In 1977, the Kinney Shoe Corporation, in cooperation with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness put out a series of walking tour brochures for historical sites across the United States. Perhaps the idea was, walk more, wear down your shoes and buy some more.

Here is an example from Paterson, New Jersey, “America’s first great industrial city”. Alexander Hamilton saw the power potential of the Great Falls of the Passaic River, the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River.

The walks range from rustic, historic ambles (I chose this one for both personal history and because it’s near where I’m writing this from),

 to college towns,

 to downtown tours,

 museum and garden loops,

and finally to a “redwood grove near Santa Cruz”.

Along the way, you learn about the ghosts of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Mann and John O'Hara haunting the libraries and tap rooms of Princeton, Chicago's architecture, the friendliness of Woodstock, Illinois, miscellaneous redwood facts and that Scottsdale, Arizona has some of the "prettiest women".
 

Emancipation National Historic Trail

It took over two years for the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Galveston, Texas. Specifically June 19, 1965 hence the Juneteenth holiday. Galveston was the largest slave market west of New Orleans. The newly emancipated fled Galveston to Freedmen's Town and other parts of Houston that had large African American communities.

via Texas Highways

In 2019 the US House of Representatives passed the Emancipation National Historic Trail Act. This act would create the second National Historic Trail centered on the African American experience, after the Selma to Montgomery trail in Alabama. The map above traces the approximate route of this trail.

Hurricane Footage from Snap Map

I don't spend much time with social media. As a result, I've been missing one of the bigger map stories of the year, the growth of Snapchat's Snap Map. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have brought Snapchat to the forefront of media coverage. 

Image via Elite Daily

According to Elite Daily, when Irma made landfall Snapchat received 250,000 submissions within 24 hours. These numbers are way higher than the already high 100,000 daily submissions from Hurricane Harvey. Major media outlets used these pictures and videos in their coverage. The map part of the app is useful to focus on what is happening in specific geographic areas.

Image via Recode

The yellow-red colors in the background show where larger concentrations of posts are geotagged. Zoom in to see more Snapchat pictures and videos. Here's an example via Recode.

Early previews of the mapping function focused on it as a fun way to send your private data to corporations.

Having fun at the club!!!

It's somewhat ironic then that it has become a way to voyeuristically watch people's lives get torn apart by natural disasters.

NOTE: I tried to get Snapchat on my old phone so I could see for myself and get my own images for this post. Unfortunately I do not have enough storage on my phone to download the app. Sorry that I have to rely on second hand images like the ones above instead of providing original content.

Awful Hurricane Inspires Cartographic Greatness

At the risk of minimizing an awful tragedy, Hurricane Harvey has inspired some wonderful maps, particularly from the New York Times and Washington Post. This animation from the Times is spectacular. Click the play button and watch it unfold.

With over 48 inches of rain, Harvey set a record for total rainfall from a tropical system in the continental U.S. https://t.co/0eFyv3RIby pic.twitter.com/S27hXOxhPm

— NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) August 29, 2017

The subtle dark circles indicating areas of peak rainfall create a remarkable sense of the storm's movement.

The Washington Post's cube showing the total rainfall is also pretty remarkable.

This only shows what rain had fallen as of August 27th so the situation has gotten much worse. In fact, here is an animation they just put on Twitter.

What would it look like if all 19 trillion gallons of water that fell on Southeast Texas since Friday were collected into a cube? pic.twitter.com/Cuq5VlqWsP

— Post Graphics (@PostGraphics) August 30, 2017

They did a nice job highlighting buildings and areas on the background map.

The total rainfall map is also quite striking. I lost the text on the image below but you almost don't need it. You can see the entire map with city labels, precipitation totals, legends and all by clicking on the picture.

Their map of rain gauges is also excellent.The arrows almost give it a three dimensional effect.

I tried to break out of the New York/Washington media to see what other maps are out there but these really are much better than anything else I've seen. The Houston Chronicle has little to offer for maps though they do have an impressive collection of photos of the devastation and rescue efforts. What is encouraging is to see many articles about cooking, sports and politics showing that life is getting back to normal for at least some people in the area.

What Could Disappear

The New York Times recently put out these interactive maps showing what areas of various US cities could disappear from rising sea levels if they are not protected. The page is a bit alarmist because the map defaults to the most extreme scenario - a 25 foot sea level rise. This is the "potential level in coming centuries" not the "probable level in about 100 to 300 years." In the extreme view you can say goodbye to Miami, New Orleans, Norfolk, Atlantic City, and most of Souf Philly, Cambridge, Mass. and Charleston:

The 5 foot rise view gives a more realistic picture of what to expect in the coming century. This also gives a good picture of areas likely to flood in an extreme storm event. Here are some examples:

Miami looks mostly OK but Miami Beach is 94% gone and the western suburbs are also looking wet.

New Orleans is in trouble again. In fact the 5 foot model is not much better than the 25 foot (88% flooded in the city and surrounding areas in the next 100 to 300 years.)

 


















Houston is dry but 68% of Galveston is under water.

Here's an animation I created for Savannah from present to the extreme followed by a side by side comparison between the 5 foot model and the 25 foot model.

Another Texas Redistricting Fight

The Texas Legislature drew the new congressional district map to protect Republican incumbents. However, the map may be in violation of the Voting Rights Act because it suppresses the opportunity for minority representation. Texas has gained four new seats in congress because of its population growth - 65% of which came from Hispanics. As a result a federal court in San Antonio has drawn their own map. This map could result in Democrats gaining up to four new seats. Here are the maps via the Houston Chronicle.

The fight is going to the Supreme Court and if not acted upon quickly will force the state to delay its April primary for a month or longer.

One person who seems to be having fun with this process is Texas Tribune illustrator Todd Wiseman. Here are some of his variations on a theme: