Tag: Present day

• The middle of nowhere: the places on Earth farthest from any town

  

  I measured how far every point on land is from the nearest town of 1,000 people. A quarter of the land outside Antarctica is more than 100 km from one; the most landlocked place on Earth is just 65 km from one; and Britain’s middle of nowhere is near Cape Wrath.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Britain, cities, GeoNames, landscape, Natural Earth, Present day, Remoteness and access, World, world maps

• Where the world’s islands are

  

  I counted every island in a detailed open map of the world’s shorelines: 181,588 of them, 23,150 over a square kilometre. Canada has the most, and 10.3% of the world’s people live on one.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  coast and sea, Coasts and islands, Natural Earth, population, Present day, World, world maps

• 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