Category: mapping

Ships have been sailing the five North American freshwater lakes known as the Great Lakes since the 17th century. Naturally, this means that like the 569 shipwrecks in international waters, a number of ships have sunk there. While many were never found, making the exact number of Great Lakes shipwrecks somewhat of a mystery, plenty of others’ whereabouts are known, like that of the 1975 sinking of Edmund Fitzgerald.

In our coverage of the shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, we’ll go over the deadliest lake of the five, along with the months when ships sank most frequently, and the most disastrous years. Learn more about the stories in the wreckages on the map below.

View Shipwrecks in the Great Lakes in a full screen map

Of 396 total ships that have gone down in the Great Lakes, only one hundred or so have identifiable locations. Find those on the map, which was made from the List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. You can sort by lake or sunk date/month/year. Let’s dive into which of the Great Lakes has sunk the most ships.

The Deadliest Great Lake: Lake Erie Shipwrecks

To start, let’s look at which of the five Great Lakes is home to the most shipwrecks—the ones with precise coordinates and those that are more mysterious.

• Lake Erie (137 shipwrecks)
• Lake Ontario (89)
• Lake Superior (69)
• Lake Michigan (60)
• Lake Huron (41)

As noted above, the waters of Lake Erie have claimed the most ships. What’s surprising is that Lake Erie is the smallest Great Lake in volume. However, as it’s also the shallowest, this may be what causes so many ships to sink. 78 of Lake Erie’s shipwrecks can be pinpointed on a map, such as PS Anthony Wayne, the oldest steamboat wreck (sunk in 1850) on the Great Lakes. On the other hand, 59 wrecks lie in unknown places in the lake.

Another surprise, Lake Ontario, the second-smallest volume-wise and smallest in area, is home to the second-most shipwrecks of the Great Lakes. Most of these (83 to be exact) sank at unidentified points. The six known wrecks include HMS Speedy, St. Peter, the confusingly-named Unknown, William Johnston, HMS St Lawrence, and HMS Wolfe.

In the deepest and largest lake by volume, there have been 69 total Lake Superior shipwrecks. Of these, 55 are visitable while, for 14, their exact coordinates remain unknown. And though Lake Michigan has only the second-largest volume and is third-largest by area, 60 Lake Michigan shipwrecks have taken place there.

Lake Huron, the third-largest by volume and second largest in area, has been much kinder to sailors traversing its waves. Just 41 ships have gone down there over the years.

Altogether, the bottoms of these five lakes contain a grand total of 396 shipwrecks, though, for 229, the exact location remains unknown. And now that we know where these ships sunk (most were Lake Erie shipwrecks), we can take a look at when they went down.

Wreck Dates: Months & Years

Of the 199 wrecks with recorded sunk months, nearly 30% took place in the same winter month. See for yourself on the table below.

Month	Number of shipwrecks
November	58
October	43
September	22
May	17
June	16
August	13
July	9
December	9
April	8
January	3
February	1
March	0

The Great Lakes’ November waters should have sailors weary. Just over 29% of all recorded ships sunk in that month alone throughout the years. These include two in Lake Ontario, six in Lake Erie, 16 each in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, and the 18 Lake Superior shipwrecks.

And October is not too far behind in the tally of boat sinking. Three shipwrecks from Lake Ontario, along with Huron’s and Superior’s eight, Lake Erie’s 11, and 13 Lake Michigan shipwrecks add up to 43.

Contrary to what began to look like a winter trend, December, January, and February each have less than 10. Sailors should also feel the safest going across any—or all—the Great Lakes in March. No ship from 1780 to 2000 has ever gone down in that timeframe.

Years

As for years, 1905 was a deadly one for ships: exactly 15 sank that year. Among those, one sank in Lake Erie, while two each went down in Huron and Michigan, and 10 in Lake Superior.

The year with the second-most wrecks was 1913, when 12 ships went down: one each in Lakes Erie and Superior, two in Michigan, and eight in Huron. Most were a result of the Great Storm of 1913, which occurred in November of that year.

See the names of the ships that sank during these years when you sort the map by the “Sunk year” group.

Now, both of these years were quite a long time ago. The only year this century with a single Great Lakes wreck was 2000 when tour boat True North II sank, killing two students in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron.

You should now set sail to more water-related content, like the busiest ports worldwide or every US shark attack fatality since 1900.

If you’ve ever made a week’s worth of meals in one day, paid your bills a stack at a time, or shopped at a membership club like Costco, you understand the concept of “batching.” It’s more efficient than handling each of those activities one at a time. You can wait until you have multiple tasks that are similar and then batch them at a particular time. Just as it makes sense in your personal life, batching is an important concept when working with data, including the stuff you store in Excel.

You may be storing many types of data in Excel, including financial, accounting, and sales data. Any of this may also include locations, such as cities, addresses, and postal codes. These can be converted into geographic coordinates—either one at a time or all at once. Anytime you have more than one location to geocode, that’s where you’ll use batch geocoding. So let’s dive into more about what batch geocoding is and some of the popular ways to batch geocode an Excel spreadsheet.

