Showing posts with label north dakota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label north dakota. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Mapping the Nuclear Fear

I've lived in many different places in the United States and one thing that people in every place seem to have in common is the belief that their region is a primary nuclear target. I came across this map on a Reddit thread that I can no longer locate. The thread was full of anecdotes from all over the country of people being told that their town was one of the top targets of the Soviet Union back in the Cold War days.
The map is from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and dated September, 1990. Though I lost the thread, it was posted by Daniel Reetz. Here is the caption
Reddit is full of these kinds of maps and threads. Some of the maps are based on out of date information and show decommissioned sites. Here is a typical example of one of these maps showing two different scenarios - the black dots are mostly military installations while purple triangles are population centers. The comments are filled with people who are either proud to live in a targeted area or sad that their town isn't important enough to nuke. 
https://external-preview.redd.it/XRkc93B75o_newgXSZwdVV2Lwnkcnqvpc0wvmOowtu4.jpg?auto=webp&s=aed5129645baeadf7887451dbb9d69cf247a69f9
Here is another map focused on the military installations with the colors representing fallout areas.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1ym41m/femaestimated_primary_targets_for_soviet_icbms/
Here are evacuation routes for St Louis County via Reddit- this assumes an attack on downtown when there may be various other targets throughout the city and county.
https://external-preview.redd.it/FQoRGhom7-6tOP8YnQjScrRz-7JXidJ42YQkCH5ajQY.jpg?auto=webp&s=3164854ad6e731a9d8d7723b76312100405baa83
Of course, the United States was not the only place threatened. Here is a scary map of a 1970 Warsaw Pact plan for attack on northwestern Europe - highlighting the Copenhagen region of Denmark, via War is Boring.
Australia too-click for link.
https://antinuclear.net/2014/10/18/us-spy-facilities-at-pine-gap-and-nurrungar-are-targeted-by-russian-nuclear-missiles/
Here is a very detailed map of places in Russia (and Manchuria) targeted by the United States in 1945.
http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1945-Russian-and-Manchurian-Strategic-Urban-Areas.jpg
This map is from the Nuclear Secrecy blog, a blog that also features Nukemap, where you can choose your bomb and location and see where the  extent of destruction. There are more recent maps showing the primary targets in Russia that I am not authorized to show (though you can Google them) - mostly production facilities for various metals and oil refineries.

Here is a communist propaganda map showing Russia encircled.
Finally here is a real estate agent's map of where it is safe to buy real estate in the event of an all out nuclear attack on the U.K.'s to 20 cities - via the Shropshire Star.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/viral-news/2017/08/11/an-estate-agent-has-drawn-up-a-map-showing-the-best-places-to-avoid-nuclear-fallout/
See you in Lancaster, or Aberystwyth.


Thursday, June 22, 2017

Fifty Fantasy States

Chris Engelsma is working on creating fantasy maps for the 50 states using toponyms - translations of place names to their original meanings. Here is North Dakota , aka Northern Land of Friends.
https://50fantasystates.tumblr.com/post/161750918716/northern-land-of-friends-a-toponymic-fantasy-style
Here is a nice detail from Idaho (Light on the Mountains) showing the light on the mountains
https://50fantasystates.tumblr.com/post/155699376321/light-on-the-mountains-a-toponymic-fantasy-style
10 states are completed. Prints are available on his Etsy page. This also includes his map of Australia.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/520557874/illustrated-toponymic-fantasy-style-map?ref=shop_home_feat_3

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Maps in Unexpected Places - Part 1

This is the first of an occasional series highlighting maps in, you know, unexpected places. I saw this map of the Underground Railroad on a U-Haul truck this morning.


You can see all the states and Canadian provinces at U-Haul's online super graphics page.

Other map oriented truck graphics include North Dakota...


















...and one of my personal favorites, Pennsylvania.



The "Did you know..." texts from these images:

Ontario: Abolishing slavery decades earlier than the U.S., Canada became a haven for enslaved people seeking freedom. How did "conductors" assist thousands?

North Dakota: Flags of the U.S., Mexico & Canada fly at the monument of the geographic center of North America in Rugby.

Pennsylvania: With President Jefferson's instructions in hand, the Lewis and Clark Expedition set sail down the Ohio River. What role did Philadelphia and Lancaster play in the tireless preparations undertaken for this journey? 

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Map of the Week - Fargo Flood Wiki

With record flooding ongoing, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead has set up a "wiki" map for flood information. Anyone with minimal map skills can edit it but frivolous postings will be removed. Good idea but cartographically it's a bit problematic when the editor can choose any color or symbol they like for their posts.

I think the original idea was maybe for shelters to be white, animal shelters green, drainage problems blue, web cams light green and closures in red. However, without a legend or guidelines for posting it gets a bit muddy. Also, the numbers are confusing - click a 3 and you get 3 points. Why not just show them all?

Despite those little flaws it's still a nice, useful tool for the area.

This map to the left, also from the Forum shows all the mandatory evacuation areas - some of them are shown in pink on the wiki.

Fargo's logo seems a bit ironic at the moment but best of luck to the area residents - I hope the worst is over.