I Know Where You Were Last Summer

If you are German the Berliner Morgenpost knows what you did last summer. At least they have a rough idea about where you spent your vacation. The newspaper has used anonymized roaming data to find out where Germans like to travel.

In Mobile Data Reveals Where Germans Were Last Summer the Berliner Morgenpost has mapped the most popular destination for German holiday makers. The most popular country for German tourists as a whole is Italy, closely followed by Austria. The map also allows you to view the most popular destinations for residents of each of Germany's states.

Proximity seems to play a large part in the popularity of different countries in the different German states. For example in Brandenberg the most popular country to visit is Poland. In Schleswig-Holstein the most visited country was Denmark. In Niedersachsen the most popular country was the Netherlands. In Rheinland-Pfalz it was Luxembourg and in Saarland it was France.

L'Eau de Pesticide

In France many groundwater aquifers have become contaminated by pesticides. These pesticides come from agriculture and also from amateur gardeners. Some of the aquifers which are now contaminated by pesticides are used for the production of drinking water.

You can discover the levels of pesticide contamination in France's groundwater aquifers using the Data Pesticides interactive map. The map allows you to monitor the levels of pesticide contamination in individual aquifers and to explore the trends of this contamination over time. The markers on the map are colored to indicate the concentration of pesticides discovered in each aquifer. You can click on the individual aquifers on the map to view the concentrations of pesticides measured in the aquifer since 2007. You can also see how these concentrations compare to the national average.

The map includes a number of filters. These allow you to visualize the concentration levels measured in aquifers in different years. They also allow you to visualize the concentration levels of different pesticide types and compounds found in aquifers throughout the country.

Mapping UK Pub Closures

There used to be four pubs within a five minute walk of my house. One pub remains. Two of them are now small supermarkets. The other has become a private residence.

My neighborhood in East London isn't different from any other part of the UK in terms of the dramatic number of public houses closing. According to the Office of National Statistics nearly 1 in 4 pubs have closed in the last 10 years. In 2008 there were around 50,000 pubs in the UK. In 2018 only about 39,000 pubs remain.

You can find out how the numbers of pubs have changed in your local area on the ONS's Change in Pub Numbers Map. This map shows the percentage change in the number of pubs in every UK local authority area. If you click on an area on the map you can discover the exact percentage change in the number of pubs in the last 10 years.

Despite the number of pub closures the ONS reports that the turnover of pubs and clubs has remained about the same since 2008. They also report that the number of jobs in pubs has risen 6% in the last 10 years. The ONS suggests that this shows that the "remaining pubs and bars appear to have soaked up the custom from those pubs that have closed down".

You can learn more about the pub trade in the UK over the last 10 years in the ONS article Economies of ale: small pubs close as chains focus on big bars. As well as the map linked above the article includes an interactive which allows you to find out how many pubs have closed in your area, how many pubs there are per 10,000 people and how this compares to the national average.

Drone Panoramas of Camp Fire

The Camp Fire was California's deadliest and most damaging wildfire in history. The fire is estimated to have caused $7.5–10 billion in damage to property. More importantly it also killed 88 people.

An interagency UAS task force, led by the Butte County Sheriff's Office, has now captured 360 degree panoramic imagery of some of the destruction caused by the Camp Fire. Licensed UAV pilots were used to capture the aerial photographs, which will be used to assist in damage assessment and to help understand how the fire spread so quickly.

You can view the 360 degree panoramas on this Mapbox Fire Panoramas map. You can also view the panoramas on Butte County's own interactive map Camp Fire Information. The Butte County map also includes video footage of some of the areas affected by the fire.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has released an interactive map which shows which buildings have been destroyed or damaged by the Camp Fire. The Camp Fire Structure Status map plots the latest field damage inspection reports for buildings in areas affected by the Camp Fire.

New York's Music Map

Online ticket reseller Vivid Seats has mapped out the most popular music genre and the most popular music act in each New York zipcode area. The Most Popular Music Genres in New York map colors zipcode areas to reveal each area's favorite type of music. If you mouseover an area on the map you can also see the area's favorite musical artist or group.

Vivid Seats hasn't provided any information about how they have determined the popularity of different music genres in each area. I assume the data is based on the number of tickets bought for each type of music genre through the Vivid Seats website.

