VizWorld.com

To generate some buzz for the Web2.0 summit they created a fun map of the major web properties and social networks on an interactive website so that you can pan and zoom, and then watch how the various “countries” have begun to encroach on each other.

More than any time in the history of the Web, incumbents in the network economy are consolidating their power and staking new claims to key points of control.

Meanwhile, insurgents both large and small are hoping to gain footholds or take ground in new territories.

Welcome to the first iteration of the Web 2.0 Summit’s theme, Points of Control!

via The Web 2.0 Summit Points of Control Map.

Graphics conference, map, web

A great story from Eddie Jabbour, chronicled by Julie Steele at O’Reilly Radar, tells the story of his desire to redesign the New  York City subway map into something easier to understand and use, and then put it in the hands of users.  While I personally find his design appealing, he’s found difficulties in distributing it.

Ultimately, I do think the KickMap accomplished most of my goals: to make the subway lines and their connections as clear as possible for easier navigation, and to provide users with a clear representation of where they are once they exit a station so that the subway feels familiar and welcoming to all.

My main goal, however, was to get my map out there into the hands of subway riders. After the MTA rejected my design, I found an alternative way to distribute it, via Apple’s iTunes — two apps, one free and one paid, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

All of the choices I made were aimed at trying to make the user experience as seamless and pleasant as possible. Clearly I’m striking a chord, as over 250,000 people (and counting) have now downloaded copies of the KickMap from iTunes.

Nonetheless, it’s a great article on some of the difficult decisions involved in design of such an iconic map used by millions, and how the content of the map (the Subway) isn’t the only design criteria:

One of the issues I have with some previous versions of the New York subway map is that I have a hard time believing that the designers ever actually rode the subway as an integral part of their lives in the city. There’s a disconnect between many of the decisions they made and the reality of the subway. As part of my design process, I rode the lines and exited the stations at every major intersection with which I was unfamiliar. There is a strong relationship in New York between the aboveground and the belowground, and since subway riders don’t cease to exist when they leave the subway, it’s important for the map to express this relationship as clearly as possible. Otherwise, the result is an uncomfortable feeling of disorientation.

via Redesigning the New York City subway map – O’Reilly Radar.

Graphics design, map

The Washington Post has a well-made map of the Oil spill in the Gulf, showing a surprising amount of information in a small space.

Still staggering from devastating hurricanes several years ago, residents and wildlife along the Gulf Coast are threatened again, this time from a potentially catastrophic oil spill. As shown in the map below, tourism, commerce and the coastline are all at risk.

My only complaint about the map is that it is a little light on resolution.  The text is a bit difficult to read, but it’s still surprisingly well done.

via Oil Spill Map: Hard hit and waiting for another blow.

Graphics infographic, map, oil, washingtonpost

The Icelandic volcano ‘Eyjafjallajokull’ (please don’t ask me to pronounce that) continues to spread ash over Europe, grounding airplanes and shutting down airports for a second day.  The Guardian has a slideshow chart of the evolution of the ash cloud from the initial eruption, based on Met Office data.

Eyjafjallajokull : Icelandic ash cloud over Europe | World news | guardian.co.uk.

Science map, weather

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created a project website for OpenPV to track solar energy installations across the US, and visualize the results.  You can head over to the OpenPV Page and view maps showing the growth of solar energy sources from 2000 to today (a decade).  With granularity of almost day-by-day, you can see every installation as they come online (while bubble) and join the map.  No surprise that California has the most, accounting for over 75% of the solar installations in the US, but you can see them scattered across the entire US.

There are seven, in fact, for which the PV Project hasn’t logged a single installation: Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and both of the Dakotas. There probably are a few solar panels in those states, but the point of the map is simply to show the relative amount of solar in different areas. It gets the point across: the above states show up as a huge empty streak splitting the country in half.

via Cool Tool: Visualize a Decade of Solar Progress | BNET Energy Blog | BNET.

Science map, nrel, openpv

Wired’s Geekdad has a collection of 20 fun and geeky images captured by satellite and visible in everyone’s favorite map viewer Google Maps.  Ranging from air force bases and the GooglePlex itself to crop designs and herds of animals, it’s a great collection.

Space is full of images that make a geek’s heart flutter. But how about when we point those cameras back down at us on Earth?

Google Earth has created a treasure trove of geeky images. Here are some of my favorites

Hit his site for pictures and links directly to the map locations.

via 20 Geeky Images from Space | GeekDad | Wired.com.

Science google, map, photography

At the recent TED2010 event, Blaise Aguera y Arcas demonstrating Microsoft’s Bing Maps research in front of the live audience.  Starting with the already available aerial view, isometric view, street view and others, he then moves on to showing features in development.  This starts with Flickr geo-tagged photo integration, and then moves into their “backpack camera” that enables street-view level imagery in internal spaces.  Then he moves onto the most impressive new feature: Live geotagged streaming video from a location, as some of his fellow employees stream video of themselves playing at a local fish market into his browser.  An interesting example of a kind of reverse-augmented reality, augmenting a computer display with live video, but very powerful.

Science augmented reality, conference, map, microsoft, ted

The New York TImes has created an interactive 3-D map of the Olympic venues that will be occurring soon in Vancouver, Canada. Like any 3-D application, you can rotate, pan, and zoom into the map. Clicking on one of the four sites will cause you to load up a more detailed map of the venue. You have four sites to choose from, including Whistler Olympic Park, Whistler Mountain, Cypress Mountain, and Vancouver. Once you navigate into one of these four sites, you are able to see the actual places where the events are occurring. For example, you can see the Richmond Olypic Oval building where the speed skating will be held on the second day of the competition.

via : Vancouver’s Olympic Venues

Graphics 3d, interactive, map, new york times, olympics

The Natural Science Museum of Barcelona hosts a database of over 150 years worth of biological records from around the world, and now presents the data via an interactive map on their website.

The database consists of about 50.000 different records of mollusc, vertebrata and artropodes. All the information is structured following the Darwin Core Standard, developed by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

On the map you can zoom into any area in the world and click on an active square to view all of the registers located there.

via World Map of Barcelona Natural Science Museum Biodiversity Data – information aesthetics. via Information Aesthetics

Science biological, map

Matthew Bloch, a graphics editor for the New York Times, has a great website where he has cataloged several of the interactive maps that have appeared in print and on the site over the years.  Some we have covered before but there are dozens I’ve not seen.

Also, he has a fun area called “Accidental Maps” showing the various errors along the way to a completed product.  Shown above is his broken “Map of congressional votes”.

Matthew Bloch – portfolio of web maps and graphics.

Graphics infographic, map, nytimes