Google Earth pollution maps

(Image from LA Times)

Has it really been two weeks since my latest post? Fortunately a couple of interesting tidbits today caught my eye. First, I subscribe to the Google Lat Long blog, and it had a post today about a new layer in Google Earth. The new map layer shows pollution levels courtesy of The Vulcan Project at Purdue University. The LA Times also had a tidbit about it. The data isn't super duper recent (circa 2002), and from my quick perusal it seems to be only carbon dioxide (with a super sarcastic emphasis on the word 'only' - I applaud them for having so much nationwide data available in the first place).

What I found especially interesting about this article, however, was another article I read today that Obama says he will NOT tax vehicle miles traveled, instead saying that he intends to keep taxing gasoline consumption. This is a quandry: VMT more accurately tracks individual riders, which is a good for incentivizing things like paying for roads and bridges, but not necessarily good for incentivizing paying for cleaning up the environment. Essentially, auto efficiency (i.e. miles per gallon) is ignored. Taxing gasoline consumption is almost the opposite effect: it does a good job of incentivizing payment for lowering air pollution, but a poor job of incentivizing paying for projects based on mileage. I think the ultimate solution is a combination of both, but that's probably a topic for the guys over at the Freakonomics Blog at the NY Times.

(Which, by the way, is totally effing sweet).

Fabric Maps

I think I saw this fabric map by Rand McNally on notcot about a billion years ago and forgot to post it. Fortunately they offer a fabric map of the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Additionally the "tear-proof, wrinkle-proof, microfiber waterproof map is virtually indestructible." I hope ShamWow! decides to offer maps on their highly unique product.

Red Line Food Hop

The good people over at LAist have created a great reason to hop on the Red Line. Similar to Thrillist's holiday barhop guide, which was created to take advantage of Metro's extended hours, LAist posted a guide to Eating on the Red Line. Of course I was bored and mapped the locations on Google Maps (just like I did for the Red Line Barhop). Places on the list I love are In-N-Out, Philipe's, and El Gran Burrito. Places on the list I need to try ASAP are Molly's and Philadelphia Sandos.


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Martin Luther King Jr in LA Map

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One of the blogs I subscribe to is the Militant Angeleno. If you're interested in a unique take on the experience that is Los Angeles, I encourage you to read. Today he posted about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lasting legacy in LA. Not only are there streets, schools, parks, and memorials, but Dr. King spoke at a couple churches shortly before his death. Since I had to work (instead of volunteering) my little way of saying thanks and giving service to both the Militant, MLK (not to mention the new era dawning in America) was to create a map (duh).

UPDATE:
LAIst had some great links, including this speech of Dr. King that I found especially moving.

Public transit now on Google Maps

It's been a while since I put anything up here - combination of a busy holidays, finishing a class, and lack of interesting content. But fear not because the good people at Google Maps have come up with a sweet new feature: transit routes. Now you can see the location of rails and subways for a few select cities. Alas Los Angeles is not supported (hello MTA - get your data to Google already) but our neighbor to the north, San Francisco, is represented.

Initially I saw this on the daily links at the Los Angeles Transportation Blog which linked to story at The Transport Politic Blog which linked to a story at the Google Maps/Google Earth team's blog. Phew. I'm glad it made it to my little corner of the world. Go internet.