Tag: Present day

• Every storm since 1851: where hurricanes form, where they hit, and are they getting stronger?

  

  I mapped all 13,186 tropical cyclones in NOAA’s global archive, from depressions to Category 5 typhoons. The number of storms has not changed since 1980, but more of them reach Category 4 or 5 and they peak further from the equator. Before satellites, the record misses too many storms to say much more.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Data bias, history, Natural hazards, Present day, Twentieth century, Victorian, weather and climate, World, world maps

• After the Games: what happens to Olympic venues?

  

  I mapped all 1,153 Olympic venues that Wikipedia lists, from Athens 1896 to Brisbane 2032. The Winter Games have spread from one resort to whole regions, 88 venues served more than one Games, and where the sources say, 70% are still in use.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  buildings, cities, games, Heritage, Present day, sport, Twentieth century, Victorian, Wikidata, Wikipedia, World

• Where the borders are straight: who drew the world’s ruler lines, and is Africa really the straightest?

  

  I measured every land border on Earth. 19% is ruler-straight, and Africa holds 54% of it, but North America is straighter by share. Plus the treaties behind the 40 longest straight lines.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Africa, borders, Empire and colonialism, history, Natural Earth, Present day, World, world maps

• How the world is governed: 197 countries, 112 systems

  

  Democracy or not is only the first question. Compare head of state, executive, federalism, chambers and voting system, and the world’s 197 countries fall into 12 families and 112 exact systems. 80 countries have a system nobody else shares.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Classification, elections, Government, Present day, World, world maps

• Pilgrim roads: there is more of the Way of St James in Germany than in Spain

  

  I measured every waymarked pilgrim route in OpenStreetMap without counting any stretch twice: 77,804 km. 41,674 km lead to Santiago, and Germany has 14,814 km of them against Spain’s 9,922.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Europe, medieval, OpenStreetMap, Present day, religion, Walking routes, Wikidata