USA – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com Blogging about maps since 2003 Wed, 08 May 2024 15:49:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.maproomblog.com/xq/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cropped-logo-2017-04-32x32.jpg USA – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com 32 32 116787204 The Evolution of U.S. Time Zones https://www.maproomblog.com/2024/05/the-evolution-of-u-s-time-zones/ Wed, 08 May 2024 15:49:53 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1830746

A short video from Vivid Maps showing the evolution of time zone boundaries in the United States. (The trend was inexorably westward: Michigan started out completely CST.)

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Adventures in Midcycle Redistricting https://www.maproomblog.com/2024/04/adventures-in-midcycle-redistricting/ Wed, 03 Apr 2024 11:48:55 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1829562 More]]> The U.S. congressional electoral map was redrawn after the 2020 census, but now parts are being redrawn again. ABC News has a page tracking developments in what they call midcycle redistricting. “More than a half-dozen states face the prospect of having to go through the redistricting process again, mostly due to federal and/or state litigation over racial or partisan gerrymandering concerns. Both Democrats and Republicans have the opportunity to flip seats in districts drawn more favorably than they were last cycle. For example, Democrats appear poised to pick up at least one seat in Alabama and could theoretically get more favorable maps in Louisiana and Georgia. Republicans, meanwhile, could benefit from more favorable 2024 maps in North Carolina and New Mexico.”

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xkcd’s Geography Challenge https://www.maproomblog.com/2023/12/xkcds-geography-challenge/ Mon, 18 Dec 2023 14:29:45 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1822446 More]]>
An xkcd comic by Randall Munroe called Label the States
Randall Munroe, “Label the States,” xkcd, 15 Dec 2023.

Stare at this map for a while until you figure out what Randall Munroe has done in last Friday’s xkcd. Then scream. (Kottke says: “This is evil.”) It’s not the first time that xkcd has committed mischief and violence on an outline map of the contiguous United States: see, for example this one, or this one. I worry it may not be the last.

Previously: xkcd’s United States Map; The Contiguous 41 States—Wait, What?

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The Origins of U.S. County Names https://www.maproomblog.com/2023/08/the-origins-of-u-s-county-names/ Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:16:04 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1817984 More]]> Curious about the origins of American place names, Lia Prins built a dataset of U.S. county names and categorized them by what they’re named for and the language they’re named in. There’s an interactive map, detailed inset maps showing how names types are clustered, and a discussion of methodology. [Maps Mania]

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xkcd’s Drainage Basin Deep Cut https://www.maproomblog.com/2023/06/xkcds-drainage-basin-deep-cut/ Mon, 12 Jun 2023 12:36:36 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1815366
An xkcd comic showing a map of drainage basins of the United States, with the title “U.S. Drainage Basins” crossed out and replaced with “Where Alex Mack Will End Up.”
Randall Munroe, “Drainage Basins,” xkcd, 2 June 2023.

This xkcd cartoon requires deep Nickelodeon knowledge to understand.

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Mapping Anti-Trans Legislation Risk https://www.maproomblog.com/2023/05/mapping-anti-trans-legislation-risk/ Thu, 25 May 2023 12:36:10 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1814788 More]]>
A map of the United States showing the risk to the safety and well-being trans people by state legislation.
Erin Reed

There has been an outbreak of anti-trans legislation at the state level in the United States, and Erin Reed has spent the last three years tracking it. Her anti-trans legislative risk map measures the extent to which trans people are endangered by such legislation, whether it’s already on the books or could be the offing before the next election. The map reveals, no surprise, a polarized America: one where some states are racing to put anti-trans laws on the books while others enact protections and set themselves up as safe harbours.

Previously: Mapping Safe Washrooms.

