The Gothamist has mapped out helicopter flights over New York City during the Memorial Day Weekend. The map accompanies a story on the rise in residents' complaints about helicopter noise in the city and the news that the City Council is introducing two bills aimed at reducing helicopter traffic.

The interactive map in NYC Council bills aim to soar above helicopter noise complaints uses data from flightradar24 to visualize the flight paths of helicopters over the city and their destination airports. The map is a very effective visualization of the huge number of helicopters flying over NYC, "nearly 2,000 helicopter flights recorded from the Thursday-through-Tuesday holiday weekend."

The map also illustrates the most common flight paths taken by helicopters in the city. In the screenshot of the map above you can see that helicopters in NYC tend to follow the Hudson, the East River and both the north & south shorelines of Long Island. This is a pattern which can also be observed using the ADS-B Massive Visualizer.

The ADS-B Massive Visualizer allows you to query and visualize the world's air traffic data. Using the visualizer you can query 50 billion flight data records. This allows you to map the flight paths of different types of aircraft anywhere in the world - for example the routes taken by helicopters in New York. 

On this map you can again see how helicopters in New York avoid the city's massive skyscrapers by following the Hudson and East River. These routes may also be popular as the rivers and shorelines can be used to help pilots navigate the city.

A similar pattern can be seen in the flight paths taken by helicopters in London. This query of helicopter flights over London shows that many helicopter pilots like to follow the river Thames, as far as the Isle of Dogs in the East End where they turn northwards and then follow the River Lea up through the Olympic Park (or vice versa if traveling in the opposite direction). Again these routes may be popular with pilots as they avoid tall buildings and are easy to navigate.

Helicopter flights over central Paris are heavily regulated. Because of this there is no flight traffic along the Seine in central Paris. Instead helicopters appear to follow the Peripherique in south and east Paris, the path of the Seine in the west and the Autoroute du Nord in the north of the city.

A few months ago Map Channels kindly offered to create a json feed for my Guess This City game. I had been complaining about having to add a new city to the game every day. Map Channels then volunteered to create a feed for the game which gives the name, coordinates, population and a description of a different city each and every day. The result is that Guess This City now updates daily without needing any input from me.

Map Channels created the json feed by building a large database of major global cities. This database was created using a combination of GeoNames, Open AI / ChatGPT and Wikipedia. This cities database includes a lot of information which actually isn't needed or included in the daily Guess This City feed. Some of this additional information is however now used by the Tripgeo Trivia game.

TripGeo Trivia is a daily geography quiz which requires you to identify ten cities based on a number of clues. Every day ten new random cities from around the world need to be identified. To help you in this task you can view three clues as to the identity of each city. The data behind the game all comes from the same Map Channels city database which powers Guess This City.

The Map Channels city database is now also used by Tripgeo Cities. Tripgeo Cities is a new interactive map containing information about 10,000 cities and towns around the world. Click on any of these cities on the map and 20 markers are added to the map to highlight some of the most important landmarks in the selected city. A significant description of the city is also provided beneath the map, alongside information on each of the mapped landmarks.

Some of the information about each city is generated by AI. This means that the information may not be 100% accurate and the project is definitely a work in progress. However in general the data is pretty good and, with further development, will improve over time. Tripgeo aims to expand and improve the TripGeo Cities resource in the future and to incorporate the data into more mapping projects. 

For now Tripgeo Cities is a great way to discover some of the most significant places to visit in cities around the world. It is also a fantastic tool for a little virtual tourism. For example, if you use the eye and arrow buttons under each city map you can take a fascinating virtual tour around the selected city's most interesting and significant landmarks on Google Maps Street View.

Kamala Harris' Vice-Presidential pick Tim Walz loves maps. As a former high school geography teacher it should come as no surprise that Walz has an interest in cartography, but it appears that he is in act a full blown GIS nerd who only last year called for November 15th to be 'GIS Day'. According to Politico Tim Walz has also "addressed the geographic information systems software company Esri’s annual conference for the past three years."

With such a self-declared interest in all things cartographical I would like to propose that the next administration should establish a new Presidential Medal of Cartography - an award to be presented to the creators of outstanding maps. If you watch Tim Walz's 2024 address to the Esri conference you can get an insight into the kinds of maps which might win my proposed Presidential Medal of Cartography.

In his address Walz talks about how it is possible to increase our understanding of "an interconnected world through graphic representation of data". He says that maps are a means to an end and that 'the end product of these maps is a more sustainable economy, a more sustainable environment, and lifting up of people's lives in a way that they can thrive". Later in his Esri speech Walz also explains how "conveying data to people (using GIS)  helps to build trust." It is clear that Walz believes that maps can both increase our understanding of the world and can help drive positive social outcomes.

The new Presidential Medal of Cartography could therefore be awarded to maps which make a significant contribution to our understanding of the world and promote sustainable economies, environments and improve people's lives.

