Category: mapping

Though the Halloween spirit is in the air, there’s no need to be frightened if you haven’t nailed down your October 31st plans yet. There’s a map for that, with many fang-tastic events occurring near the end of October. Over 800 events to be exact, and they are happening all over the world. However, there are some cities, states, and even countries other than the United States that are creeping it more real than others when it comes to their Halloween spirit. So, grab your favorite treat or treating tots, your two boos – beaus and booze if you’re over your country’s drinking age – or your BFFs for a ghouls’ night out and check out which event on our Halloween 2018 Events map is closest to you.

View 2018 Halloween Events in a full screen map

We gathered all of the 2018 Halloween events from Eventful between October 30 and November 1, along with some spook-tacular stragglers – like the Golden Girls LIVE: On Stageǃ The “Lost” Halloween Episode, which starts running on September 12th – here and there. If your city, state, or country isn’t showing a whole lot of ghostly gatherings, don’t fret. There are some locations around the world that didn’t make the map because we don’t have their event data.

The Cities With the Most Halloween Events Are Sippin’ Cider All Month Long

• — New York City
• — Los Angeles
• — Minneapolis

Currently, the city doing the most in time for Halloween is New York City with its 66 holiday events. This shouldn’t spook you too much, as N.Y.C. is the most populous city in the United States. The city also hosts the annual Village Halloween Parade, where nearly 50,000 folks in costumes parade up Sixth Avenue. And as usual, when N.Y.C. is on the top of a list, L.A. is never far behind — like with the highest commute times. With 32 events, L.A. has the second-most going on. Third on our list is Minneapolis, where 14 different Halloween-themed events will be put on.

The top three cities with the most Halloween celebrations are located in the U.S. However, just because Halloween is most popular in the U.S., doesn’t mean Americans created the holiday. Halloween can be traced back to the Irish during the 19th century Great Irish Famine. They brought their holiday with them to the U.S. So, thanks to the Irish, we now have all of the annual Halloween events we’ve come to know and love.

Superstitious States in the Halloween Spirit

Forty-four U.S. states and the District of Columbia are holding at least one Halloween event this year. However, five states in particular are really turning up their Halloween spirit (at least on Eventful). The following states each have 24 or more events this Halloween.

1. California
2. New York
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Minnesota

Even though New York City had Los Angeles beat when it came to the cities playing Halloween hostess with the mostest, state-wise, California has 118 Halloween-themed events to New York’s 87 events. A little over 27% of those Golden State events are accounted for by Los Angeles, whereas just under 76% of New York’s events occur in The Big Apple. As for Texas, the state has 34 events on the calendar for Halloween-time, while Florida and Minnesota have 28 events and 24 events, respectively.

The six states without any Halloween events on the books in Eventful? Alaska, Delaware, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Candy-Collecting Countries

Unlike Valentine’s Day celebrations, Halloween isn’t observed as enthusiastically all around the world as it in the U.S. However, these four countries have over ten celebratory events in honor of the holiday:

• The United Kingdom
• Germany
• Canada
• Australia

We learned here that “Halloween” can actually be accredited to the U.K., along with the idea of trick or treating, which may be why the U.K. has 160 different Halloween-themed events on our map, the most of any country other than the U.S. The term “Halloween” goes all the way back to 16th century Scotland, where it was first used as a shorter name for “All-Hallows-Eve.” As for trick or treating, this Halloween tradition comes from England. Long ago, Halloween was celebrated with “soul cakes” in England. These cakes were eaten while people prayed for the souls of the dead. Later called “souling,” children would go door to door saying prayers in exchange for delicious cakes.

The holiday didn’t gain popularity in Germany, the country with the second most Halloween-related events, until the 1990s. However, since then, its popularity has been steadily increasing, and this year, Germany has 47 events celebrating Halloween. This increase in popularity is mostly due to American influence, especially around the areas that were a part of the American zone during the Cold War. However, not every German is happy about their new holiday. Many elderly German folks do not like Halloween tricks and are unfamiliar with the idea of trick or treating.

