Mashable is hosting an interactive map created by Esri that tracked Hurricane Haiyan in real time. Even though the hurricane has now dispersed, you can still see the previous path, as well as its changing ferocity, on the map. It’s a chilling reminder of the consequences of anthropogenic climate change, and it comes at a time when Australia is doing its best to pretend that it just isn’t happening.
Additionally, DigitalGlobe has some satellite imagery of the devastation, and has started a crowdsourcing campaign to try and map the extent of it all.
In fact, there is a number of different crowd-mapping initiatives going on, with Directions Magazine listing a number of them.

While wading through the internet, I came across a cute little site named ‘Postcards from Google Earth,’ which highlights come of the ‘quirks’ that Google Earth has produced from its 3D-ification (that’s totally a word) of satellite and aerial imagery, and presents them as if they are postcards of entirely strange landscapes.

Between the Poles has a post discussing some recent research undertaken on deployment of smart grid technology across Europe and the US. The results are of worth to readers worldwide, however, so if you’re at all involved in the energy sector, or merely interested in its future, then I’d recommend having a read.

Google Maps Mania highlights an interesting non-Google Maps project, OpenGeoFiction – a map of a fantasy land that contributors are free to edit. It’s based on Open Street Maps tech, and – to prevent anarchy – the map contains areas that are owned by members and can only be edited by their owners, a number of areas that can be claimed and developed by new users, and also one country, ‘Archantica’, which is free to be edited by all members.

And, I know I sometimes go a little crazy with Google Maps Mania posts, but I figure that as the one above was really OSM, that I can get away with linking an actual Google one, right? Anyway, GMM has a post of this week’s silliest Google Maps, including a dot map slowly mapping the world as more people visit it, a map of sweary Twitter users, and a good looking (if not very silly) repositpry for attractive alternative Google Maps colour schemes.

A blog I only recently discovered, and one that is living up to its name – Geoawesomeness – has a post on geography & journalism, including a link to a recent Washington Post piece entitled ‘40 maps that explain our world.’

And, finally, Very Spatial has a video showing off a 5 year-old’s very impressive knowledge of Geography. Super cute, and equally as impressive.