Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with maps and GIS

Website to sort and display different mountain heights?

seasparrow — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:56:36 -0800

Is there a website that would show the world sorted by elevation? I recently enjoyed reading Plague Year, a post-apocalyptic thriller. The main conceit of this science-fiction novel is that a nanotechnology plague that kills any warm blooded animal (including humans), but the disease self-destructs at altitudes above 10,000 feet. How much territory would this be across the whole planet? I liked the book. It isn't great literature, but the author, Jeff Carlson, thinks through the ramifications of a world where most mammals are now extinct and a tiny fragment of humanity clings to a few frozen mountain-tops. Carlson also doesn't shy away or sugar-coat the realities of such a situation. He also doesn't make it easy for his characters, unlike other authors in the post-apocalyptic genre. (Yes, I'm pointing at you, S.M. Stirling.) Some of the protagonists feel guilty about the cannibalism they had to resort to in order to survive, but at least they are alive, unlike 99.9% of the human race.

So, like I said, a fun read that got me thinking. My real question for the Hive Mind is-- in all the great variety of the internet, is there some sort of geographical website that would allow me to view the world through the filter of all elevations above 10,000 feet?

Which sparks another question: Have you seen the maps that occasionally appear showing what the world would look like if global warming caused the sea levels to rise 50 or 100 feet? Is there a website that will let you do that as well? Maybe even set your own parameters on how much you want the water levels to rise or fall, and then generate a map for you?

Does anyone work in the field? Isn't is called Geographical Information Systems? It sounds fascinating. I think I might enjoy working a GIS job eventually. Questions like these linger in my mind, so much so that I'm willing to spend my one-a-week currency of an AskMe question to see what the sophisticated and cosmopolitcal Mefite community has to say about it.

Thanks for your help, and I hope I'm not the only weirdo who thinks about these things!

What can you see in satellite photos?

k. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:33:01 -0800

Satellite photos: what interesting features can be seen or measured in them (or other aerial photos), and where can I get a supply of images? Examples I have already seen, from some crude Google-searching:
Roads
Buildings
Degree of development (urban/suburban/rural)
Oil spills (apparently these are usually hard to see)
Blooms of algae (cyanobacteria) in the Baltic Sea
Damage to buildings from earthquakes

More would be appreciated--the more specific, the better. These will be used in a computer vision system, so I'd especially like to know where I can find a supply of images containing whatever feature I'm looking for (including the above)--easy for buildings or roads, but hard for rare events like oil spills. Natural disasters seem interesting, if there are pictures available.

I would also consider some other kind of non-photographic data as well, if it could be combined with maps or photos. Don't worry whether you think it's suitable; any idea you have will help!

I don't work for the government, promise.

McBearclaw — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:32:32 -0800

I'm trying to map protests in the United States, but I'm grappling with data sources (and will eventually tangle with data management). Any ideas? I'd like to map out protests, riots, bombings, and other cheerful social outings - ideally in the United States, where I have the most contextual knowledge, but that's not a necessity.

My original plan was to scrape AP's US news RSS feed, store everything in some sort of XML database, and then query that for what I need. I just checked their RSS format, and it unfortunately doesn't include the full article. Nor does it include a separate tag for the location, which would make geocoding a bit/much nastier. NYT's feeds are basically the same story. I don't really know where to go from here.

There are basically five steps, and I would love advice on any:
1. Scrape database of news articles.
2. Store in a format that would allow querying by date or location. I'd like to keep all the articles, too, because... really, that would be an awesome dataset.
3. Tag protests (method: NLP, Mech Turk, or caffeinated McB).
4. Tag with date and location.
5. Make pretty maps.

Step 6 is going crazy with spatial stats, but I've got that part covered. I've been letting this project fester for too long, and it is now certifiably brain crack. Any advice on 1-5 would be greatly appreciated.

Aside: I really have thought about the ethical consequences of this. If you're concerned, MeFiMail me and I'll do my best to assuage your doubts.

I can haz demographic displays, plz?

WidgetAlley — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:09:46 -0800

I am in need of a program that will allow me to display demographic information by county on a state map. Recommendations? I am interning for the Legal Aid society over the summer, and part of my work includes compiling demographic statistics about their client population and figuring out a way to display it in a way that ties in with a map of our area (Tennessee.) I am looking for a program set up for this, and that will allow me to create some quite sophisticated displays-- for instance, percentage of total population vs. percentage of clients per county, dominant type of cases per county, etc.

Legal Aid is fairly well-funded, but we are still a non-profit; we are willing to make a cash commitment but don't have a whole lot of money to throw around, so cheaper/free is better! Thank you from a lowly intern!

Any interesting map theory books?

slab_lizard — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:06:27 -0800

I'm looking for suggested book(s) for backgrounding myself in map theory. Think somewhere between a history of maps and a technical textbook. I've been looking at maps for 30+ years as a non-geographer, and will be taking some GIS and mapping courses this autumn. So, plenty of text-and-classroom exposure there. What kind of semi-technical background reading would be useful over the summer?