Back in 2015 the Wall Street Journal used jukebox data to create a similar interactive map which showed the most popular songs in New York neighborhoods. The NYC Jukebox Heroes: Musical Map uses data from TouchTunes jukeboxes to show what were the most played songs in different New York boroughs.

If you click on a zip-code area on the WSJ interactive map you can view the top ten most played bands and the top ten played musical artists. Back in 2015 the residents of Manhattan’s East Village loved listening to Beyonce. According to Vivid Seats these days they prefer the more guitar based sounds of Radio Head. However Beyonce will be happy to hear that she is still very popular in parts of Queens and Randalls Island.

Latin music seems to have particularly loyal fans. On both maps the 11368 zipcode area in Queens reports that Romeo Santos is the most popular artist. The Racial Dot Map of America might help to explain why Latin music is so popular in certain areas of New York. I'd hate to be accused of making assumptions about the musical taste of New York neighborhoods based on racial stereotypes but the Racial Dot Map might also provide some insight into why rock is most popular in certain neighborhoods and rap/hip-hop in others.

A Toponym Map of Berwickshire

Packs of wolves once hunted in the forests of Berwickshire. The wolves have long gone but they have left their mark in the county in the name of a small stream,which is called Wolfcleugh Burn (a cleugh is a narrow gorge or chasm with high rocky sides).

The University of Glasgow's Berwickshire Place-Name Resource allows you to explore and learn more about the names of villages, towns and other locations in the Scottish Borders county of Berwickshire. The resource will be of particular interest into anyone who is interested in toponyms and the definitions and meanings of old British place-names.

The Place-Name Resource allows you to search for place-names in the county using a number of different methods. You can search for place-names alphabetically. Alternatively you can search using a string (for example entering '*hall' to find all place-names ending ....hall). You can also search using the element glossary which allows you to search by different common elements found in Berwickshire place-names.

Once you have completed a search of the Berwickshire Place-Name Resource you can view the results on an interactive map. Clicking on an individual marker on this map will open an information window providing details on the selected location. These details include its entry in the OS Name Book. If you are interested in the meaning of a place-name then the 'elements' section allows you to view a definition (where available) of any unfamiliar parts of the place-name. For example both Kimmerghame (cow's bridge) and Birgham (a settlement beside a bridge) contain derivations of 'brycg' - which means bridge.

The Medieval Murder Map of London

London in the 14th Century was a dangerous place to be. The murder rate in early 14th century London was about 15-20 times higher than an English town with an equal sized population today. A new interactive map shows that market areas in London were particularly dangerous.

The University of Cambridge's new London Medieval Murder Map plots the locations of 142 murders which took place in the capital in late medieval London. The map uses data from the Coroner's Rolls. The coroners and their sheriffs in medieval London investigated violent deaths and published the results in the Coroner's Rolls. Nine of these Coroners' Rolls, covering the City of London, from the first half of the 14th century have survived.

The London Medieval Murder Map reveals that around 68% of homicides in medieval London occurred in public commercial spaces, such as markets and squares. There are two main homicide hotspots on the map. One stretches from St Paul's to St Mary's le Bow in the Cheapside area of London. An area which was full of stall and shops. Another murder hotspot seems to radiate around Leadenhall Market.

You can filter the murders which are shown on the map by the gender of the victim, the type of murder weapon used, by date range and by crime scene (public or private spaces). Over one third of the murders were carried out using a 'long knife'. Most men in London in the 14th century would be armed in public with a sword or knife. The majority of the victims of murder on the map are men. One thing the map doesn't show is that men were also the most likely perpetrators of these crimes. 92% of the homicides shown on the map were carried out by men.

Another thing not shown by the map is when homicides most often occurred in medieval London. 31% of the murders shown on the map happened on a Sunday. The one day of the week when most people didn't have to work. 77% of the murders occurred in the evenings between the times of 5 pm and 10 pm.

Send Street View Christmas Cards

It's nearly time to send your Street View Christmas cards. To help you create your seasonal custom panoramic cards you can now use Street View Postcards -  a new creation tool from Map Channels.

