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Tech NewsGoogleGoogle Is Reopening Map Maker and Wants You to Police It for Pranks
Google’s Map Maker feature is coming back after getting shut down for too many prank entries. But now, Google will no longer deal with joke edits to Maps—the company is washing its pee-stained hands of moderation, shifting most of that responsibility to the Map Maker community. Google temporarily kiboshed Map Maker, which lets people add … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
io9
A World Map Based on Scientific Research Papers Produced
If the world were mapped according to how many scientific research papers each country produced, it would take on a rather bizarre, uneven appearance. This image makes a dramatic point about the complexities of global inequalities in knowledge production and exchange. So what is driving this inequality and how can it be corrected? Above: If … Continued
Laura Czerniewicz — The Conversation -
Tech News
NASA Has One-Upped Google Earth for Mars
You’ve been able to explore interesting corners of Marsfor years using Google Earth. However, NASA just one-upped the search giant with a data-rich interactive map that lets you peek into every nook and cranny, from the miles-high volcanoes to the sperm-shaped valleys. You can even reproduce them with a 3D printer! The new Mars Trek … Continued
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Tech News
A Map of Just the World’s Time Zones
Time zones can be confusing things. But this map, which looks like it could be a piece of modern art, strips them back to their essence: this is how the world looks if the only thing you can see is the time zone boundaries. Created by Branden Rishel it’s largely a bit of fun—but it’s … Continued
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Tech News
The Incredible Housing Value Across the U.S., Mapped
The cost of housing in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area is cripplingly expensive. But what does housing value look like across the whole of the country? This animated map wascreated by Max Galka. It breaks down the total housing value held within each country across the U.S. using data taken from … Continued
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Tech News
Find Out How Loud Your Neighborhood Is With These Sound Maps
People choose where to live based on all sorts of data: Price, public transit, proximity to pizza chains. But noise is tougher to measure. And since sound is pretty much invisible, you might not know about the nightly clanking from the local concrete recycling plant until you’re all moved in. A new mapping app can … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Here’s a Real-Time Map of All the Objects in Earth’s Orbit
Fellow space nerds, I come bringing sweet internet relief for the Monday doldrums. It’s stuffin.space, a real-time, 3D-visualized map of all objects looping around Earth, from satellites to orbital trash. The site updates itself daily using the latest satellite data from Space Track, a US Department of Defense website, which monitors satellites and space junk … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
Graduation Rates From Every School District in the US, Mapped
Ever wondered how high school graduation rates vary across the country? Well this map shows you exactly how. Put together by Sarah Butrymowiczfor the Hechinger Report, the map’s based on data from the States Department for Education. The government only publishes state-level figures, but she figured that wasn’t good enough. There are a few holes—Pennsylvania, … Continued
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Tech News
Google Maps May Alert You the Next Time You’re Near a Train Crossing
Car accidents at railroad crossings spiked nine percent last year, according to the New York Times–a huge number that the Federal Railroad Administration is trying to bring down. Today, it announced a project with Google to create alerts within Google Maps that will tell motorists when they’re closing in on a crossing. Google says that … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
io9
Beijing Has Literally Quadrupled in Size Over Just the Last Decade
A group of researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Stanford University used NASA’s satellite images to chart the growth of the Chinese capital city, and one of their more interesting findings was the astounding rate at which Beijing has grown during the last 10 years. The study, which also looked at some of the … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech NewsDesign
A Map That May Have Led Columbus To America Is Finally Being Deciphered
The primary way we share ideas today is the internet. In the 15th century, it was cartography. And now, researchers at Yale are giving us a glimpse of one of the most influential maps in history—parts of which, up until now, had been too faded and aged to read. Henricus Martellus isn’t a name you’d … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
A Map Of The World’s Straightest Roads Proves The Midwest Is Really Dull
If data journalism has proved anything, it’s that you can make an interactive map of almost anything. Today’s exhibit: a map that ranks the world’s roads by bendyness, once and for all conclusively proving that the Midwest is really incredibly boring — to drive across, of course. The map was made by Rory McCann, who … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
This Massive, Open Source Map Makes the World More Wheelchair Friendly
The world is tough place to navigate in a wheelchair. But finding ramps and elevators can be easier thanks to this handy map app that anyone can edit. It’s called Wheelmap, and it tells you the accessibility status of public places all over the world. It’s free and grades locations in a traffic light-style, red-yellow-green … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech NewsApple
Apple’s Taking Cars to the Road to Add StreetView-Like Features to Maps
With a subtle announcement on its website, Apple has confirmed that it’s sending cars out on to the streets of the U.S., UK and Ireland in order to acquire data—including images—that will be used to improve its Maps service. On anew page, Apple writes that it’s “driving vehicles around the world to collect data which … Continued
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io9
A Map Of The Most Common Paths For All 32 Chess Pieces
There are just 32 pieces on a chessboard, but the number of patterns in which those pieces can move in the course of an individual game are astronomical. Still, as these maps show, despite all those different possibilities, each piece has a pretty clear pattern behind it. The maps, which track the most common trajectories … Continued
By Ria Misra -
io9
This Is Where Hunger Is Getting Better In The World — And Where It Isn’t
The world has over 200 million fewer hungry people than it did 25 years ago. So does that mean hunger is decreasing around the world? The answer is yes — but sadly, not everywhere. Overall, world hunger is certainly down. From just over a billion hungry people in 1990, a new report on food insecurity … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech News
Watch How Los Angeles Boomed Over 125 Years With This Gorgeous Map
Contrary to what New Yorkers would like to tell you, Los Angeles is freaking old. Older than the United States of America, in fact. And it’s easy to see just how old the city is with built:LA, an interactive map that color-codes the age of over three million LA buildings. Each building is assigned a … Continued
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io9
These Are The Most Distinctive Popular Foods In Every State
What are they eating a lot of in each state, and only there? This map has the answers. Foursquare and Mapbox put together this map of the foods you’re most likely to find in each state, over and above the nation as a whole — and just how much more likely you are to find … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech NewsSploid
A map showing each state’s most unique favorite food
Foursquare tracked people’s tastes across America to come up with a very interesting way to determine the uniqueness of taste: they mined their user data to figure out which food or drink was disproportionately popular in each state. So this map doesn’t show what’s the most popular item in each state, but what item is … Continued
By Casey Chan