Adam's Blogroll: click through to the author's blog
It’s been over 200 years since the cicadas of Brood XIII and Brood XIX came up at the same time. For the New York Times, Jonathan Corum revisits old cicada maps by Charles L. Marlatt from 1922. The spatial distributions look similar to current patterns and show how predictable these things are, even though they’re in the ground for so long.
Tags: Cicada, New York Times
Posted by in cicada, maps, New York Times
The TikTok account Globetrots combines Google Earth and text-to-speech to show top-ten lists with various statistics. For example, what cities in the United Kingdom have the most people on benefits? A Google Earth shot pans to the different cities as text-to-speech narrates.
A good number of their videos have gained popularity (or the TikTok algorithms are pushing novelty). And the account recently subbed text-to-speech for a song format, which I think uses TikTok’s AI song feature? Just watch:
It’s really corny, but we might also be seeing the beginning of something.
Tags: AI, generative, listicle, storytelling, TikTok
Posted by in AI, generative, listicle, maps, storytelling, TikTok
A deeply insightful map from xkcd.
See also: 19 maps that will blow your mind and change the way you see the world.
Reddit user ChangsManagement mapped where NHL hockey players were born, based on data from Hockey Reference. As someone who knows next to nothing about hockey, except the bits I picked up while living in Buffalo, I’m surprised that the distribution is so far north, but it makes sense.
In 1942, Franklin Delano Roosevelt mandated that those of Japanese descent be sent to prison camps. Through the lens of recently released Census records, the San Francisco Chronicle examined the impact of forcing thousands of residents out of their homes.
Over nearly a year, the Chronicle collected and analyzed this data, seeking to understand just how Executive Order 9066 reshaped Japantown. For the first time, we can count the number of Japanese American residents in the neighborhood in 1940 and 1950 — an unequivocal measure of the order’s disastrous effect on the community.
Tags: census, Japantown, racism, San Francisco Chronicle
As you might expect, the path of totality brought increased activities as people tried to get in the right spots. For the New York Times, Charlie Smart mapped the movements based on activity data from Mapbox and traffic data from TomTom.
Tags: eclipse, New York Times, people
Posted by in eclipse, maps, New York Times, people
Maybe you heard there’s a total eclipse happening today. AirDNA mapped Airbnb occupancy rates over the week. There might be a pattern.
The anticipation of the solar eclipse has transformed an otherwise ordinary Monday into a lucrative opportunity for STR hosts located within the path of totality. As of March 25th, occupancy rates for April 7th have soared to an impressive 88% across all listings. This represents a massive surge in demand for accommodations on the night before the big celestial event.
Alasdair Rae outlines the basics of visualizing basketball shot data with QGIS, an open-source software package typically used for geographic maps. Even if you’re not into basketball, sports data can be fun to poke at because it’s comprehensive and usually covers a good range of time and categories.
Tags: Alasdair Rae, basketball, QGIS
Posted by in Alasdair Rae, basketball, maps, QGIS
Satellite imagery on its own can be limited in what it can say without context. It’s photos from the sky, which is neat and technical, but then what? For Nightingale, Robert Simmon describes the many ways that journalists use satellite imagery to tell stories and layer meaning.
Tags: Nightingale, Robert Simmon, satellite imagery, storytelling
Posted by in maps, Nightingale, Robert Simmon, satellite imagery, storytelling
On April 8, 2024, the moon is going to completely block the sun along a designated path. For the Washington Post, Dylan Moriarty and Kevin Schaul use a strip of satellite imagery to show the totality across the United States, with events and time along the way.
Tags: eclipse, satellite imagery, Washington Post
Posted by in eclipse, maps, satellite imagery, Washington Post