As for the U.S.’s neighbor to the North, Halloween events in Canada are almost as popular as they are in Germany. This year, Canada has 36 celebrations in our dataset pertaining to the holiday. The popularity of the holiday in Canada is largely due to 19th-century Scottish emigration. Nowadays, Canadians spend more money on candy for Halloween than for any other time of year other than Christmas. Although, to balance out the increase in consumerism in October, Canadians also view Halloween as a time for charitable donations, even during trick or treating.

Australia, surprisingly, is home to 14 Halloween-themed events in our 2018 data, in spite of the fact that it is currently spring in the Land Down Under. Like Germany, Australia’s familiarity with the holiday stems largely from American influence, and also like Germany, not all of Australia is happy about it. Due to resentment of American influence, Australians have taken to putting balloons or other decorations on their mailboxes in order to indicate that they partake in the American holiday. No balloon, no candy.

Find the Spook-tacular Event Nearest You

If you’re curious about which Hallo-Wine Party, Monster Mash, or other 2018 Halloween celebration is closest to you, just check out the search box in the map.

For example, let’s say you live in one of these frightening places in the U.S., like Trickem, or Treat. Just type your city into the search box and hit enter. You can also search using your ZIP code or full address.

For those of you who live in Trickem, Alabama, you’ll discover through the search that the closest 2018 Halloween event is a 4-day Halloween camp in Montgomery and that it’s only about a half hour away. Residents of Treat, Georgia will find their closest event is a Halloween Riding Ghost Tour in Cave Spring, also just around 30 minutes away. Trickem or Treat, your Halloween fun awaits!

You can also narrow your search by the specific type – or types – of event(s) you’re hoping to attend. Filter the map first by type, and then search for your city, postal code, or address. Your results will include only the types of events you want to attend.

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Now that we know where in the world Halloween is celebrated the most, we can pick which 2018 Halloween event we’ll be attending. You can make a map like this of all of the seasonal events going on in your city, state, or country, or, since the holidays are fast-approaching, you can even easily make a map of your holiday cards list.

In a typical day or week, you probably go a lot of places. You might commute to work, take kids to school, go grocery shopping, or have a nice dinner out. If the weather is nice, you can explore a park, go on a hike, or meander about your neighborhood. It might be interesting to see all these locations on a map, which is easier than you’d expect.

View Neighborhood Map Without Addresses in a full screen map

Armed with the addresses, you can make map of your favorite places. But what about when you don’t have the addresses, or don’t want to spend a bunch of time doing data entry?

Chances are you have access to your precise location in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates. This pair of numbers is used by GPS to determine a point on earth, and we can use it to quickly make maps.

Get Latitude and Longitude from Your Phone

More than two-thirds of the United States population own a smart phone. Chances are pretty good if you’re reading this that you have a way to access at least one GPS-enabled device. At any moment, you have access to your precise location. Have you ever opened up your map app and seen the blue dot showing where you are? That’s coming through your GPS and you can directly access the coordinates to use later.

For example, Apple’s iPhone ships with an app called Compass. It’s the digital equivalent of the simple navigation instrument that has been used for centuries by sailors, explorers, and others interested in direction.

Unlike its ancient counterpart, Apple’s version can also tell you where you are. Just open up the compass app and you’ll see the direction you’re facing. Additionally, you’ll receive your elevation and two numbers in degree/minute/second format. Those are your coordinates, which you’ll need to convert to latitude and longitude decimals.

You may be able to get the same data from your map app. For example, in Google Maps on your phone, find your current location, then tap and hold on the blue dot. That will add a marker, which Google Maps calls a “dropped pin.” You can then get more details about this pin, which will allow you to share it. Under the share options, you can simply copy, which will give you a web address URL. When you visit that short-ish URL, it will expand to be a longer URL that includes a decimal latitude and longitude.

Any web page, with your permission, can also access your location. If you’re using a GPS-enabled device, such as a smart phone, the result will be as precise as the apps above. Laptops and desktops may only have city or neighborhood-level data, depending on what is available nearby.

Try using the where am I tool to find your location now. This will give you latitude and longitude coordinates ready for copying and pasting into your spreadsheet, which might look like this:

Once you have a list of your locations, you can easily plot latitude and longitude on a map. Just create a spreadsheet with a column for each, and copy-paste into BatchGeo. You can find instructions here or read on for some other ways to map the places you go.

