GISforThought – GIS and Mapping Blog from Ireland

My Strava Activities from the Same Place at the Same Time Animated

All of my activities from Strava if they started from the same place at the same time.

Strava Activites Animated

Longest activity time wise is an 11 hour walk.

Distance wise is a 200km helicopter ride.

Includes a couple of 100km cycles. But mainly walks on the beach, 5 km runs, and 10km cycles.

You can see the patterns from a number of locations that I have lived in.

How to

Download your activities from Strava.
Parse them into a PostgreSQL/PostGIS database with Python: https://github.com/HeikkiVesanto/StravaGarminParser/blob/master/parser_points_to_db.py
Process the points to time series in the database: https://gist.github.com/HeikkiVesanto/3fbd55cda45394d069773a34ea244e4b
Create animation in QGIS using the atlas generator.

Luas Map Compared to Real Geography

Inspired by /u/a_wandering_chemist on Reddit.

This is a look at how the map of the Dublin tram network, the Luas (Irish for speed), compares to the actual geographic footprint.

For a simpler view:

The processing of the transition is done in PostgreSQL with PostGIS, with the final animation in QGIS.

Scotland’s Cartographic Outline

This is a topic I have covered in the past as well: Scotland’s Changing Outline

But the 1654 Blaeu Atlas of Scotland was an influential cartographic masterpiece. The National Library of Scotland have covered it’s publication history very well: The history behind the publication of the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland.

When the sixth volume of Joannis Blaeu’s Atlas Novus was released in 1655, the maps of Scotland formed one eighth of the total maps in his world atlas. Making Scotland one of the best mapped countries of the seventeenth-century world.

The animations include the following maps from the National Library of Scotland:

Blaeu Compared to Modern Day Outline from OpenStreetMap

Cycling Through the Maps by Publication Date

Blaeu – 1654
Sanson – 1665
Morden – 1687
Moll – 1714
Elphinstone – 1745
Dorret – 1751
Modern
Blaeu – 1654

Comparison to Modern Day In Between

Blaeu – 1654
Modern
Sanson – 1665
Modern
Morden – 1687
Modern
Moll – 1714
Modern
Elphinstone – 1745
Modern
Dorret – 1751
Modern
Blaeu – 1654

Comparison to Blaeu

Blaeu – 1654
Sanson – 1665
Blaeu – 1654
Morden – 1687
Blaeu – 1654
Moll – 1714
Blaeu – 1654
Elphinstone – 1745
Blaeu – 1654
Dorret – 1751
Blaeu – 1654