New Orleans Mapped: Post Katrina

Five years ago New Orleans was devastated by floods caused by Hurricane Katrina. It was one of America's worst ever natural disasters.

Whilst some areas, such as the French Quarter have recovered and other areas are being rebuilt, some areas, like the New Orleans East area are still almost completely abandoned. The New Orleans East area used to have a population of more than 100,000 it now has a population of around 7,000.

Back in 2005 Nova created a New Orleans Flood Map that allows you to view an overlay of the flood over your home town. The map now looks very basic but it is still an effective way to visualise the sheer scope of the floods. 



If you zoom in on your part of the U.S. you can see the overlay superimposed on your home. The blue overlay only shows flooding in New Orleans proper. Additional flooding occurred in other suburbs.

New Orleans Repopulation Map

162,115 households received mail in June 2010, in New Orleans, compared to 203,457 in June 2005. The U.S. Census Bureau's methods for estimating population can't keep up with the extraordinary situation post-Katrina so looking at residential addresses actively receiving mail is one way that population can be estimated.

This map from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center shows residential addresses actively receiving mail by census block in New Orleans. The mailing list data represents the number of residential addresses per block where the mailman knows someone picks up the mail.

The map shows the population density in June 2010, the darker the shade the higher the density. If you zoom in on a block you can see the June 2005 households compared to the most recent figures.

New Orleans Redevelopment Authority

The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority are using Google Maps to help show the condition of properties in New Orleans.

The Authority's Project Search lets you search for projects and current Requests for Proposals in its database. If you search for a New Orleans neighborhood you are presented with a list of properties. If you click on the 'more details' link next to a property you can view photographs of the property and view its location on a static Google Map.

World Wide Store Locator on Google Maps

Vitra

The Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra has a global dealer network so it is important that customers around the world can quickly find the dealer that is best for them. Vitra has therefore used Google Maps to create a store locator service to enable customers to find their local Vitra dealer.

It is possible to search the map for a Vitra dealer by entering a street, city or zip code. It is also possible to refine the results displayed on the map by type of Vitra dealer. If you click on a dealer's map marker you can get the dealer's full address, a breakdown of Vitra products offered and driving directions.

The Vitra Google Map was developed with the Weisso Pinpoint location finder.

More Open Government with Google Maps

Iconomical is a web design company that specialises in data visualisation. The company have produced two excellent Google Maps to help visualise UK Government data.

Research Funding Explorer

The UK's Department for Business Innovation and Skill has produced a great Google Maps time-line to show research funding in the country over the last ten years.

If you press play on the time-line (below the map) you can view an animated visualisation of where in the UK investment has been made. As the animation plays a heat map is generated on the Google Map and a bar chart besides the map is also animated.

London Gazette - Pollution Prevention & Control

The London Gazette is the UK's official newspaper of record for recording and disseminating official, regulatory and legal information. Iconomical have produced a data visualisation tool that lets users browse the paper's Pollution Prevention & Control notices. 

The visualisation shows all notices for 2008 and 2009. The papers are shown stacked in a time-line beside a Google Map. When you select a paper from the stack you can view the same notice on a Google Map to help find the location of applicants and where notices were issued. 

Go East!

The Google Earth and Maps Imagery team has just finished rolling out new imagery across the globe, including a significant amount of aerial imagery in Eastern Europe. It's been a while since we had a big update in that part of the world, and there are a ton of fantastic sights for all you armchair geographers out there to explore. Break out the Slavic dictionary, crank up the techno, and start zooming in!

Wawel Castle, Krakow, Poland

Airport/Racetrack, Dolna Mitropoliya, Bulgaria

Struga, Macedonia

High Resolution Aerial Updates:
USA: Pittsburgh, Kane County (IL)
Poland: Krakow, Tarnow, Nowy Sacz, Bielsko-Biala, Zory, Chorzow, Krosno, Kolbuszowa, Chorzow, Czestochowa, Kielce, Radomsko, Belchatow, Skarzysko-Kamienna, Kielce, Starachowice, Radom, Ostrowiec, Pulawy, Zamosc, Jelenia Gora, Swidnica, Glogow,
Czech Republic: Vysocina, Jihomoravsky, Olomoucky, Moravskoslezsky
Macedonia: entire country

Countries receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:
Cuba, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Murkina Faso, Nigeria, Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Iran, Pakistan, India, China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Japan, North Korea, Mongolia

Countries receiving Medium Resolution Satellite Updates:
Myanmar

These updates are currently only available in Google Earth, but they'll also be in Google Maps soon. To get a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download this KML for viewing in Google Earth.