During Walz's Esri presentation it is clear which maps he thinks meet these criteria. As Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz was able to use "what I knew about mapping and the visual display of data to convey complex issues." He says that the reason that the John Hopkins's Covid-19 Map is the most viewed interactive map in history is because people wanted to know "where we were having (the) highest level of transmission".

The Minnesota Executive Map Portfolio has numerous examples of the kinds of maps which Walz believes convey complex data, enhance understanding and improve lives. In his speech he highlights the Universal School Meals Map (showing the increase in the number of students who can get free school meals under the Minnesota Free School Meals Program), the Potentially Restorable Peatlands Map (showing where peatlands can be protected) and the Broadband Speed Map (showing where broadband infrastructure need more development in Minnesota).

Watching Tim Walz's Esri speech you can begin to understand why Kamala Harris chose this former geography teacher as her running mate. You can also begin to understand the likely criteria that the possible next Vice-President might introduce for a future Presidential Medal of Cartography.

Before I get accused of being completely partisan in proposing a Presidential Medal of Cartography I would like to remind you that Donald Trump also likes to use maps to help convey complex information. For example in September 2019 the then President used a NOAA hurricane map to explain how he hadn't made a mistake when he warned that Alabama was in danger from the approach of Hurricane Dorian. On this map Donald Trump used a sharpie pen to extend the cone of uncertainty into Alabama to prove that he knew more about the hurricane's forecast path than the experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Over the years I have posted links to a number of interactive maps which visualize the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes help to increase the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Higher concentrations of CO₂ enhance the greenhouse effect, leading to more heat being trapped in the atmosphere. This means that carbon dioxide plays a significant role in global heating.

Measuring CO₂ levels inside buildings can also be very useful. Like many people in the last couple of years I have begun to ignore all the preventative measures useful for avoiding infections transmitted via air (such as Covid-19). I no longer wear a mask in any situation and no longer avoid enclosed public indoor environments. However not everyone can be so blasé about the risks of infectious diseases.

Many individuals, such as the elderly, the immunocompromised, and those with preexisting health conditions, are at higher risk of severe illness or death from Covid-19 and so still need to wear face masks and avoid enclosed spaces.

The Indoor-CO₂ Atlas has been designed to provide a guide to the likely CO₂ levels in public buildings, eg shops, hospitals and cinemas. The map uses crowd-sourced measurement by the public to show recorded levels of CO₂ in individual buildings.

The concentration of CO₂ in an indoor environment can serve as a proxy for the amount of exhaled air present. Humans exhale CO₂, and higher concentrations can indicate poor ventilation and a higher presence of exhaled air. Since exhaled air can contain aerosols that may carry infectious viruses (like SARS-CoV-2), higher CO₂ levels can correlate with a higher risk of inhaling these infectious aerosols.

Anyone who has a mobile phone and a supported mobile CO₂-Monitor can contribute a reading to the Indoor-CO₂ Atlas. On the map colored markers are used to show the CO₂ levels recorded in a building. If you click on a marker you can also view a graph of the recorded CO₂ levels over time.

I've created a simple game using images from Mapillary (and a couple of images from Wikimedia).

Mapillary is a crowd-sourced 'Street View' service that allows users to capture, share, and explore street-level imagery from around the world. Developers are allowed to use images submitted to Mapillary under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Mapillary 'street view' images can be a great resource for researchers and students studying the built environment. The images can also be used for creating pictorial geography games.

My (very short) Pixel View game requires you to identify the locations depicted in 9 street view images of famous locations around the world (and as a bonus two images sourced from Wikimedia). The only problem is that I have pixelated each image. I have however provided you with three clues for each image. In addition each time you enter an incorrect answer the image becomes a little less pixelated, making the location a little easier to identify.

You have three attempts to guess each image correctly and there are 11 questions in total. Good Luck!

Play Pixel View

In the 1980s as a way to promote local culture and tourism local authorities in Japan began designing distinctive and artistic manhole covers. Each municipality often has its own unique manhole cover designs, featuring local landmarks, historical events, flora, fauna, and other culturally significant symbols. 

In Sumida Ward in Tokyo you can find a man hole cover featuring "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," by Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusia was born in Sumida. There is another beautiful manhole cover in the ward that features "Fine Wind, Clear Morning (Red Fuji)", another of Hokusai's series of woodblock prints from his "Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji".

If you are visiting Tokyo the city's Bureau of Sewage has a list of the designer manhole covers which can be found in each of the city's wards. The list includes the address where you can find each featured designer manhole cover.

To help promote Japan's sewers and the country's beautiful manhole covers the Japan Sewage Works Association also prints manhole cover cards. Each collectible card features a picture of a manhole cover and the coordinates where the manhole can be found. On the reverse is a description of the manhole's design. The card's are available for free from tourist information offices and at sewage treatment plants and have become hugely popular with locals and tourists alike.

