Weekly Links: Georgia lawmakers are getting serious about taxing Uber and Lyft to pay for transit. Also, when more women are included in the map-making process, maps end up better reflecting communities. And, Oregon imposes the first state-wide cap on rent increases.
Selling Our Souls (and Train Cars) to Amazon
Weekly Links: Our incentives to lure the company included Amazon-only MARTA rail cars and renaming streets after Amazon products. Plus:
1.) Atlanta plans to combat minimum parking requirements, something that should unite the left and right; and
2.) How NIMBYism and anti-density movements are eerily similar to voter suppression efforts.
Atlanta’s Battle of the Gulch Heats Up
This week, spending $2 billion to develop the downtown Gulch isn’t sitting well with the Atlanta city council, at least for now. Plus, someone has finally made a useful 3-D map showing the steepness of streets. And Ben Carson and HUD may do the unthinkable: attempt to restrict exclusionary zoning to promote affordable housing.
The Best Maps of the Year Might Be the Most Boring
Weekly Links: We all love colorful, striking maps. Unfortunately, our brains aren’t great at quickly decoding lots of colors, so scientists and cartographers would like us to stop asking for colors and just embrace duller, more informative imagery. Also, a new study shows that pollution leads to cognitive decline, particularly among older men. And coastal home prices are taking a hit due to rising sea levels.
The Blockchain Will Save Private Property Rights
“Documenting property ownership” is perhaps one of the most boring phrases one could mutter, but it’s a critical component of a free, democratic society that is lacking in developing countries – the blockchain wants to help. Plus, National Geographic is opening its archive of amazing maps, the Chesapeake Bay is ready to give you seafood again, and descendants of the famous Isaac Newton apple tree are spread across the world.
Strangely, Preserving Public Land is More Popular Than Mining It
This week, fixing the misleading election result maps, traffic congestion increases as people choose Uber and Lyft over transit and walking, only 26% of residents in Mountain West states support increased mining on public land, and a potential app to detect and monitor tsunamis.
Weekly Links: Watch Wildfire Smoke Move from California to England, Visualizing Time with Isochrone Maps, and Cities Strengthen Airbnb Regulations
This week: NASA’s visualization of smoke and dust moving thousands of miles through the atmosphere, why Atlanta’s weather is relatively predictable, some Airbnb regulations now require routine building inspections, and laser imagery showing the Mayans had raised highways.
Weekly Links: Icy City of Stilts in Siberia, Germany’s Free Transit Experiment, and Tolkien-Style National Park Maps
This week Steeve Iuncker could only shoot Yanunsk, Siberia in 15-minute sessions to prevent his film from freezing, international satellite data confirms that seas are rising at an accelerated pace, Germany looks to follow Chattanooga in providing free transit to reduce pollution, and cool Lord of the Rings-esque maps of UK National Parks.