maps

The Prettiest Way to See How Screwed Up Your Holiday Flights Are

Flying this holiday? I’m sorry. Here’s to hoping you don’t get stranded in East Nowheresville on the way. As for the rest of us, the Misery Map is a fantastic way to sit back and bask in the misfortune of others. Or, uh, give thanks that we’re not stuck at an airport. Yeah, that second…

Google Street View Now Shows You the Inside of Airports

To make your holiday travels easier, Google Street View now takes you inside 16 international airports and over 50 train stations around the world. So don’t worry about finding the baggage check using archaic methods like looking at signs. Now you can map it! While the utility of these new transit hub tours remains to…

The Whole of US Public Radio, Visualized

If you’ve ever wondered how far and wide public radio stations spread in the US, this map is for you: it shows them all, as well as how far they spread. Put together by Andrew Filer, it uses data from Wikipedia and the station search from the Federal Communications Commission. Each circle represents a station;…

Watch how the major religions have conquered the entire world

Christianity. Islam. Judaism. Buddhism. Hinduism. All the major religions have basically competed with each other in an epic, historical game of Risk. Who can gain the most converts? Which religion is the most right at being right? Who has the most color on the board? Those who start strong early can flame out, others can…

You’ve Never Seen GPS Data Look This Beautiful

It might look like a talented artist has been enthusiastically scribbling over an aerial photograph, but this is in fact a set of GPS data looking more beautiful than you could ever have imagined. The data was actually gathered from a crop-dusting aircraft, hence all these beautiful, looping routes. Put together by MapBox, which marries…

You Can Visit 44 National Parks From the Comfort of Google Street View

Want to see Old Faithful in all its glory but don’t have the time to actually get there? You can at least visit from the safety and convenience of your own computer because Google has mapped more than 44 different U.S. and Canadian National Parks and monuments. You’ve already been able to gaze at the…

This week: Why we need real neighborhoods! Keeping L.A.’s transit momentum alive! Americans may have reached “peak car”! Daylighting rivers! And a ghost town you can call your very own! What’s the role of the neighborhood in today’s globalized city? Tom Vanderbilt explores why we still need a sense of belonging somewhere local [Wilson Quarterly…

Which countries have the highest rate of diagnosed depression?

This map visualizes the results of a new study of depression rates. Depression is the second leading cause of disability worldwide, diagnosed in 4% of the human population, and map allows you to compare rates of depression diagnosis across countries. The map, by the Washington Post, shows the results from a study published in PLOS…

Some of the first international air routes, mapped

Published in 1944, mapmaker Sally De Long’s “Our New Neighbors” beautifully depicts projected air routes of the mid-20th century. The dawn of the Air Age, the 1940s were when many airlines first began making international flights. Via Old Map Gallery, whose curators call attention to feature of the map that you may have missed (emphasized…

A Map of Where Americans Are Moving (Hellooooo, Vegas!)

Each year, 10 million Americans pack up their lives and move to another part of the country. But where are they going? The University of Wisconsin-Madison has made an awesome interactive map that tracks the net migration to different counties across the U.S. The map uses data sets that include age, race, Hispanic-origin, and sex…

These maps show U.S. migration patterns for the past six decades

Millions of Americans move to different counties each year. Tracking who is moving and where they’re going can be difficult to quantify and visualize, but these gloriously detailed interactive maps from the University of Wisconsin manage the task with ease. Top map: Total Net Migration Rate during the 2000s. Legend for all maps: Quite incredibly,…

A map showing which countries own the most guns

Quick what does the United States have in common with Serbia and Yemen? No, not just that they all have the vowel E in them. No, not because they start with letters in the second half of the alphabet. And no, not nothing either. According to popular estimates, the US, Serbia and Yemen make up…

Gorgeous Maps Let You Decorate With the Grandeur of Our National Parks

As tools, maps are strictly pragmatic, meant to familiarize us with terra incognita. As artifacts, they help us understand the history of a place. But as art, they highlight the beauty of our surroundings—as shown by these posters highlighting the wild splendor of U.S. National Parks. https://gizmodo.com/18-subway-maps-that-trace-nycs-transit-history-1242514280 Muir Way, founded by an outdoorsman and named…

The 10 Most Popular Spotify Songs in Each NYC Borough

As thousands of runners prep their NYC Marathon playlists in advance of Sunday’s race, Spotify had the bright idea to quantify the most-played tracks by borough. What do they reveal, besides the fact that everyone loves Haim? Let’s take a look! For Manhattanites, it’s all about Top 40 radio and indie-pop tacks—no surprises there. Meanwhile,…

A Map of Where All Your Favorite Horror Movies Take Place

The monster in a horror movie is scary, sure. But an eerie setting is just as important. Fortunately just about anywhere can be freaky as hell when you’re alone in the dark, but some places get more horror movie love than others. And this great map by the folks at Esri shows you the horrible…

Swarms of Drones Will Be Mapping the World All By Themselves in No Time

You’re probably used to hearing about drones as these scary, deadly things causing chaos in Pakistan, but the scientific community is actually pretty pumped up about the technology. Why wouldn’t they be? Drones can makes 3D maps of mountains. https://gizmodo.com/a-swarm-of-drones-3d-mapped-the-matterhorn-in-stunning-1445555177 The National Science Foundation recently invested in technology that makes it easier than ever to…

The Only Population Map You Need to Understand the World

Which countries are emerging superpowers? Which countries are in decline? This excellent infographic of population change, country by country, explains pretty much everything you need to know about what’s going to happen geopolitically in the next few decades. The data comes from the United Nation Population Fund, which has just released its State of World…

Hail Satan: A Map of All the Places Named After the Devil Himself

Hell exists, and it’s right here on earth. Or at least, it does in name. Designer Jonathan Hull has made a map of all the places with names derived from the devil. Hull was inspired to make the map when he was walking through hell the Utah wilderness, and kept running across places with monikers…

Watch people around the world being born and dying in real time

Brad Lyon made this amazing statistical simulation of all the births and deaths of the entire world, as they occur in real time. It’s fascinating to see how many lives begin and end at any given second. It’s also available as a Google Chrome app which allows you to focus on specific countries, too, if…

A State-by-State Map of the Penalties for Texting While Driving

At this point, we’ve all heard tell of the many dangers of using smartphones while driving. And we’ve all probably also ignored those dangers at one point or another, which has led 47 states to establish bans on what’s now become the leading cause of death for teenage drivers—texting. So how much will you be…