Batch Geocoding 101

Geocoding is the process of turning text location descriptions into numbered geographic coordinates, usually latitude and longitude. These pairs identify a point on the Earth’s surface. So what type of text-based descriptions can be geocoded?

The most common geocoding task is one or more full addresses, typically including the city and sometimes state or country. However, many geocoders accept several other types of locations. You can send city names (with or without state/country), postal codes, and state or country names. Some batch geocoders can even take common landmarks, business names, or place names, such as the largest houses in the U.S. like Biltmore Estate or Oheka Castle.

Geocoding larger geographic areas (such as entire countries) typically returns the center point of a place. With that overview, let’s take a look at how to geocode addresses in Excel.

Two Ways to Batch Geocode Your Spreadsheets

There are many great methods of batch geocoding your Excel or Google Sheets data, though the options range in price and their limitations. While multiple free ways exist (we’ll show you two), they can have downsides of address limits and difficulty.

Install a Google Sheets Add-On

This method of batch geocoding your spreadsheet works whether your data is stored in Excel or Google Sheets. It’s also free for 1,000 records per day. If you’re interested in this option, here’s how to go about it.

1. In your web browser, navigate to Google Drive
2. Click New > Google Sheets > Blank spreadsheet
3. Either copy (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C) and paste (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V) your data from Excel or add your data directly into Google Sheets
4. Download the Geocode by Awesome Table plugin for Google Sheets
5. In the navigation bar, opt for Add-ons > Geocode by Awesome Table > Start Geocoding
6. Determine if you want to continue working in Google Sheets or copy and paste the newly geocoded data from Google Sheets back into your Excel spreadsheet. Then you’re done!

However, this option has two downsides. First, for those with over 1,000 locations, this isn’t ideal due to its limits. Secondly, this method requires navigation to multiple external platforms depending on the spreadsheet tool you begin with. It isn’t possible to complete the steps all in Excel, nor is it even possible to remain entirely in Google Sheets, as you must install the add-on.

Another method that involves Google Sheets is importing JSON data in Google Sheets.

But let’s move on to a method that allows you to batch geocode more than 1,000 rows of your spreadsheet without switching between too many platforms.

Use Bing’s Free API

Here’s another option, in the event that you have more than 1,000 records and you’d rather not install an add-on. Or maybe you just dislike Google Sheets (let us change your mind; here’s why Google Sheets is better than Excel.)

This is where one of the most popular and the fastest geocoders come in. A Bing API key allows users to geocode 10,000 addresses.

Follow the steps below to take advantage of this option:

1. Head over to http://excelgeocodingtool.com/
2. Hit Download Excel File
3. Open the downloaded file and enable Macros
4. Create a Bing API key and copy and paste it into the Bing Maps Key field
5. On the second sheet entitled Geocode, paste your addresses into the location column, opt to Geocode all rows, and you’re done!

Beyond 10,000, you must make a new account to obtain a new key, which can be a hassle. Plus, as you’ve seen, both of these options can be a bit difficult. Let’s check out an easier alternative.

An Easier Alternative

There’s more out there than clever hacks of tools that were never meant for batch geocoding. Instead of low quantity limits, add-on installations, and API keys, it’s easier to use an established tool with the sole purpose of batch geocoding your spreadsheets. BatchGeo enables you to simply copy and paste in any spreadsheet data.

To get started batch geocoding your spreadsheet, follow our simple steps below:

1. Open your spreadsheet
2. Select (Ctrl+A or Cmd+A) and copy (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C) your data
3. Open your web browser and navigate to batchgeo.com
4. Click on the location data box with the example data in it, then paste (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V) your own data
5. Check to make sure you have the proper location data columns available by clicking “Validate and Set Options”
6. Select the proper location column from each drop-down
7. Click “Make Map” and watch as the geocoder performs its process

Our web-based tool’s free version is more than enough for most users while our Pro option enables the quick mapping of 20,000 addresses at a time. For even more on how to batch geocode addresses quickly and easily, check out our page on the subject.

A Step Further: Mapping Addresses From Excel

With an understanding of batch geocoding and some options to utilize it for your spreadsheets—including our always easy geocoder— it’s time to take it one step further. Note that our tool also enables you to create custom maps, like the one below.

View Largest houses in the U.S. in a full screen map

We mapped this Wikipedia list of the 100 largest houses in the U.S. in seconds thanks to our mapping tool. Batch geocode and map your own spreadsheets today at batchgeo.com.

You may have heard about a recent re-entering rocket—or part of one, anyway. The 39,200 lbs Long March 5B core fell, uncontrollably, into the ocean on May 9, 2021, nine days after its launch from China. And it’s not the first spacecraft or component to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. So how much space junk is orbiting Earth? There are several thousand pieces that are large enough to be tracked. Of these, 26 have returned from space to a launchpad—or hit the water.

With names like Apollo, Cosmos, Pegasus, and even another Long March, it’s clear these objects are out of this world. And yet…they found their way back to Earth. We highlight the largest of these re-entering spacecraft or components, along with the controlled and uncontrolled entries—plus, the countries that launched them on the map below.