Plot Your Hiking Route on a Map

There are many route-tracking apps for smart phones. You can use them to capture your hiking or running routes, for example. Often you can see a map within the app, but want to visualize it in other formats, perhaps sharing with others.

You’ll want to look for an option to export your route or tracks into GPX format. This is a text file (specifically, an XML schema) that stores data from any GPS log. If you have a Garmin or similar GPS used by hikers, you can also download the GPX file to your computer. Other formats might include KML and GML. In all these cases, you’ll find a collection of latitude and longitude coordinates (like in this sample file we used from Garmin).

To make your tracked route usable, you’ll need to export the coordinates into a list format. You can do that by diving into the XML yourself, or find a tool like this to convert to an Excel format. The result you’re looking for is a spreadsheet with separate columns for latitude and longitude, like this:

You can easily remove certain columns from your spreadsheet, such as the “track_fid,” “track_seg_id,” and “track_seg_point_id” in the above example. Then you can copy and paste the entire spreadsheet (including the headers) into our map making tool, and quickly see your entire route (called trackpoints in GPX terms) with a marker for every latitude/longitude pair in your GPX data.

View Hiking Route in a full screen map

However, you might prefer fewer markers on your maps. That’s where waypoints or POIs will come in handy. These are a feature of some GPS units or mobile location self-tracking apps. As you hike, you can add a waypoint or point of interest (POI). Later, these are shown separately from routes and tracks. That way you can plot your hike by using the highlights you note along the way.

Track Your Geocache Scores

Another way those interested in the outdoors and hiking use location is to go in search of hidden treasure. Geocaching is a game of hide and seek where latitude/longitude coordinates are shared, along with a hint to find what’s hidden. Often there will be a small container, a “cache,” filled with trinkets. Geocachers hunting for the cache will exchange a different trinket for one in the cache.

The moment of discovering a geocache can be exhilarating. Why not mark those on a map? Just use your GPS or compass app to note the latitude and longitude. Write a description of the location and any other data you’re interested in tracking. Here are some ideas:

• Time you took to hunt for the geocache
• Distance you hiked to get to the geocache
• The prize you took from the geocache
• The prize you left in the geocache
• The name of the people who helped you search

Imagine creating a spreadsheet with several of these fields, in addition to the all-important latitude and longitude. You could even update directly from your phone using the Google Sheets or Excel Online apps. Once you have a few geocaches under your belt, why not put it on a map?

Let’s say your geocache spreadsheet looks something like this:

Latitude	Longitude	Time it Took to Find	Distance Hiked	Prize Taken	Prize Left	People Who Helped Me Search
38.992965	-119.94847	50 minutes	2 miles	Plastic snake	Sunscreen	Dana and Alessia
39.002656	-119.952035	32 minutes	.9 miles	Guitar picks	Fishing lures	Alessia, Jiulina, and Katie
38.985482	-119.943522	47 minutes	6 miles	Matchcars	Gloves
38.955316	-119.943566	17 minutes	.3 miles	Off! Insect Repellant wipes	Flashlight
38.997808	-119.953102	28 minutes	.5 miles	Headphones	A puzzle	Tyler
38.971188	-119.934117	34 minutes	.7 miles	Mixed CD	Keychains	Greg, Tyler
38.956203	-119.942675	39 minutes	1 mile	Snow globe	Rain poncho
38.985318	-119.942621	43 minutes	2.3 miles	Swim goggles	Golf balls
38.98399	-119.942632	4 hours	.1 miles	Stress ball	Duct tape	Mom & Dad
38.984950	-119.942728	56 minutes	2 miles	Starbucks gift card!!!	Flower seeds
38.986747	-119.942907	1 hour	4 miles	Measuring tape	Nalgene Water Bottle & Bandaids

You could simply highlight and copy it into our spreadsheet to map convertor to generate a map like this:

View Geocache Discoveries in a full screen map

Or if hiking and geocaching stuff isn’t your jam, you could make a similar map simply exploring your own neighborhood.

Map Your Neighborhood Without Knowing Addresses

We’ve previously covered making a map of your favorite places, but it required that you know the address. While cafes and coffee shops usually have addresses, not everything worth seeing does. Perhaps you have a park you love to frequent, or a specific viewpoint along a scenic drive. In these cases, direct latitude and longitude maps might make more sense!

