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Recently in the British news, in between snap elections and increased tensions in North Korea, there has been coverage of Prince Harry and William’s admirable openness about their mental health and drive to increase awareness about this important issue. It is totally understandable that given the sudden death of their mother in 1997, that this would have a profound impact on one’s mental health, especially given the exposure in the public eye too. Mental health problems aren’t rare; they affect 1 in 4 of UK population with no single cause. While there is variation by socioeconomic position and genetic predisposition, illnesses like depression and anxietyRead More →

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Football is perhaps the true global game, but is it played on a level playing field, particularly economically? Most of you probably know the answer to this, but the relationship between performance and strength economically, and sporting ability and opportunity is still an interesting one. National team football is a better way to analyse this, given the great financial disparities in club football to buy the best talent and that national identity is a more static attribute. Now, I realise that some may love football/sport, some may loathe or have little interest for it. However, exploring the relationship between football and economics tells us something deeperRead More →

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I’m a self confessed Dutchophile. There’s something about the colour ‘Oranje’, the unique sound of the language (which I’m ‘trying’ to learn), the windmills, clogs, tulips, hagelslag, stroopwafels, Edam cheese and (until recently challenged) liberal attitudes. I feel there is much to admire about the resourcefulness of the people of the Netherlands, once a economic powerhouse in the 1600s, where making the most of limited land has been vital. This was particularly embodied by the philosophy of ‘Totaal’, where the ability of space to have multiple uses influenced (particularly architectural) philosophies within the general liberal Dutch culture of the 20th Century. Famously, this was reflectedRead More →

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It’s been a while since I’ve added to this feature for various reasons, but thanks to the ‘The Pudding‘, a superb infographics and ‘visual essay’ based site, there is a excellent and important entry for Map of the Day. The Shape of Slavery evidences historical and modern day racism, by providing geographical representations of the areas of United States of America where proportion of African-Americans have been over time, the numbers of slaves up until it was outlawed, and the number of (black) incarcerations per state. This is a well designed and thought out web map, which utlises topojson.js and other Javascript libraries, to tie inRead More →

Cartogram of Female Workforce

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Another day, and another ‘international [insert here] day’. However, unlike ‘International Toast Day’ (15th July for those interested), today, 8th March, was one that actually had great significance – International Women’s Day. Despite being a guy,  I recognise that while progress has been made, we are still some way of gender equality. Given that 50% of the world’s population is female, and there is no logical reason why income, job, social, educational opportunities and choices shouldn’t be the same as men – this situation isn’t good enough. However I don’t feel I should go on further, as I don’t think I can do the topic ofRead More →

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Mapping of the Arctic region has historically proved to be a challenge for cartographers and geo-scientists, though as referred to in a previous article (see here),  local knowledge is valuable in contributing to knowledge of the often perceived ‘wilderness’ by ‘Westerners’. In many ways, as alluded to in Alastair Bonnett’s brilliant book, Off the Map, despite living in an age of digital mapping, there is much geographic knowledge still to be discovered. This is perhaps most relevant and important, given global warming, in the Arctic region, and two recent articles associated to this piqued my interest in this area, and thought it would be aRead More →

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Happy St David’s Day/Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus to all those around the world with Welsh links or sympathies. For those unaware, St David’s Day on 1st March,  is the national day of Wales, celebrating the saint day of the patron saint of Wales, David, and is an excuse (if ever needed) to stock up on Welsh flags, sup some Brains Beer, tuck into Welsh rarebit and Welsh cakes, and sing Calon Lân while watching reruns of Wales beating England in rugby. With all stereotypes out the way, the nation building of Wales/Cymru is an interesting one. The history is uncertain, but Wales has it’s originsRead More →

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Whether you drive an electric car, a ‘normal’ car, or don’t drive at all, this web and mobile (Android and iOS) application from ZapMap is well worth taking a look at. Powered by Google Maps API, this mapping tool provides the locations of electric car chargers, providing pop up boxes with the latest status of these charging points, types and directions on how to get there. Although the shading of the vector tiles is a bit gaudy, with an ability to log in, map and comment on charging points, there is potential for up-to-date community empowered mapping to provide latest running statuses and charging locations.Read More →

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Today’s map of the day touches on the thorny issue of…politics, though I’m not going to get into a political discussion; if you want to, please got the usual channels, i.e. YouTube comments section. This map from the Economist Intelligent Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index is a simple, clear, but informative map (click here for full interactive version here).Read More →

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Whilst at university, as a geography undergraduate, I was used to hearing the old stereotype that my course was all about ‘colouring in’. Part of me wished it was a case of choosing the right crayons… However, a few years down the line, in the world of geospatial analysis, besides all the fascinating analysis we do, sometimes the basics of picking the right colours is indeed important to make output legible and accessible. Although ArcGIS and other GIS packages provide built in colour transitions and symbologies, sometimes, especially with web development, a surprising amount of time can be taken getting colours correct, whether this beRead More →