Posts Tagged ‘maps’

Excellent breakdown of what makes some maps (Google) more readable and useful than other maps (Bing, Yahoo).

What would the Chernobyl disaster, the Gulf oil spill, or the floods in Pakistan look like in your home town?

I’ve never had luck catching an Amtrak train, but this new map makes it look more promising.

TweetAs far as I can tell, the Eyjafjallajokull ash cloud over Europe has subsided, and life is getting back to normal.  In this case, “normal” means airlines can resume their pre-volcano schedules. Visualized in the video below, the airspace is all but empty during the blackout, then flights exhibit spark-like bursts between major European cities [...]

TweetToday, a juxtaposition of two very related, but conflicting “strategies” regarding our attempts to extract oil from under the ocean. Of course, if you’ve been paying attention to the news, you’ll know that an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20th, killing 11 people before sinking into the ocean.  Now, the [...]

TweetAn ecometric roundup for everyone’s favorite smoke spewing Icelandic volcano. First off, a map from the New York Times showing the airport closures and ash coverage: You’ll notice that the Icelandic airport remains ironically open. I’d be remiss if I did not at least briefly cover the climate impacts of the current eruption.  Traditionally, volcanic [...]

TweetStop and think: how many Walmarts are within 30 minutes of your house?  Two? Three?  More?  How about Sam’s Club? Whether you love, hate, or simply tolerate America’s favorite department store, you’ll find the following video fascinating.  It’s an animated time-series showing Walmart’s evolution since it was founded in 1962.  This graphic has made the [...]

TweetA cyclist is a kind of wheeled chimera with the head of a pedestrian and the body of a small, slow car.  They make their way seamlessly between street and sidewalk habitats with hardly a backward glance, obeying road signs only when its convenient. This street-to-sidewalk fluidity is one of my biggest frustrations as a [...]

TweetOccasionally, I like to take a Friday to tell you about the blogs I read on a regular basis.  Today, it’s porno-graphic. Chart Porn, run by DC Economist Dustin Smith, is an all-you-can-eat buffet of infographics.  Dustin compiles links to just about every note-worthy visualization, flow chart, or map on just about any subject. Thankfully, ecometrics [...]

TweetWe recently had some heavy rain, and the wooded path behind my house showed sinuous trails where the water carved its way between the leaves.  Thankfully, this path is not normally a river bed, but water is a powerful if fleeting force of nature. All that water ran down the path, into the stream, and [...]