MasterMaps

OpenStreetMap is not only for streets, it also contains an impressive amount of hiking trails. I’m currently planning a a week’s hike in June, crossing the Alps from Oberstdorf to Vernago. How can I extract the route from OpenStreetMap and use it on my GPS? The route visualised in CartoDB.  Interactive version. The BBBike extract service  allows you to download OSM data for your region of choice. You can select your area of interest by using the map interface, or by specifying the map bounds coordinates.  I selected an area covering the entire route, and ordered the data in a Shapefile format. Within a minute I received an email with a download link. The extract contains 8 shapefiles, and we only need the roads shapefile, which also contains hiking trails. If I open the shapefile in QGIS it looks like this: Roads and hiking trails in the Alps.   You'll have great difficulties finding your trail on this map, so let's add a basemap from OpenStreet...

Norway is a country with huge climate variations between seasons, lowlands and mountains, coastal areas and inland, and between north and south. In the recent years, we have also seen more extreme weather and greater fluctuations in temperature and snow cover. At the same moment of time there might be meters of snow in the mountains, while the trees are blooming by the fjord a few kilometers away. Outdoor activities are popular among citizens and tourists alike, and in Norway you can do typical summer and winter activities all year around. The goal of this blog post is to create a near real time map of the snow cover, where the snow blends into the landscape. The snow map of Jountunheimen we're going to create. As shown on this blog, I like to create maps and 3D visualisations using a wide range of open source tools, combined with various programming techniques. This snow mapping experiment is no exception. Open Source allows me to mix and match the tools and techniques I n...

I've just finalised two tutorials on mapping grid-based statistics. The tutorials are in Norwegian, but the source code is available in English, and should be easy to follow. Tutorial 1: "Grid-based population data" Mapping grid-based population data of Oslo, Norway, using OpenLayers 3 and D3.js . The user can select an area to see the number of inhabitants. Tutorial | Demo | Source Tutorial 2: "Grid-based statistics in 3D" 3D visualisation of grid-based population data of Oslo, Norway, using Three.js and D3.js . Tutorial |  Demo | Source The basemap is from the Norwegian Mapping Authority , and the grid-based population data from Statistics Norway . The tutorials are provided by Project Innovation from GeoForum , a Norwegian non-profit industry organization for individuals and companies/agencies working in mapping, surveying and geographic information. Please notify me if you use these techniques in your own projects! 

There as been a lot of attention about the diminishing Arctic sea ice in recent years. We’re often exposed to images showing the extremes. My goal was to show the changing sea ice month by month , and even day by day . Sea ice is a critical component of our planet because of its influence on the global climate. The sea ice cover in the Arctic in September 2015. The black line is the median extent (1981-2010) for this month. See interactive version . The graph shows the change in sea ice cover for September since 1979, in percent from the mean extent (1981-2010). September 2015 had the fourth lowest extent in the satellite record. See interactive version . The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) provides two great datasets collected by satellite of the Arctic Sea Ice: Sea Ice Index You get the longest time-series using Sea Ice Index, which dates back to November 1978. The dataset is available at 25 km resolution. The images and data are produced in a con...

I’m going freelance over the summer, after 5 great years at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) . It was not an easy decision, but I have to try. I’ll tell more about my plans later.  Please sign up to get notified about my services. Some of the projects I've been working on at NRK: The flexible mapping stack of NRK.no, allowing journalists and digital storytellers to create advanced maps in minutes.  "Kartoteket" - our in-house mapping tool built on top of our mapping stack. Digital storytelling  using NRKs mapping stack and Mapbox.  Digital storytelling  using NRKs mapping stack and Mapbox.  Flood maps using NRKs mapping stack and CartoDB. Radon affected areas in Norway using NRKs mapping stack. Our popular photo maps .  Video map of the long running TV show Norge Rundt. Tracking of " Sommerbåten " along the coast of Norway. Other work.

I'm back in Oslo after my 25 days ski trip across Nordryggen in Norway . It was a great journey, and I would highly recommend doing all or parts of it if you enjoy cross-country skiing. Just be prepared for shifting weather conditions. @thematicmapping @mapperz I thought “cross country” skiing meant ski across the countryside, but you have literally crossed a whole country! — harry_wood (@harry_wood) April 20, 2015 The goal of the trip was also to test my solution for real time satellite tracking, explained in several of my previous blog posts . It worked out really well, and people were able to follow along in the comfort of their sofa. I fastened a Spot Satellite Messenger to the top of my backpack, and left the device in tracking mode while skiing. The device sent my current position every 5 minutes, allowing me to update the map without any mobile coverage. When we arrived at a mountain hut, I pressed the OK button to set up a bed. I also programmed a button t...