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New Book About Emma Hart Willard https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/11/new-book-about-emma-hart-willard/ Wed, 23 Nov 2022 20:18:58 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1810002 More]]> Book cover: Emma Willard: Maps of HistoryA book about the work of Emma Hart Willard (1787-1870) is coming out this month from Visionary Press. The book, Emma Willard: Maps of History, includes an essay by Susan Schulten (who also edited the book) along with reproductions of Willard’s maps, atlases and time charts (for example, the 1828 set of maps that accompanied her History of the United States, or Republic of America), which proved hugely influential in terms of using maps in pedagogy, as well as historical maps and graphical depictions of time. The book is part of a series, Information Graphic Visionaries, that was the subject of a successful Kickstarter last year. Outside of that crowdfunding campaign, the book can be ordered from the publisher for $95 (it’s on sale right now for $85). [Matthew Edney]

Previously: Emma Willard’s History of the United States; Women in Cartography (Part 3).

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Wildfire Aware https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/09/wildfire-aware/ Fri, 16 Sep 2022 16:30:55 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1809064 More]]>
Screenshot of Wildfire Aware map
Esri (screenshot)

Wildfire Aware is an interactive map of wildfires in the United States that lists fires by the number of personnel fighting them. Selecting a fire brings up a lot more information, drawn on 22 layers from Esri’s ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. [ArcGIS Blog]

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The Climate Shift Index https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/06/the-climate-shift-index/ Thu, 30 Jun 2022 23:45:51 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1807889 More]]> Climate Shift Index map for low temperatures on 14 June 2022

Bloomberg has the story on the Climate Shift Index, which maps the impact of climate change on daily temperatures in the U.S. It doesn’t quite work the way you’d expect at first glance: the index, ranging from -5 to +5, measures the calculated impact of climate change on the current temperatures. This video explains how it works, as does the FAQ.

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One Racial Dot Map Closes, Several New Ones Appear https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/05/one-racial-dot-map-closes-several-new-ones-appear/ Thu, 05 May 2022 19:16:36 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1807200 More]]> Maps Mania reported last month that the University of Virginia’s Racial Dot Map has been taken offline. The proximate causes: the 2020 census, which rendered the map obsolete (it was based on 2010) data; the increased complexity of the 2020 census’s racial data (more people IDing as multiracial or other); and insufficient resources to bring the map up to date given that complexity. But Maps Mania points to a number of new racial dot maps, such as CNN’s and Ben Schmidt’s All of US, which operate despite the caveats identified by UVa; plus see the following previous posts: Census Mapper: An Interactive Map of U.S. Population Changes; Mapping Racial Population Shifts in the United States.

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Mapping Daylight Saving Time https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/03/mapping-daylight-saving-time/ Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:27:03 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1806583 More]]> Daylight saving time has been in the news again, with the U.S. Senate voting to make it permanent year-round. So it’s worth looking at maps that explore the impact of standard time and daylight saving time, and time zones in general, on the time of sunrise and sunset. And as far as the United States is concerned, that means looking at some maps by Andy Woodruff, who’s been exploring this question since at least this 2015 blog post. Which was supplanted in 2019 by this so-called gripe assistant tool to help you quantify your whining about the biannual change.

Map of optimal time zone boundaries (Andy Woodruff)
Andy Woodruff, Axis Maps (Twitter)

Finally, last week Andy produced the above infographic to illustrate your ideal time zone based on when you think your ideal sunrise and sunset is.

See also CityLab’s coverage (now subscriber-only), which is pretty Woodruff-heavy.

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Mapping the Underground Railroad https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/03/mapping-the-underground-railroad/ Sun, 27 Mar 2022 22:57:58 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1806554

Here’s another video, this one associated with the Newberry Library’s Crossings exhibition (previously), that visualizes the stories of three enslaved people who made their way to freedom via the Underground Railroad. [WMS]

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Crossings: An Exhibition at the Newberry Library https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/03/crossings-an-exhibition-at-the-newberry-library/ Thu, 17 Mar 2022 14:48:44 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1806412 More]]> Crossings: Mapping American Journeys, is an exhibition at Chicago’s Newberry Library that explores cross-country journeys of various kinds.

