Plasticine Earth / / No Comments Google Arts & Culture has used AI to turn the world into colorful dough. In this game your task is to identify famous cultural monuments around the world while turning unformed blobs of plasticine into colorful 3d models of the very same monuments.Each game of Google Un-Dough starts with a 3D plasticine globe. To begin the game you just need to spin this globe and select the country whose Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: Earth, Plasticine
Mapping the Drift-backing of Refugees / / No Comments ‘Drift-back’ is a controversial practice which is used by some coast guard services, particularly in the Aegean Sea, to deter asylum seekers and prevent them from reaching their intended destination. It involves intercepting boats carrying asylum seekers within EU territorial waters, then forcing them back towards the country they departed from. This is sometimes allegedly done by loading Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: Driftbacking, Mapping, refugees
The Interactive Turbulence Map / / No Comments Are you hoping for a smooth flight? This map predicts turbulence on your flight, warning of potential bumpy patches on your journey. Enter your flight details into the map and it will provide real-time turbulence forecasts with color-coded severity levels, updated every 6 hours. The Interactive Turbulence Map shows you how much turbulence you can expect on your flight. Enter the name of Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: Interactive, Turbulence
Using AI to Beat TimeGuessr / / No Comments I am currently working on a project which requires me to identify the locations depicted in works of art (more about this, hopefully, very soon). In order to narrow down the exact locations shown in the paintings I have begun to use two AI image identification tools GeoSpy and Bard.The sketch shown at the top of this post is the ‘Tour de Montelban, Amsterdam’ by Maxime Lalanne. I downloaded Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: beat, TimeGuessr, using
Reconstructing the Ancient Trade Routes / / No Comments Voyage with a Tail Wind: Chronicles of Ancient Maritime Journeys uses an ancient 15th Century book to reconstruct the trade routes used by Chinese spice traders during the Ming Dynasty. The Voyage with a Tail Wind or Shun Feng Xiang Song is a Chinese manuscript, dating from around 1403, which documents the maritime routes, coastal landmarks, and navigational hazards encountered by Chinese Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: Ancient, Reconstructing, Routes, Trade
Mapping Conflicts Around the World / / No Comments At the beginning of 2024 the specter of military conflicts haunts the world. Israel is engaged in conflict in Gaza, Russia continues its illegal invasion of Ukraine and the Syrian civil war is now in its thirteenth year. In response to the spreading threat of global conflicts a number of organizations have now released interactive maps dedicated to tracking the progress of military action around Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: around, Conflicts, Mapping, World
The Bike Map / / No Comments Biking directions are very difficult. There are a few factors which are important to cyclists which most route planners tend to avoid. When I’m planning a bike route I usually consider the amount of road traffic (e.g. are there bike lanes available), elevation, and road surface (e.g. avoiding cobbles). I actually have a little test route which I use for previewing route planning maps for Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: bike
The Daily Explorer / / No Comments Oison Carroll’s Travle is a fun daily puzzle which requires players to travel between two different countries on an interactive map in the least possible moves. Every day Travle publishes a new map, which is blank except for two highlighted countries. All you have to do is journey from one of the highlighted countries to the other by typing in the names of the countries you could travel Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: Daily, Explorer