Where in the world is.........

micklaw — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:47:52 -0800

Please pass on your favourite online mapping websites, with an emphasis on interactive applications. I really love maps. I spend a lot of time using a variety of (mainly educational) online maps such as the WWF Wildfinder, NationMaster, Reuters AlertNet, Globalis and the very excellent Geoscience Australia Sentinel Bushfire tool and so on. Maps of War is also an excellent resource in a similar vein, although not as interactive as those previously listed.

Anyway, the internet being what it is, I am sure there are many more fantastic resources online that I have not yet come across and I would love to tap the collective mind of Metafiler users to help me expand my mapping horizons.

Post your recommendations, particularly with an emphasis on non-US maps (global or other regions would be most useful) as these will be used in a non-US school.

Thanks in advance!

Is there a free (cheap) KML editor for the Mac?

brokekid — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:45:53 -0800

Is there a free (cheap) KML editor, like NorthGates' KML Editor or KaMeLwriter, for the Mac? I haven't had much luck finding one, extMate doesn't do the job and running either of these in Parallels would kill my machine. Thanks for your help.

Help me find a pseudo-cartogram of the world's largest cities.

brownbat — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:58:53 -0800

Help me re-find a cartogram-like picture of the 100 largest cities by population. A few months ago I saw a chart of the world's largest cities (maybe the cutoff was all cities with over 1 million people, maybe it was the 100 largest). The picture was a large rectangle and the cities were rectangles as well. Tokyo was in the upper-left with a bajillion people (35 million ish), then the next 5 or so cities had in the 20 millions.

There may have been color coding to indicate what country of the world they were in.

I might have seen a story about this chart on Lifehacker, the Freakonomics blog, or maybe just reddit. Can't remember, and I'm apparently not Googling for the right keywords.

I have a GIS question.

BoldStepDesign — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:37:10 -0800

Basically, I want to build mapping system, similar to google maps, using something like Map server & open layers. Take in my own image, such as a building map, define roads or “hallways”, and import points via a XML or RSS feed. I want an interface that I can take the xml feed and run it under the map in a box, displaying it under the map, allowing users to click on the event, and being able to see where they need to go, and using a current fixed position, being able to see how to get there.

Mapgeek looking for a career

desjardins — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:56:45 -0800

What kind of career can I pursue that involves maps, apart from the obvious (cartography, GIS, geography teacher)? I love maps. Correction: I LOVE maps. I want to think outside the box and compile a list of alternative career opportunities that involve maps in some way; either creation or analysis. My minimum is $40K/year. Domestic or foreign travel is fine but I don't want to relocate outside of the US (preferably midwest or west coast). Not-for-profit is OK. I'd love something I can do as a consultant, though I realize that might be tough in the current economic climate. I'm mostly interested in demography/human geography/sociological issues. Not especially interested in environmental/sustainability issues. I have a Master's in urban planning with a concentration in GIS.

My skills/education (not exhaustive):

GIS (ArcGIS, MapInfo, Idrisi)

Cartography

Urban planning

Web design

Basic graphic design (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Basic database development & management

Research/statistics/data analysis

Basic VB

Excellent writing and editing

Good presentation skills
Good troubleshooting/problem solving

Intermediate spoken/written French

Skills I want to acquire:

Web dev (PHP, AJAX, ASP.net, etc.)

Programming (C#, etc, open to suggestions)

Expand RDMS skills (MySQL, etc)

Spanish

I welcome contact through MeFi mail or my gmail listed in my profile.

Generating shaded maps of India with state-level data series.

matthewr — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:31:29 -0800

What's the easiest way of generating a map similar to this? I have several state-level data series I want to display on maps of India. I assume this blank map of India in SVG format is a good starting-point. Now, what program(s) do I use to link areas on the map to my data series and hence automatically shade states by a variable x?

My data looks like:
[state code] state x [jm] jam 1.93386 [hp] him 1.74945 [pj] pun 1.90247 [uc] utt 2.13038 ... 33 more states ...

I have Windows, Stata, Excel and zero budget.

What about London should I map?

viewofdelft — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:23:05 -0800

What about London should I map? I'm in an Advanced GIS class for which I need to produce a final cartographic project. The project must begin in ArcGIS but from there I'm free to use anything else (Illustrator, Flash, Google Earth, etc). In the spirit of John Snow, I'd like to make my upcoming trip to London a force for academic good.

I have a GPS unit, a DSLR camera, a student's budget, and a winning personality. What should I map? I'm open to all suggestions as long as they meet the following criteria:

1) The map should present complex and interesting information. I'm not too worried about this one because questions soliciting suggestions on this site often generate very interesting answers.

2) The project/map should be focused. I'll be in London for only a week and I'd like to make the data collection effort into a sort of overarching theme for my visit. That means I should probably confine my map to one neighborhood or area (I'm staying in Soho, but don't let that restrict you).