Maps, guidebooks, travelogues, postcards, and more from the Newberry’s collection recreate travelers’ experiences along the northern and southern borders of the US, across the continent’s interior, and up and down the Mississippi River.

These cross-country paths have been in use for centuries whether by water, railroad, car, or airplane. And they’ve remained remarkably consistent despite changes in transportation, commerce, and the people who’ve used them.

But not everyone has experienced travel and mobility equally. The same paths meant “discovery” to the European explorer, freedom to the enslaved, and loss and removal for Indigenous nations.

Crossings shows how centuries of movement—from the Lewis and Clark expedition to the American road trip—have forged deep relationships between people and places that survive to this day.

Crossings opened on February 25 and runs until June 25. Free admission; masks required.

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The Atlantic on the Board of Geographic Names https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/02/the-atlantic-on-the-board-of-geographic-names/ Thu, 03 Feb 2022 23:57:29 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1805974 More]]> The Atlantic’s David A. Graham looks at the history and painstaking deliberation of the Board of Geographic Names. “Usually, the public eye is far from the BGN, a member of the class of government bodies whose work you could go a lifetime without thinking about, even though it’s all around you. But the board now finds itself in the middle of the fiery national debate over racism and language. In recent years, the BGN has spent more of its time reconsidering offensive names than doing anything else, but the process typically takes months and is reactive by design, with names considered case by case upon request.” [MAPS-L]

Previously: Secretary Haaland Takes Action Against Derogatory Place Names.

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COVID-19 Deaths in the Post-Vaccine Era https://www.maproomblog.com/2022/01/covid-19-deaths-in-the-post-vaccine-era/ Mon, 03 Jan 2022 23:40:43 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1805827 More]]>
Maps from the New York Times showing in which U.S. counties COVID deaths increased or decreased after vaccines became widely available.
The New York Times

The New York Times looks at the death rates from COVID-19 after vaccines became widely available. Along with analyses of racial and age groups, there is this on the geographic front: “Where people are dying of Covid-19 also has changed since vaccines became widely available. Death rates fell in most counties across the country, and in about one in five counties, the death rate fell by more than half. But in about one in 10 counties, death rates have more than doubled.”

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How Redistricting Is Changing the Congressional Map https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/12/how-redistricting-is-changing-the-congressional-map/ Fri, 17 Dec 2021 00:40:41 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1805693 More]]> The Washington Post looks at how redistricting has changed the U.S. congressional electoral map so far. “As of Dec. 15, half of the 50 states have settled on the boundaries for 165 of 435 U.S. House districts. […] The Washington Post is using the number of Trump and Biden voters within old and new district boundaries, according to data collected by Decision Desk HQ, to show how the districts have changed politically. As more states finalize their maps, we’ll add them to this page to give a fuller picture of what to expect in the midterms.”

Previously: A Redistricting Roundup; The Washington Post Examines Proposed Congressional District Maps.

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Census Mapper: An Interactive Map of U.S. Population Changes https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/11/census-mapper-an-interactive-map-of-u-s-population-changes/ Tue, 23 Nov 2021 00:27:17 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1805466 More]]>
Census Mapper (screenshot)
Screenshot

Census Mapper maps the change in the U.S. population revealed by the 2020 census: the interactive map takes a county-by-county look at population growth (or decline) of the various ethnic/racial groups. [Maps Mania]

Previously: Mapping Racial Population Shifts in the United States.

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Secretary Haaland Takes Action Against Derogatory Place Names https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/11/secretary-haaland-takes-action-against-derogatory-place-names/ Tue, 23 Nov 2021 00:15:19 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1805461 More]]> We’ve seen efforts to replace racist and offensive place names in the past, but in general they’ve happened at the state or provincial level. But on Friday U.S. interior secretary Deb Haaland took action at the federal level. She issued two orders designed to speed up the replacement of derogatory place names, the process for which to date has been on a case-by-case, complaint-based basis. One order declares “squaw” to be an offensive term and directs the Board of Geographic Names to change place names on federal lands that use the term; the other establishes a federal advisory committee on derogatory geographic names.

