The Map of the Week blog has been around for quite a while - dating back to 2005 (which is about the time I started some of my blogs). Produced by Dug from Massachusetts, USA.
Why not lose yourself by digging into the archive for a few hours...
Wednesday, May 07, 2025
Saturday, April 05, 2025
Young Geographer of the Year Competition
A chance for your students to create an ESRI StoryMap.
This annual competition is run by the Royal Geographical Society.
The Young Geographer of the Year is the Society’s annual competition which recognises the outstanding work of the next generation of geographers. With its age ranges spanning the primary years to A Level, the competition encourages thoughtful and creative answers to the competition’s theme which is set each year.The Society encourages schools to run their own in-house competition and then send their top 10 entries into the international competition. The Young Geographer competition has been running for over 20 years and every year thousands of children across the world take part.
2025 competition
The theme for the Young Geographer of the Year competition 2025 is:
Understanding islands
Let’s take a closer look at the World’s islands.
It is estimated that our planet contains almost 670,000 islands, of which around 11,000 are permanently inhabited. Islands have a unique geography; their landscapes and coastlines vary massively – some are home to volcanoes; others are barely above sea level. Some are barren, deserts or rocky outcrops, others lush vegetation havens for a range of unique wildlife and plant species. There are islands seen by many as popular holiday destinations, and there are others that are inaccessible or many miles from civilisation. Every island is unique, and every island has its challenges.
Some are threatened by climate change and issues such as sea level rise, and through this are embroiled in the geopolitics of the climate emergency and the mitigation strategies implemented through both international policies and local-level action. The people who live on islands face a range of socio-economic, cultural or historical challenges, from over-use of their towns and cities by tourists, to access to resources, clean water or adequate living conditions. The ‘ownership’ of some islands is contested; some are protected, others are fought over because of their geopolitical or strategic significance. In some places, islands are being created to meet the need for more space to satisfy our growing population. By exploring and understanding islands, including the island we live on, we can unlock a multitude of geographical themes and connections across people, places and environments.
The Society invites you to create a poster (Esri StoryMap or poster for KS5 entrants) to explore islands and highlight the geographical themes, challenges and solutions that connect across both human and physical geography to make islands unique. We are looking for eye catching, creative and informative posters and StoryMaps that delve into the socio-economic, cultural, political and physical aspects of a range of islands, showcasing their features and exploring how islands can be connected through the challenges that they face and the solutions they use to address those challenges.
The Society invites you to create a poster (Esri StoryMap or poster for KS5 entrants) to explore islands and highlight the geographical themes, challenges and solutions that connect across both human and physical geography to make islands unique. We are looking for eye catching, creative and informative posters and StoryMaps that delve into the socio-economic, cultural, political and physical aspects of a range of islands, showcasing their features and exploring how islands can be connected through the challenges that they face and the solutions they use to address those challenges.
Your posters and StoryMaps should think about geographical themes across people, places and environments.
Image: Alan Parkinson, waves on Reynisfjara beach - shared on Flickr
Monday, February 17, 2025
ESRI Visualiser
If you need to show students the world and have a free GIS / Visualisation tool, check out ESRI's Visualiser.
This is a free tool with no login. Maps can be viewed in 2D or as a 3D sphere.
There are some measuring tools, and also some layers that can be added e.g. ocean currents.
LiverpoolGEE
Via the latest issue of 'Geography' journal.
The University of Liverpool has shared a variety of Google Earth Engine tools for researchers (and educators).
This includes options for coding using Google Earth Engine.
Some school based resources are apparently on the way, and if you'd like to make some suggestions there's a form on the website.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
EMU Analytics
EMU Analytics have shared a number of interactive maps on their Location Insights Explorer.
Conversely the number of hectares given over to growing potatoes in 1945 was almost 4 times higher than it is today.
One thing that the map clearly reveals is that farming is much more intensively concentrated in certain areas today. Back in 1945 the farming of potatoes, pigs and turkeys was fairly evenly distributed across the country. In 2018 there is a less even distribution with livestock and crops being grown much more intensively in specific areas of the country.
One thing that the map clearly reveals is that farming is much more intensively concentrated in certain areas today. Back in 1945 the farming of potatoes, pigs and turkeys was fairly evenly distributed across the country. In 2018 there is a less even distribution with livestock and crops being grown much more intensively in specific areas of the country.
This shows where cities are at risk of high temperatures which may make them unliveable.
Use the drop downs on the left hand table to discover a whole host of other maps on a range of themes
e.g. here's one on Social Infrastructure. As you can see, Norfolk doesn't have a great deal of this, and I live in a dark red area...
Other useful maps are:
- a fly-tipping map showing where incidence is highest
- HDI and Global risk mapping
- Tescos coverage in London
- areas where you are more likely to get stuck in a lift
Don't forget the CDRC maps as well for location insight.
Saturday, January 11, 2025
SHIFT podcast with Jack Dangermond of esri
Listen to the SHIFT podcast which features an interview with Jack Dangermond, founder of esri. He is the President of esri.
From deciding where to build a new business, airport or fire station, to understanding the potential impact of decisions regarding conservation or governance, people make billions of maps everyday using GIS.We explore the history and evolution of this tech with one of its pioneers, in the latest instalment of our oral history project.
He is clear that "geography is everything!"
Find out more here.
A few points that Jack makes:
- Between 4 and 5 billion maps are made on esri's platforms every day.
- GIS digitises geography and puts it into a geographical frame.
- Organisations are run by geography.
- Do analytics of the geography behind the maps.
- GIS tools help frame the decision making they do.
