the world!

Introducing LatLon Connect - an interactive tool that lets you discover cities around the globe that sit on the same latitude or longitude as your hometown. Simply enter your location, and the map will display two lines: one horizontal (latitude) and one vertical (longitude). As you explore, you'll see other cities marked with blue pins that share the same coordinates.

What makes the map so fascinating is that cities which share the same latitude can experience vastly different climates! For example, Chicago and Rome may line up on the map, but they’re worlds apart when it comes to weather. According to Wikipedia's List of Cities by Average Temperature, Chicago’s average yearly temperature sits at a chilly 11.3°C (52.4°F), while Rome enjoys a balmy 15.2°C (59.4°F).

Curious to find out which cities share your latitude or longitude? It’s easy to get started with LatLon Connect. Simply enter your hometown or a city of interest, and watch as the map highlights all the places around the globe that are your geographic twins.

If you’re feeling extra adventurous you can also explore where you would end up if you dug straight down through the Earth and popped out on the other side. If LatLon Connect has sparked your curiosity, you’ll love the Antipodes Map. Simply enter your location, and this fun tool will show you what’s directly on the opposite side of the Earth from where you are. 

If you have Transmarine Dreams then you can also discover what locations lie directly beyond the sea from any coastal location around the world. Click on any coastline location on Andy Woodruff's Beyond the Sea interactive map to find all the 'straight-line views' across the ocean (that is - if you ignore the curvature of the Earth and your imperfect vision).  

Mapping Every US Election Since 1840

The Republican Party has won the popular vote in only one Presidential Election in the last 35 years. Since 1989 only George W. Bush (in 2004) has won the popular vote for the Republicans - and in that election Bush benefited from being the incumbent.

A newly released visualization from the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab highlights the dwindling appeal of the Republican Party to most Americans in the 21st Century. The DSL's Electing the President interactive map shows the results of every presidential election since 1840, offering a comprehensive look at the electoral landscape over time. Unlike many historical election maps, Electing the President uniquely integrates the results of the popular vote alongside the electoral college outcomes, providing a more nuanced understanding of voter preferences. This feature allows users to see not only who won the presidency but also how much support they garnered from the general electorate. 

Using the map you can navigate to any US Presidential election and explore both the electoral college winner and the winner of the popular vote. For instance, users can explore how presidential candidates like William Henry Harrison, who defeated Martin Van Buren in 1840 to become the 9th President of the United States (albeit for a tragically brief term of just one month), fared in terms of popular support. By navigating through the years, one can track shifts in political alignment and public sentiment, illustrating the evolving dynamics of American electoral politics and the challenges faced by parties in capturing the collective will of the populace.

Electing the President is the latest addition to the American Panorama project, an ever growing historical atlas of the United States. The project includes a number of popular interactive maps including Mapping Inequality (the history of redlining), and Photogrammar, mapping historical photographs taken between 1935 and 1944.

Mapping the Political Landscape

Waves of Interest is a deep dive into Google search trends during election years. This beautiful data visualization maps out which political topics capture the attention of Americans during US election years. And where!

By using the clever visual metaphor of a topographic map Waves of Interest transforms political interest into an intuitive landscape. The visualization reveals the fall and rise in search interest of 50 different political topics - using isolines to show where in the United States each issue is being most and least searched for on Google. For example, you can watch how interest in immigration has shifted and evolved since 2004 in the animated map above.

Percentage numbers are displayed on the map to indicate the difference in search interest in an area compared to the national average. The homepage of Waves of Interest presents a small multiple visualization of 50 different political topics. On these maps arrow symbols are used to show how much interest in each subject has grown or shrunk since 2020. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly inflation is the issue that has shown the biggest surge in interest since the last U.S. Presidential election. Student loans is the political topic that has fallen the most in terms of search interest since 2020. 

Tracking Satellites in 3D

searching & zooming in on individual satellites

Exploring the Final Frontier with Keep Track

KeepTrack is an innovative platform that allows users to monitor satellites orbiting Earth in real-time. At its core is a 3D interactive map that not only shows you where satellites are at the moment but also provides advanced analytics and visualizations to study their orbits and interactions in space. Using KeepTrack, you can dive into the world of astrodynamics and explore the trajectories of thousands of satellites from the comfort of your own home.

Real-Time Satellite Tracking

One of KeepTrack’s standout features is its real-time orbital tracking. With this, you can follow satellites as they move through space, viewing their paths in beautifully rendered 3D.

You can search for satellites by name using the search ('?') button at the top-right of the screen. Enter the name of an individual satellite, and KeepTrack will automatically zoom in to reveal the 3D model of the selected satellite along with its orbital track around Earth.

KeepTrack visualizes more than 37,000 satellites and debris objects as they orbit the Earth, each of which you can track in real-time. The app offers a vast range of options for tracking and viewing the locations of these satellites, simulating their break-up, and understanding the distribution of satellite space debris.

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