Map with a receipt printer

Aaron Koelker used a receipt printer to print a six-foot long map of the Wakulla River in Florida. He outlined his process with Adobe Illustrator and the printer. I kind of want a thermal printer now.

See also: grocery receipt with charts.

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Exports through the Mississippi River

Drought has caused water levels to drop in the Mississippi River, which is a problem when millions of tons of grain are moved for export via boat. Bloomberg Green breaks it down, including a flow-ish, river-like Sankey Diagram to show where grain exports go.

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Drop rain anywhere in the world and see where it ends up

One of my favorites of the year, Sam Learner’s River Runner shows you a terrain map that lets you place a drop of rain anywhere in the contiguous United States. You’re then taken on a river tour that shows where the drop ends up. Learner just expanded the project to let you drop water anywhere in the world.

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Meandering procedural river maps

Robert Hodgin built a procedural system he calls Meander to generate the beauty above, among several others:

My all-time favorite map-based data visualization was created in 1944. Harold Fisk, working with the US Army Corp. of Engineers, mapped the length of the Mississippi River. What sets his visualization apart from others is that he maps the river through time, and manages to do so in a way that is both beautiful and surprisingly effective. I want to pay homage to his series of maps by creating my own system for procedurally generating maps of meandering rivers.

Great.

Not only is the winding path imaginary, but so is the terrain, the place names, and the built-up lakes.

See also: the 1944 Fisk map that inspired Hodgin’s work, which is an interesting contrast against modern satellite imagery animations.

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Changing river path seen through satellite images

Rivers through time

Sedimentary geologist Zoltan Sylvester downloaded Landsat data using Earth Explorer and strung together images of the Ucayali River to see the changes over thirty years.

Thanks to the Landsat program and Google Earth Engine, it is possible now to explore how the surface of the Earth has been changing through the last thirty years or so. Besides the obvious issues of interest, like changes in vegetation, the spread of cities, and the melting of glaciers, it is also possible to look at how rivers change their courses through time.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to look at other areas of the world now. Brb.

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Changing river path seen through satellite images

Rivers through time

Sedimentary geologist Zoltan Sylvester downloaded Landsat data using Earth Explorer and strung together images of the Ucayali River to see the changes over thirty years.

Thanks to the Landsat program and Google Earth Engine, it is possible now to explore how the surface of the Earth has been changing through the last thirty years or so. Besides the obvious issues of interest, like changes in vegetation, the spread of cities, and the melting of glaciers, it is also possible to look at how rivers change their courses through time.

Yeah, I’m gonna have to look at other areas of the world now. Brb.

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