Previously: Maine Reviews Registry Containing Racist Place Names; Racist Place Names in Quebec, Removed in 2015, Remain on Maps; Washington State Senator Seeks Removal of Offensive Place Names; Review: From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow.

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A Redistricting Roundup https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/10/a-redistricting-roundup/ Tue, 12 Oct 2021 22:21:34 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791870 More]]>
The New York Times (screenshot)

Gerrymandering in Texas

The New York Times and Texas Monthly look at the bizarre shapes in the new congressional electoral map of Texas, which gains two new representatives. Texas Monthly’s Dan Solomon: “Across the state, there will be one more majority-Anglo district than under the prior map, and one fewer majority-Hispanic one. The two new seats Texas was awarded for its booming population will be placed in Austin and Houston—and even though non-Anglo newcomers made up 95 percent of the state’s population growth the last decade, both districts will be Anglo-majority.” Kenneth Field has some thoughts. [Maps Mania]

Making Redistricting More Fair

A Surge of Citizen Activism Amps Up the Fight Against Gerrymandering (Bloomberg): “From North Carolina to Michigan to California, voting rights groups, good government advocates, data crunchers and concerned voices are finding new ways into the fight for fair representation, via informational meetings, mapping contests, testimony workshops and new technologies.”

Can Math Make Redistricting More Fair? (CU Boulder Today): “Clelland doesn’t advocate for any political party or for any particular redistricting proposal. Instead, she and her colleagues use mathematical models to build a series of redistricting statistics. These numbers give redistricting officials a baseline that they can compare their own maps to, potentially identifying cases of gerrymandering before they’re inked into law.”

Previously: The Washington Post Examines Proposed Congressional District Maps.

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COVID-19 in the U.S. in 60 Seconds https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/10/covid-19-in-the-u-s-in-60-seconds/ Mon, 11 Oct 2021 13:43:46 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791857 More]]>

Another time-lapse map of the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, this one from David A. West, who posted the above to r/dataisbeautiful on Reddit. This one shows new cases per capita on a county-by-county basis.

Previously: COVID-19 Spreading Across the United States.

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COVID-19 Spreading Across the United States https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/10/covid-19-spreading-across-the-united-states/ Thu, 07 Oct 2021 12:27:05 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791819 More]]>

Using Johns Hopkins University data, Nicholas Bauer has created this time-lapse map showing the spread of COVID-19 across the United States. This pandemic has been described as having waves; now you can watch them ripple across the continent. [Kottke]

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The Washington Post Examines Proposed Congressional District Maps https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/09/the-washington-post-examines-proposed-congressional-district-maps/ Wed, 29 Sep 2021 18:21:36 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791779 More]]>
The Washington Post (screenshot)

Redistricting—and gerrymandering—is one of the blacker cartographic arts. With the release of data from the 2020 U.S. Census, and the changes in state congressional delegations—some states gain a seat or two, some states lose a seat, others are unchanged—new congressional maps are being drawn up for the 2022 elections. The Washington Post takes a look at proposed congressional district maps in Colorado, Indiana and Oregon, and what their impact may be.

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FCC Releases 4G/LTE Availability Map https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/09/fcc-releases-4g-lte-availability-map/ Wed, 01 Sep 2021 19:00:42 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791646 More]]> Last month the U.S. Federal Communications Commission released an interactive map showing 4G/LTE cellular voice and data coverage in the United States from the four major providers. This is the first FCC map released under the 2020 Broadband DATA Act, which mandated better maps than the FCC has been producing in the past (previously). [The Verge]

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Mapping ICU Capacity During the Delta Wave https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/08/mapping-icu-capacity-during-the-delta-wave/ Wed, 18 Aug 2021 14:27:20 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791594 More]]>
New York Times map of ICU capacity in the United States
The New York Times (screenshot)

Thanks to a combination of low vaccination rates and the COVID-19 Delta variant, intensive care wards are filling up across the United States. The New York Times maps one of the more disturbing metrics of the pandemic: the percentage of occupied ICU beds by hospital region.

