A joint mission between NOAA and NASA has yielded data showing just how much brighter Earth is during the holiday lights season. In some places, the effect makes the area 50% brighter than on an average day. Check it out!
If you are last minute shopping for Christmas and need to find a gift for someone who likes maps, how about Cartography Ornaments? Check it out.
Planning on traveling during the holidays? Flying? Stay on top of the travel misery and view Flight Aware’s Misery Map. The map gives you an interactive look at travel across the country and overlays weather radar showing the obvious connection between bad weather and bad travel. Hover over an airport and view the connections and the misery. There is also a timelapse button to view the weather, and misery, in action!
The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) has released their 2014 Atlas of Design. The Atlas of Design is dedicated to showing off some of the world’s most beautiful and intriguing cartographic designs. Check it out and order your copy today!
The U.S. dollar this year turns 100 years old (the one that exists today, as printed by the U.S. treasury). Click below for a brief summary on the history of the dollar and how and why it became the reserve currency.
Like last year, ESRI will be taking votes for the 2015 UC look. You have until November 18th to cast your vote.
Just in time for Halloween, Esri’s “Where Are the Bodies?” story map documents the final resting places of some of the most famous (and infamous) actors, artists, authors, and criminals. Check it out!
Abel Buell’s New and Correct Map of the United States is showcased in the ongoing Library of Congress exhibition “Mapping a New Nation”.
This landmark map of extraordinary significance to the historical record of the United States was published by Abel Buell in 1784. Notably, this is the first map of the newly independent United States compiled, printed, and published in America by an American. Additionally, it is also the first map to be copyrighted in the United States. Only seven copies are known to exist and survive in major institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain. The copy on display is considered to be the best preserved of all extant editions and was officially deposited with the Library by Mr. David Rubenstein in January 2010. Check it out!
Want a custom handcrafted wood-inlay map? Zoom into an area on a map and this company will create a woodcut map of that area for you. Choose type of wood combos for land, water, parks, and roads, and also customize the border, data source (Google or OpenStreetMap), road detail, and if you want to include hospitals, schools, and buildings. Check it out!
Remember, only 96 days until Christmas! Or less if you are reading this later.
For at least a century, the moving rocks of Death Valley have presented a puzzle, and researchers have been trying to solve it since 1948. The rocks, some of them boulders weighing more than 600 pounds, show signs of movement across the desert floor by leaving long trails behind them.
Explanations including dust devils, flooding, hurricane-strength winds, and even UFOs have been offered, but the mystery was finally solved when researchers caught the rocks in the act!
Check out the National Geographic article and watch the video below.
SoCalGIS.org 