geographica |
Intermittent wanderings exploring elements of geography and cartography. |
Here is an OPB story about a cartographer and a completely stellar map that he produced and published a few years ago. If you are at all interested in the geography of the United States, his map is worth finding, buying, and displaying. It seems that a second edition is in the works, so you may want to wait for that one... or just get them both. Click here for more information.
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Click here to visit an on-line archive of digital maps and related stories and articles by The New York Times. Even if you don't agree with the editorial stances taken by the newspaper, their graphics division creates interesting visualizations that combine graphic design, cartography, and multimedia.
Wildfire season is definitely here this summer, and California usually gets a few when the conditions are right. Generally warm temperatures, dry conditions, and wind patterns can fuel explosive fires that ravage the natural and built environment. This article from the Washington Post details the Carr fire. Click here to read and view the visualizations created for the story. A follow-up story on California wildfires can be found here.
NOAA has released a webpage that dives into the history of mapping seafloor terrain. It isn't Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but it is an interesting topic to explore in more depth. Hover your mouse over the right-hand column on this web page and then you can scroll down the page to see more images and read more text.
Another interesting geographic exploration from The New York Times. This set of graphics and other information delve into the spatial distribution of over 55,000 unsolved homicides that occurred over the last 10 years. Visualizations are available via a drop-down menu within the article that can be accessed by clicking here.
This is an interesting way to look at power generation and storage... making use of naturally-produced energy and the force of gravity to generate electricity. One of the main purposes for building dams is harness the power of gravity to spin turbines that generate an electrical current. What if solar energy and wind energy could also be stored within the water behind a dam? Not so far-fetched... click here to read about the plan.
This is a news story that seems to have captured the attention of the world as the media focuses on a wayward soccer team and coach. As a brief recap, a soccer team decided to explore a cave system in Thailand and got trapped in the cave system by rising water levels that cut off tunnel access. Divers from Thailand and other countries entered the cave system in attempts to first locate the missing people, and then to attempt to lead them out to safety. After surviving in the cave for over a week, 8 of the trapped people have been successfully rescued (as of the time I write this post).
Caving is a dangerous activity. Diving is a dangerous activity. Cave diving can be a very seriously dangerous activity. I have experience with caving and SCUBA diving, but I've never entered a water-filled or submerged cave. I have the utmost respect for the people involved in the rescue operation. This morning, I discovered a news story by The New York Times that included a collection of visualizations of the cave system. The maps and graphics at that link can be found by clicking here. You may have not heard of this movement, but there are people out there who work toward keeping the night sky's astronomical features in view... a Dark Sky Reserve has been created in Idaho for this purpose. Light pollution from heavily-developed areas blanks out the night sky, obscuring our view of planets, meteorites, stars, and even the Milky Way. Dark Sky Reserves are locations and areas where light pollution is restricted, allowing residents and visitors to view stellar objects instead of diffuse light.
National Geographic shares a glimpse into some interesting maps of tourism and locals. Geotagged photos and images provide a neat way to map local/nolocal experiences with the same geographic space. Sometimes, the masses of tourists can be simply too much to bear (or more often than not?) and locals who live the spaces that tourists visit engage in avoidance behaviors. Geotagged and uploaded imagery can be used to map how geographic space is utilized by two sometimes very different groups of people.
Climate studies literally cover a lot of ground, and climate being what it is means that new discoveries are always looming on the horizon... or in the middle of North America. The 100th meridian, an invisible line that extends from the North Pole to the South Pole (otherwise known as a line of longitude) has long been recognized as a climatic zone or ecotone where the arid western lands transition into a wetter lands to the east. This climatic pattern has broad implications for surface water management and groundwater management, especially since the demarcation line is migrating. Jump to the link here for more information.
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AuthorNo matter where you go... there you are. - BB Archives
October 2018
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