Here's my finished Street View Xmas card. If you want to create your own custom made card then you can use Map Channels' Street View Postcard tool. Using Street View Postcard you can make a Christmas Card for any location on Earth, as long as it has Street View imagery on Google Maps.

Register with Map Channels and you can decorate any Street View image with your own message, with animated falling snow and other Christmas decorations. When you have finished your Street View Christmas card you can share the link to the card with your friends or you can embed it in your own website or blog.


You can also create a personalized Street View message using It's a Message. This Google Maps application helps you create and send a personal holiday greeting from your own choice of Street View.

Once you select a Street View location and add your own personal message this app creates a stylized Street View scene, with animated snow and your greeting. The app pans and zooms around your chosen Street View image, accompanied by some nice soothing Christmas related music. Once you are happy with your personal Christmas Street View scene you can send the link to your friends.

Where on Mars

Yesterday NASA successfully landed the InSight probe on the surface of Mars. (Is there) Life on Mars is an interactive map of the red planet, which has been updated to show the location where NASA's InSight robot landed on Mars. InSight has landed on the Elysium Planitia, a large, flat and featureless plain, which is close to the planet's equator and perfect for landing spacecraft. It is also the perfect location for InSight's mission to explore the planet's core.

The actual name of the robot 'InSight' is short for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. InSight has three main instruments. A seismometer, which will measure submartian seismic activity or Marsquakes beneath the surface of the planet. A heat probe, which will be buried 5 meters into the ground and which will measure how heat rises through the planet. Thirdly, InSight is also equipped with antennas designed to measure how much the planet wobbles on its axis. This will help to determine the size and density of the planet's core.

The (Is there) Life on Mars interactive map explores some of the questions around whether life exists on Mars. InSight will hopefully help us to answer this question as well. Earth’s rotating molten iron core generates the magnetic field that shields life from harmful radiation and stops Earth's atmosphere from shooting off into space. At some point Mars lost its magnetic field and its atmosphere. Learning more about Mars' inner core will help scientists understand how and why Mars lost its magnetic field. InSight may also help us learn more about conditions under the surface of Mars and whether life might have survived on Mars by retreating beneath the surface of the planet.

If you want to know what Mars might look like with an atmosphere then you can use the (Is there) Life on Mars map to explore a red planet which still has water. The map's Water Layer allows you to view water on the surface of Mars based on the planet's elevation data. Using this layer you can add lakes, seas and oceans to Mars and turn the red planet partly green (read the 'details' for an explanation as to why water on Mars wouldn't appear blue).

The Map of Scientific Collaboration

Olivier H. Beauchesne has created an interactive map which shows the international collaboration of scientists around the world. The map plots the connections between scientists and researchers in different cities as seen in scientific journals and papers ("for example, if a UCLA researcher published a paper with a colleague at the University of Tokyo, this would create an instance of collaboration between Los Angeles and Tokyo").

The Map of Scientific Collaboration reveals how scientists collaborate across borders around the world. As Beauchesne notes it also reveals some interesting patterns within individual countries. For example Paris seems to play a central role in French science. No matter where scientists live or work in France they all seem to collaborate with another scientist in Paris. In comparison the UK seems to have a less centralized scientific network. This is perhaps a result of the major Oxbridge universities being located outside of London.


Ironically, despite the global collaboration of scientists demonstrated in the Map of Scientific Collaboration, most people around the world won't actually be able to read the scientific papers from which the map was created. Unless they know about Sci-Hub.

Sci-Hub is an online repository of pirated scientific academic papers and articles. It allows researchers and students to access expensive pay-walled academic content. Content that is usually only available from expensive academic journal publishers. This pay-walled system can be prohibitively expensive, especially for struggling students and researchers from developing countries. It has been claimed that the popularity of Sci-Hub in countries such as India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Iran proves that Sci-Hub is providing access to scientific research to those who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it.

In an article on the Science website, Who's Downloading Pirated Papers?, John Bohannon has created an interactive map showing where pirated scientific academic papers and articles have been downloaded from Sci-Hub around the world. In order to make the map Bohannon contacted Alexandra Elbakyan, the Sci-Hub creator, to request the geographic location of every user who has downloaded an academic paper from Sci-Hub. In order to protect the privacy of Sci-Hub users the data was aggregated to the nearest city.