Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a great holiday season! Enjoy this year’s Christmas Card … I think Santa is learning about points, lines, and polygons!

Looking for a unique gift for someone who loves maps? Check out these shaded relief maps. They are flat 2D maps, but really look like they are jumping off the page in 3D. My guess the bigger the map you get, the better 3D effect on your eyes! Check it out.
You can also visit the author’s project site here.
If you have some cash to spend, like $600,000 to $800,000, you too could own this rare map of California! COSTANSÓ, MIGUEL DE. 1741-1814: Original Manuscript Map of Coastal California Signed (“Miguel de Costansó”).
Costansó was the engineer for the Portola Expedition, creating the first land based maps of the California coastline, and discovering and mapping the port of San Francisco for the first time. There are only 4 copies that still exist, and you can own one of them! Check it out, and good luck on your bid!
Wildfires can be sparked by a number of sources, including naturally via lightning strikes or simply by heat from the sun, but experts say most are caused by humans.
Many Earth-observing satellites can detect the heat signatures associated with wildfires. NOAA’s N-20 satellite passes over every spot on Earth at least twice a day and can detect fires with 375-meter accuracy.
Check out this wildfire app that displays hotspots and fire activity in real time in the US and Canada, and within 3 hours for the rest of the planet.
Check out this interactive map and article about the total EV charging stations in the US. If we will be forced to buy electric vehicles soon, they better up their charging stations! While California has 13,658 charging stations, Alaska only has 40. Check it out!
As a side note, according the NACS, there are more than 145,000 fueling stations across the United States. And as you know, they can fuel multiple vehicles at one time vs. just 1 EV charging station per vehicle.