Every serious manhole cover collector needs to bookmark the Manhole Card Map. This interactive map features the locations where you can pick up manhole cover cards. Each marker on the map features the image of the manhole cover whose card can be collected at that location. Click on the marker and you can find the name and address of the tourist office or sewage plant distributing the card, the opening hours and a link to find out about the card's stock availability.

Japan's manhole cards are part of a nationwide initiative called "GKP" (Ground Utilization Promotion). The GKP website also provides the distribution locations for each manhole cover card. Select a prefecture from the drop-down menu and you can view a list of all the manhole cover cards printed in the region. This list includes the address of each locations, the opening hours and a link to check the card's availability.

Back in 2009 I posted a link to a Google Map of the manholes themselves. This map no longer exists and I've been unable to find another interactive map of where you can find Japan's designer manhole covers. If you know of such a map please leave a link in the comments.

"... this tide is always moving! Always! When all those people we now see in such activity are in their graves, the same hurried activity will still continue here ..." - Hans Christian Andersen

When Hans Christian Andersen visited London in June 1847 he was obviously impressed by the pace of London life. In his autobiography he called the English capital,

"London, the city of cities! ... Here is Paris but with a mightier power; here is the life of Naples but without its bustle."

Hans Christian Andersen was not the only notable figure of the 19th Century to be struck by the pace of London life. When the composer Felix Mendelssohn visited London in 1829 he wrote to his sister,

"It is fearful! It is mad! I am quite giddy and confused. London is the grandest and most complicated monster on the face of the earth."

These observations of London are just a few of the many descriptions which can be found on the interactive map, Lost & Found: A European Literary Map of London. 

As a global city, once at the heart of a massive colonial Empire, London has of course long attracted visits by writers, artists and intellectuals from around the world. University College London is curating how London has been seen through the eyes of Europe's cultural luminaries by mapping some of these observations of the city.

In the past seven days you've almost definitely seen numerous tables of Olympic medal winners. Now it is time to view the map.

Giorgio Comai creates interactive maps of Olympic Medal winners based on which NUTS region they were born in. This means that you can look past the traditional country led rankings used in most Olympic medal tables to explore the medals won by different regions. Alternatively you can just use the map to discover which Olympic medal winner was born closest to your address.

The 2024 Olympic Medalists Map is plotting the birthplaces of the Paris Olympic medal winners as the data becomes available on Wikipedia. On viewing the map my first thought was 'Oh, this is a population density map' but there are clearly some countries with high population densities (eg India) which don't have many medal winners. So my second thought was that the Olympics medal map more closely resembles a map of global inequality.

World Bank map of poverty headcounts

Giorgio Comai's Github page, Olympics medalists, not by country, but by NUTS region, has links to birthplace maps of Olympic medal winners for every Olympics since 1948. The page also includes links to the Wikipedia lists of all the medal winners in each Olympics since 1896 (the source data used in Giorgio's maps).

The Pew Research Center has analysed census data to map the changes in the immigrant population over the last 170 years. An animated map in How America’s source of immigrants has changed over time shows the top country of birth of immigrants in each state from every census since 1850 (except 1890 - the census data for this year was destroyed in a fire).

The animated map clearly illustrates the shifting waves of immigration to America over time. In the 19th Century most immigrants were from northern Europe. According to Pew from 1840 to 1889 "Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom alone accounted for 70% of the new arrivals." Since 1990 the top country of birth of immigrants to the U.S. has been Mexico. In the last census in 2022 Mexico was the largest country of birth for immigrants in 29 different states.

According to the last census 10.6 million people in the United States were born in Mexico. The second top country for U.S. immigrants is India. 2.8 million Americans were born in India. The total U.S. population (in 2022) was 333.3 million. In terms of regions of the world, 50% of U.S. immigrants are from Latin America (Mexico alone accounting for 23%). 28% of immigrants are from Asia. While Europe, Canada and other North America countries combined contribute 12% to the U.S. population.

The Straits Times has the best graphics department in the world - probably. The Washington Post and New York Times might be contenders but because of their paywalls most of their work is hidden away from most of the world.

The latest astonishing demonstration of the graphic skills of the Straits Times comes in an article celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the construction of the Johor-Singapore Causeway. I'm not sure what this raised embankment between Johor and Singapore has done to deserve such an incredible historical account of its 100 year existence but it must have a special place in the hearts of the graphics team at the Straits Times.

An incredible interactive 3D model of the causeway drives the engagement in the article Here’s how the Johor-Singapore Causeway evolved over 100 years. I say 3D model but in fact The Straits Times hasn't created just one 3D model of the causeway but two. To show how the causeway has developed over the last 100 years the graphics team have coded one 3D model to illustrate how the causeway looked after its construction in 1924 and another model to visualize how it looks today - one century later.