View Spacecraft and Satellite Reentry in a full screen map

We used Wikipedia’s table of the heaviest re-entering debris list and paired the data with each object’s splash coordinates. Click through the interactive map to view the space debris field—or where these 26 objects fell. Then, sort by reentry type, reentry timeline, owner, launch information, and more or read on as we launch into the most massive of these spatial objects.

Most Massive Objects Fallen From Space

First things first, let’s go over the size of these falling objects. The 26 spacecraft or their components range in size from 5,300 lbs (a little larger than a rhino) to 260,000 lbs, which is nearly the size of the Statue of Liberty. As for the largest of these already large returning spatial objects? They’re all over 40,000 lbs, as you’ll note on the table below.

Object	Mass (lb)	Mass (kg)	Reentry type	Owner	Reentry year
Mir	260,000	120,000	Controlled	Russia	2001
Skylab	152,000	69,000	Partially Controlled	USA	1979
Salyut 7	88,000	40,000	Uncontrolled	USSR	1991
S-II Stage / Skylab	79,700	36,200	Uncontrolled	USA	1975
Salyut 6	77,000	35,000	Controlled	USSR	1982
STS external tank (Standard Tank)	77,000	35,000	Partially Controlled	USA	1981
STS external tank (Lightweight Tank)	66,000	30,000	Partially Controlled	USA	1983
Cosmos 557	42,800	19,400	Uncontrolled	USSR	1973
Salyut 5	42,000	19,000	Controlled	USSR	1977
Salyut 4	41,700	18,900	Controlled	USSR	1977

The most massive re-entering spacecraft was Russia’s Mir. More than half again as big as the second-largest, the space station’s deorbit was meticulously planned in three stages before ultimately landing in the ocean near Nadi, Fiji. The space station had spent 15 years in service, though its orbit decay and presence of the International Space Station led to its controlled reentry in 2001.

That second-largest returning object was the U.S.’s Skylab. As it was the first American space station, its Earthly return turned into an international media event in 1979, with T-shirts and hats with bullseyes and “Skylab Repellent” with a money-back guarantee, wagering on the time and place of re-entry, and nightly news reports.

The rest of these massive spacecraft or components all weigh in at 88,000 lbs or less. With an idea of the size of these returning objects, let’s move on to the type of re-entry.

Controlled & Uncontrolled Space Debris Re-Entry

Regardless of mass, another important factor of re-entering spacecraft or components is whether their re-entry is controlled or not. During a controlled re-entry, the object may be navigated or follow a preset course. The opposite is true for an uncontrolled entry. Uncontrolled entries have the (albeit slim) chance of crashing somewhere dangerous. Of the 26 spacecraft or components to have re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, some were controlled, while others ended up uncontrolled or partially controlled.

• Uncontrolled (14)
• Controlled (9)
• Partially Controlled (3)

We’ll begin with the good news: nearly 35% of all re-entries have been controlled. The USSR’s Salyut 1 was the first to intentionally crash, in October of 1971. And when it comes to the need for a “Partially Controlled” category, we can thank the U.S. All three that re-entered between 1979 to 1983 belonged to the country.

The first of many uncontrolled reentries took place in 1964. The U.S.’s Apollo SA-7 CSM BP-15 went into the Indian Ocean. Since then, a total of 14 have followed suit, including the recent uncontrolled re-entry of Long March 5B core (5B-Y2 flight) on May 9, 2021. This wasn’t even the first of its name to re-enter uncontrollably. Almost exactly one year earlier, on May 11, 2020, Long March 5B core (5B-Y1 flight) came back to Earth. Both were launched by China, which leads us to which countries owned these massive controlled—or uncontrolled—objects.

Countries That Launched These Space Objects

While the recent uncontrolled re-entries may make it seem as though China’s space program is always launching something that comes back to the atmosphere, it’s astro-not the country with the most re-entering spacecrafts. Here’s an overview of the countries that launched these heavy objects, only to have them come back to Earth.

• USA (10)
• USSR (9)
• China (3)
• Russia (2)
• NASA (1)
• DLR (1)

As you can see, most of the 26 re-entering spacecrafts or components came from the U.S. Only one of those 10 was controlled: CGRO, which returned to Earth in June 2000 after launching back in April 1991. And as we previously mentioned, the only three partially controlled re-entries came from here as well.: STS external Lightweight Tank, STS external Standard Tank, and Skylab. This makes the other six U.S. re-entries uncontrolled, the names of which you can find on the map.

As for the USSR, seven of the nine total were controlled re-entries, arguably making the socialist state the most responsible when it comes to space object re-entry. The two that were uncontrolled? Salyut 7 and Cosmos 557, both from decades past.

There you have it: the largest space objects to re-enter the Earth, those that were controlled or uncontrolled, and the countries that launched them. Get more insight into your data with custom-made maps. And to continue your exploration of space Earth-side, check out Space Stations with Most Rocket Launches.