- FEMA and other emergency departments use the tools to plan the response to hazards
- Roger Tomlinson invented the term GIS
- Talks about getting his customers together and working out what they could develop as a product
- esri has 680 000 customers... when they started they had single digit numbers of customers
- A third of revenue is spent on advancing products and R&D
- UPS saved hundreds of millions of dollars from rerouting their vehicles
- Helped with EBOLA
- 1.3 trillion maps were created showing the spread of COVID19 around the world
- "Geography is everything"
Thursday, January 09, 2025
Global Influence Index (GII)
Thanks to Bob Lang / Brendan Conway for the tipoff to this GIS resource which explores the GII: the extent to which countries are influenced by, and align themselves with either USA or China.
The Global Influence Index (GII) measures the influence of both the U.S. and China in 191 countries.gii.cesionline.org gt find by Brendan Conway excellrnt for post16 superpowers @jbwgeog.bsky.social
— Bob Lang (@boblanggeog.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 6:24 PM
[image or embed]
The GII uses 28 measures of influence across the economic, political, and security spectrums to track the U.S. - China competitive landscape. What is the influence they have in other countries?
Sunday, January 05, 2025
200 000 page views
Thanks for viewing.
This is one of my older blogs and started out sharing ideas for Google Earth before broadening out over the years....
Thursday, January 02, 2025
Slavery from Space
The UN member countries have set the target of ending slavery by 2030.
However, no country has a system for actively monitoring slavery, and this lack of data leads to poor interventions and policies.
The Slavery from Space programme at the University of Nottingham aims to address this problem. The programme uses Earth Observation (EO) to identify and track the scars left on the Earth by the industries with high levels of slavery.
This includes fish processing in Bangladesh, brick-making in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, deforestation in Mozambique, cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, agriculture in Greece, and multiple sectors in Uganda.
This includes fish processing in Bangladesh, brick-making in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, deforestation in Mozambique, cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, agriculture in Greece, and multiple sectors in Uganda.
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
New Google Earth home screen
🌏 Google Earth now has a new homescreen, helping you organize 🗂️ your 🗺️ mapping projects, check it out in this 📽️ 1 min video ✨
— Google Earth (@googleearth) November 18, 2024
👉 https://t.co/AYqPvQcP6C
Monday, November 18, 2024
GIS Day - check out the RGS-IBG resources
GIS Day is this Wednesday 20! Help mark the day by exploring our GIS resources for teachers. 📚
— RGS-IBG Schools (@RGS_IBGschools) November 18, 2024
These educational tools will enable you to bring real-world geography into your classroom and show students the power of GIS. 💻https://t.co/GzjnCSib8l ⬇️#GISday2024
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Scrambled Maps
I've been following Keir Clarke since the early days of Google Earth and he has always shared fascinating map links, many of which I have shared here and on my other blogs.
His latest (ish) is a game he has been developing called Scrambled Maps.
Go here to give it a go.
Living England 2022-3 Habitat Map
The new Living England 2022-23 habitat map is now live! Download freely from https://t.co/rR1gT2IaPl (coming soon on Magic). It’s more reliable & user-friendly than ever - providing essential habitat data for natural capital monitoring across England. pic.twitter.com/5PmDIHjeli
— NE Chief Scientist (@NEChiefSci) November 12, 2024
Visit the link, and see the details in the technical report.
Friday, July 12, 2024
The Power of Where
That's the title of a new book by Jack Dangermond in association with the wider GIS community.
A description:
The Power of Where presents the visionary concepts of Jack Dangermond, cofounder of Esri®, the world’s leading mapping software company. With a foreword by bestselling author and writer for The Atlantic, James Fallows, it’s filled with the latest web maps, illustrations, and real-life stories from a vibrant global community of geographic information systems (GIS) users. If you’ve never heard of GIS, this is the book for you, and if you think you know what GIS is, you’ll discover much more.
From the Ring of Fire to the Fertile Crescent, The Power of Where takes us on a visual and narrative journey into the world of modern GIS and reveals its growing potential to address the world’s greatest challenges. The technology is already ubiquitous, from running city governments and performing civic science to conserving open spaces and managing logistics—virtually every human endeavor.
Central to the book is the geographic approach—a way of solving problems that uses spatial location to perceive and understand patterns—from wildlife migration and rising seas to urban planning and food production. Drawing from 60 years of research and experience, the author writes from a fervent conviction that through this approach, we can confront climate change, hunger, water scarcity, inequity, and issues large and small in our everyday lives.
The book describes the methods of the geographic approach—visualization, communication, analysis, collaboration, accounting, and design—and shows how vast amounts of integrated data are propelling spatial applications into the mainstream. A companion website brings interactive maps and stories to life and serves as a starting point for students and educators—and anyone considering joining the GIS user community.
The Power of Where reveals how technologies such as web services, mobile devices, artificial intelligence, extended reality, and 3D visualization intersect with GIS and outlines the new opportunities they are creating. Its maps and stories arise from a passion for the power of place and from the mutually reinforcing revolutions in Earth observation, analysis, and collaboration that GIS and the human spirit make possible.
Explore live examples from the book and learn more about interactive mapping and the tools of modern GIS
Widely acknowledged as the leading visionary in the field of geographic information system (GIS) technology, Jack Dangermond and his wife, Laura, launched the Environmental Systems Research Institute in 1969 with a shared vision that system thinking along with computer mapping and spatial analysis could help people design a better future. For more than 50 years, their vision has guided Esri’s GIS mapping and analytic technologies worldwide. Jack’s life work has brought many honors, including the Planet and Humanity Medal from the International Geographical Union, the Champions of Earth Award from the United Nations, and the Alexander Graham Bell Medal from the National Geographic Society. Jack and Laura live in their hometown of Redlands, CA, where Esri is based.
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