3) The data can come from any (accessible) source. I'd like to have a little fun gathering the data, but if your suggestions for a map can just as easily be constructed with data from other sources, I'd be happy to hear them. I live in the United States, so any return trips are out of the question this semester.

Thanks in advance. If I choose to go with one of the suggestions, I'll keep you updated.

How to Sync GPS data

mrgreyisyelling — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 14:43:35 -0800

What is a simple straight forward way to gather gps data, and sync it with my digital camera/ Digital recorder? And possibly create a GIS database out of it? Before we go too far: I understand there are classes for this and I will be taking one before my degree is done.

In the mean time, I got a case of mappies. So I figured, despite having no knowledge of how to create the maps the best way - I could start collecting the data I want for the maps in anyway possible.

My desire is to map sections of my new home town, coordinating location with description, picture, or audio clip - and have it all end up in a database that will be appropriate for future GIS tom-foolery. I have attempted this in the past with my GPS tracker, and an attempt sync the time stamps of everything - but I've only had mixed results, it wasn't in any sort of usable database format.

So any software, hardware, technique that can be suggested that can suit my need before the class would be great.

Help me find a direction for my website.

desjardins — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:56:45 -0800

I want to build a website centered around maps, mapping, geography, GIS, etc., but I need help narrowing down my focus. I like niche blogs like Strange Maps and Google Maps Mania, as well as more general cartography blogs like Map Room (run by MeFi's own mcwetboy). Of course, I don't want to rip off either one, or any other site, but I'm starting to feel like it's all been done before.

I want to provide something interesting and useful. I also want it to be a playground where I can create my own maps. I can create Google and Yahoo mashups, I'm good with HTML and CSS, and so-so with Javascript, but I'm not at the point where I can create flash maps or Web 2.0 stuff like Wayfaring or Mapbuilder. I'm not going to sell anything on the site and I don't anticipate it as a money-making venture.

I'm sorry for the vagueness of the question - I don't mean this to be a name-my-kitten type of AskMe. I'm just hoping you can help me over my creative block. I've owned the domain name for half a year and have done basically nothing with it. So what kind of mapping site/blog would you be interested in seeing?

In search of maps with a higher purpose

desjardins — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:06:26 -0800

I'm looking for Web sites that use interactive maps to display social phenomena, such as Oakland CrimeSpotting. They don't need to be that sophisticated. I'm especially interested in maps related to poverty and education.

"The Map of a Single province covered the space of an entire City."

viewofdelft — Tue, 15 May 2007 08:50:20 -0800

I'm looking for maps "the same scale as the Empire." Both Jorge Luis Borges and Lewis Carroll describe fictional 1:1 scale maps in which the map is as vast as what it represents.

What other 1:1 maps can be found in literature (or the real world, for that matter)? I'd also be happy if you point me towards other outlandish maps on par with the 1:1 map. Thanks.

Is there a GIS + Google Maps website?

blacklite — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:46:42 -0800

Is there a website that lets you show GIS data (i.e. standard geographical data from various sources) on Google Maps? I thought I had seen something like this referenced in a MetaFilter post, or here, but I can't find it anywhere. Help, o wise people.

On-line map site that can indicate magnetic north on any given map?

Dave 9 — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 16:20:12 -0800

Is there an easy-to-use, on-line mapping site that can optionally indicate magnetic north on large-scale map images? I'm aware of more general solutions such as these:

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/jsp/Declination.jsp

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/icons/us_d_contour.jpg

Thanks.

GIS & London assistance required

kuperman — Mon, 18 Apr 2005 15:19:49 -0800

Looking for a street shape file of London that is readable and useful in ArcView 3.2. Oh yeah, it would be nice to find it for free. Any takers?

web maps

atchafalaya — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 10:28:22 -0800

How do I get all the map features I want on a website? I've been trying to add topo and photo maps seamlessly to a Flash-based map, but am getting frustrated. ArcIMS is way too expensive. Manifold doesn't really seem to be able to do what I want. I've been looking at Zoomify but am not sure about it.
The bottom line: I want a map where users can pan and zoom over a thematic map, then click down to either a photo or topo map of a specific area. Please tell me your suggestions.

Mapping routes with hundreds of stops

Yelling At Nothing — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 22:50:39 -0800

I Need Super-Mapquest [More inside] I've worked and volunteered for several campaigns and political organizations; I've done quite a bit of canvassing, and organizing for canvassing. Anyone who's done this should be familiar with the process: take a bunch of addresses, short them, and put them together with a map that the grunts can follow as they walk around.

This is time consuming. It's also subject to human error, and bad human organization. Anyone who's spent any time canvassing has probably had the "a baby threw up on my map" turf: the highlighted areas you're responsible for are small and scattered all over the place.

So, what I want is a program into which I can input hundreds of addresses, and come out with a map that displays the optimal route for getting to them all. My assumption is that, if Mapquest is possible, a program like that wouldn't be too difficult to create; I just don't know if one exists.