Google Maps Bike Route Reporting System

Meldsysteem Bewegwijzering Fietsroutenetwerken

This Google Maps Mashup wins the Longest Name of the Year Award. Luckily it also qualifies for the award for most useful Google Maps Mashup for Dutch Cyclists.

Meldsysteem Bewegwijzering Fietsroutenetwerken is a Google Maps based system for reporting problems on bicycle routes in the Netherlands. The map uses shape files from the Landelijk Fietsplaform (National Bicycle Platform) to automatically determine where a report should be sent. When a user makes a report the right maintenance authority will get the report. The authority can also use the system to report when/if the reported problem will be fixed.

It is possible for any website or blog to embed the system using an embeddable widget.

The reporting system was created using GeoStart a product of SWIS.

Hurricane Tracker Bing Maps

*Hurricane Danielle is now a category 4 (major hurricane)

See current locations, forecast paths and detailed stats for any active hurricane this season (2010)

Currently Hurricane Danielle 2010 - Currently Category 4

• Profile view of wind speed & forecast wind
• Animated symbols
• Lighten darken map
• Possible forecast error shown

View the Hurricane Bing Map
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26295161/

source:
http://bingmapswatch.blogspot.com/2010/08/hurricane-tracker-bing-maps.html

Finding Wall Mural Art with Google Maps

Mural Locator

The Mural Locator helps people locate murals around the world. The site contains a growing database of locations, photos, and documentation about murals and provides a handy Google Map so that you can quickly and easily find murals near your location.

The map uses marker clustering so you can tell at a glance how many murals are listed at a particular location. As you zoom in on the map individual murals are indicated with their own individual markers.

If you click on a map marker you can view a photograph of the mural and click through to get further details, such as the address and a description of the mural. If you know of a mural that isn't already listed you can submit its location by completing a short form.

More awesome images from Astro Wheels; this time it's the Great Barrier Reef

We mentioned astronaut Douglas Wheelock (aka @Astro_Wheels) a few months ago, showing off a great photo he captured of an atoll from the Line Islands.

A few days ago, he posted a stunning image of the Great Barrier Reef, just off the east coast of Australia.

As I often love to do, I spent some time to find this location in Google Earth and lay out his image as a Image Overlay. It took a while a to find this precise location, as it's just a small dot in the great Reef, but I was able to track it down. You can download the KML file here or just view the full image on TwitPic (normal - full size).

If you're on Twitter, you should certainly follow him, or you can just subscribe to the feed for his images using Google Reader or similar.

He's posted a lot of great stuff over the past few months. Which image of his is your favorite?

Using Google Base with Google Maps

The Big Property List

Google Maps offers the option to search for real estate in a number of countries now. The data for properties shown on Google Maps actually comes from Google Base. This of course means that anyone can set up their own website to also access these real estate listings using the Google Base API. That is exactly what The Big Property List have done.

One of the major criticisms of Google Maps' real estate option is that users actually want to view property listings in a list format. The Big Property List have tackled this criticism head-on by creating a familiar portal style listings interface for real estate in the UK.

The home page of the site includes a map so that users can quickly click on the region that they want to search. The properties for that region are then shown in a familiar list style. It is possible to refine the search by type of property, price range and number of bedrooms.

When you click on a property you are then taken to a dedicated page containing the full property details and a Google Map showing the location of the property.

Google Maps on Canvas

Wish You Were Here

Megan Scheminske is an artist based in Portland, OR. Megan has produced two series of minimalist paintings, 'Wish You Were Here' and 'You Are Here', that are inspired by Google Maps. Megan even has a Google Map with photographs of the paintings in the 'You Are Here' series showing the locations they depict.

The 'Wish You Were Here' project is six 12" x 12" paintings on canvas depicting compositions culled from Google Maps. Each "location" lies somewhere within the five boroughs of New York City. The locations for the paintings were chosen solely on the basis of their abstract aesthetics.

Also See

The Virtual Paintout

The Virtual Paintout is a blog that is encouraging the use of Google Street View as a resource for virtually travelling the world to find interesting locations and subjects to paint.

Each month a new city is chosen and artists can then use Google Street View to find a subject to paint.