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Mapping Racial Population Shifts in the United States https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/08/mapping-racial-population-shifts-in-the-united-states/ Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:32:25 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791589
Washington Post map of demographic changes in the United States
The Washington Post (screenshot)

As part of its extensive coverage of the 2020 census, the Washington Post maps the changes in the U.S.’s ethnic/racial makeup, and where it’s been changing.

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CDC Vaccination Maps https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/07/cdc-vaccination-maps/ Fri, 09 Jul 2021 18:49:59 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791406 More]]>
Screenshot of CDC Covid Data Tracker map showing county-level vaccination equity in the United States
CDC (screenshot)

Maps tracking the progress of the U.S.’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign at the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker (now) include an interactive county-level map showing first and second doses among 12+, 18+ and 65+ populations and a map of vaccine equity (above): a bivariate choropleth map showing the relationship between vaccination coverage and social vulnerability (housing, vehicle access, general poverty).

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xkcd: ‘No, The Other One’ https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/06/xkcd-no-the-other-one/ Thu, 24 Jun 2021 00:29:03 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791321
Randall Munroe, “No, The Other One,” xkcd, 23 June 2021.

How this map isn’t nothing but Columbuses and Springfields, I have no idea.

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River Runner https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/06/river-runner/ Thu, 03 Jun 2021 00:06:41 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791190 More]]> Sam Learner’s River Runner is an amazing visualization that traces the path of a raindrop falling anywhere in the contiguous United States to where it reaches the ocean or leaves U.S. territory. “It’ll find the closest river/stream flowline coordinate to a click/search and then animate along that flowline’s downstream path.” It’s a tad resource-intensive, and if you end up in the Mississippi basin it will take a while (and make clear just how big that river system is), but it’s absolutely transfixing.

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Mapping NOAA’s New Climate Normals https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/05/mapping-noaas-new-climate-normals/ Thu, 13 May 2021 22:35:32 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1790963 More]]> This month NOAA updated the official U.S climate normals. You know how in a weather forecast a meteorologist talks about normal temperatures or normal amounts of rain? The climate normals define what normal is: they take into account weather over the past 30 years, and are updated every 10 years. As you might expect, the normals do reveal the extent of climate change.

NOAA

NOAA compares the new 1991-2020 normals period with the one that came before (1981-2010): “Most of the U.S. was warmer, and the eastern two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. was wetter, from 1991–2020 than the previous normals period, 1981–2010. The Southwest was considerably drier on an annual basis, while the central northern U.S. has cooled somewhat.” (Bear in mind that there’s a 20-year overlap between the two normals.)

The New York Times (screenshot)

The New York Times has created a series of animated maps showing how 30-year normals compare with 20th-century averages for temperature and precipitation. “The maps showing the new temperature normals every 10 years, compared with the 20th century average, get increasingly redder.”

The data is available from NOAA’s website.

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U.S. COVID Vaccination Rates and Active Cases https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/05/u-s-covid-vaccination-rates-and-active-cases/ Tue, 11 May 2021 15:35:15 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1790922 More]]>
Screenshot of an interactive bivariate choropleth map showing COVID vaccination rates and active cases in the United States.
McKinsey & Company (screenshot)

This interactive map compares U.S. COVID vaccination rates with active cases at the county level. Created by McKinsey and Company’s COVID Response Center, it’s a bivariate choropleth map that shows two variables at once. (If this confuses you, the legend helps.) It’s a good way to see where low vaccination rates correlate with lots of COVID cases (red on this map), or high vaccination rates with few cases (teal); the map lets you explore other variables as well. [Maps Mania]

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