Mapping 100 Years of Earthquakes, in 3-D

Since 1900, there have been more than 10,000 “strong” earthquakes—with magnitudes of 6 or greater—around the world, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But what exactly does that look like?

Richie Carmichael, a software developer at Esri, a company that providesgeographic information system (GIS) software, has created a visualization of all that seismic activity: an interactive 3-D globe. Using data from USGS and Wikipedia, Carmichael plotted where and how large earthquakes were in any given year between 1900 and 2015.

“A 3-D display is uniquely suited to representing global phenomena,” says Carmichael in an email. “Print and digital 2D maps are often truncated on or near the poles and close the international date line. With a globe it is possible to view quakes in the polar regions and pacific without page breaks.”

Users can rotate the virtual globe to see a specific area, and filter the data by the largest or deadliest earthquakes, as well as by the cause of the quakes—like those brought on by nuclear activity.

http://www.citylab.com/weather/2015