Meander Rivers

Rivers through time, as seen in Landsat images is great (and nice to share it as a simple animated GIF).

Source: see link above.

How to Learn Data Science - Free!

Free and online - here is a learning path for Data Science.

Grade Inflation

This is nothing new and the chart is terrible, but the data are clear and The rise of the ‘gentleman’s A’ and the GPA arms race is a reality of public higher education.

The full report and data are at GradeInflation.com Grade Inflation at American Colleges and Universities.

Color Correction of Satellite Images

A Hands-On Guide to Color Correction by Robert Simmons is a nice tutorial on how to make satellite images look good for the human eye.

2016 is off the charts...

Yes, it has only been 3+ months. Yes, it's still El Nino. Still, plotting 2016 (and 2014, 2015) in the context of the last 136 years is striking:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/when-will-the-world-really-be-2-degrees-hotter-than-it-used-to-be/

Opinion: Common ground with climate skeptics

Urban Planning Infographic

The Evolution of Urban Planning

Unfiltered.news

Unfiltered.news is great in that you can easily see what news topics are talked about (or not) in different countries.

3D Print Your Neighborhood

This is cool (sort of): 3D Print Your Neighborhood

I mean, sure, 3D is cool and is (perhaps) the future, but as of right now the hype far outpaces the reality of available 3D data, the reality of usable 3D software and hardware (or rather lack thereof), and the reality that 3D mapping and analysis creates too much cognitive noise and thus distracts.

Palm Oil and Deforestation

The connections between deforestation and global warming are well-established and one of the main drivers of deforestation, especially in Southeast Asia, is palm oil production.

• The story of palm oil (by The Guardian) is nice interactive story map.
• Protecting forests & peatlands in Indonesia (by Greenpeace) is a bit much in terms of layers, but provides easy access to the data.

How reliable is the weather forecast?

Weather Forecasts: Just How Reliable Are They? is a nice article about weather forecasts and their reliability. Sounds easy, but what constitutes 'reliable' in the context of a next-day, 5-day, or 10-day weather forecast? You can read the details yourself, but here are the main numbers: next-day 95%, 5-day 77%, and 10-day...well, not so much.

The Polar Vortex

Awesome pic by Scott Kelly from the ISS on 14 February 2016:

Learning ArcGIS Pro

Yes, we will need to deal with this and teach ourselves ArcGIS Pro - here are two books that can help:

• Learning ArcGIS Pro (by Tripp Corbin)
• Getting To Know ArcGIS Pro (Esri Press)

The Global Nuke Map

Mapped: The world’s nuclear power plants by CarbonBrief - simple and interactive.

What I Use to Visualize Data

Not me, but Nathan Yau of FlowingData explains What I Use to Visualize Data - Python, R, d3.js, and Adobe Illustrator. Along the same lines, have a look at What data visualization tools do /r/DataIsBeautiful OC creators use?

Radioooooo

Radiooooo is just plain fun - a global music map. Read more about it over on Maps Mania.

Hurricanes and Houston

Hell and High Water is a great multimedia story-map-ish experience - maybe a tad too much visual fireworks here.

How Much Does Meat Actually Cost?

Declutter Your Data Visualizations

Knoema

Knoema is a web-based data visualization tool (not sure that we need another one...). Read more about it over on ProfHacker.