Much the same as tracking your geocoding (described above), you can simply keep a spreadsheet of places in your neighborhood, city, or otherwise nearby. You can also include other columns in your spreadsheet that might be interesting:

• Type or category, such as “cafe” or “playground”
• Description so someone else will know why you like this place
• Rating, like a number of stars, so you can share both your favorites and your almost-favorites

Include anything you’d like in your spreadsheet. Most important is to include a column for latitude and another for longitude (which you can get from your GPS or compass app on your phone). It will look something like this:

Location	Latitude	Longitude	Type	Description	Rating
Round Hill Pines Beach and Marina	38.992965	-119.94847	Viewpoint	The more commercialized beach, this place has rentable paddle boards, lounge chairs and umbrellas a bar, and a cafe all within walking distance – or you can get any snacks or lunch delivered right to where you’re sitting and enjoying the sun!	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Zephyr Cove – North Beach	39.002656	-119.952035	Viewpoint	While a bit rocky (bring shoes!) there is free parking near North Beach if you know where to look.	⭐⭐
The Bean Bar	38.985482	-119.943522	Cafe	Free wifi, this is the place to be if you have a long paper or need to get some work done away from home. They have amazing coffee that is not very expensive. They use local coffee beans and they are a very organic, natural-focused place. Their Aztec hot chocolate with whipped cream is like $2.50 and oh so good.	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Driftwood Cafe	38.955316	-119.943566	Cafe	Even for Saturday, the wait is pretty short here. You get a lot of bang for your buck at Driftwood: bacon, eggs, pancakes all for pretty cheap, but definitely delicious. However, the best thing on the menu is the Carolina Connection. It is a MUST GET. Also, two words: cinnamon rolls. Plus, they serve breakfast all day long.	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Toast	38.997808	-119.953102	Restaurant	Toast is a family-owned Japanese//American restaurant with comfort food like mac and cheese, hot wings, and salmon that is to die for. They also have a full bar and the restaurant is very kid friendly!	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Thai & Noodle	38.971188	-119.934117	Restaurant	They have really quick seating on weekdays, which is great because the minute you enter you can smell everything cooking deliciously. However, on the weekends this place gets packed, as it is one of the few Thai restaurants in Tahoe. If you order any appetizers, you absolutely HAVE to get some egg rolls, because they give you so many.	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Base Camp Pizza	38.956203	-119.942675	Restaurant	What can I say, everyone needs a little bit of pizza in their life, this is the best pizza place on this side of Lake Tahoe. They even give you FREE GARLIC FRIES! They also have a pizza + beer deal, and you have the option to build your own pizza if you aren’t a fan of their options. There is also almost always live music because the owner is a huge music buff.	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Harumi Sushi	38.985318	-119.942621	Restaurant	No reservations needed for a couple of people, and they always seat pretty quickly. I’d recommend the caterpillar rolls or dragon rolls, they’re to die for. They also play sports on the TVs. This is my favorite secret spot a bit outside of town.	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spooner Summit Viewpoint	38.98399	-119.942632	Viewpoint	In the winter months, they have sledding, and from this you can pick up the Tahoe Rim Trail which goes around the entirety of Lake Tahoe and is 165 miles long. While I haven’t managed to make it around the lake just yet, this viewpoint along the scenic drive is worth seeing on its own!	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Playground	38.984950	-119.942728	Playground	Best place to take the kids. Sundays can get pretty busy!	⭐⭐⭐
Park	38.986747	-119.942907	Park	I love to frequent this park! Comfiest benches to people-watch or read a good book.	⭐⭐⭐⭐

When you’re done, copy-paste it all into our spreadsheet mapper to build a map like this:

View Neighborhood Map Without Addresses in a full screen map

Now that you have your favorite places, you can share it with friends, or use it as a reminder when you want to return to a fun spot nearby.

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Once you get to mapping places you’ve been, it may become addicting. Once all of your data is mapped, you’ll want to check out the many ways to use your maps. You’ll find visualization, grouping, and a dozen other tools for finding the meaning in your data.

In the midst of the after-effects of Hurricane Florence sweeping the Carolinas and a more accurate — and higher — casualty count from the September to October 2017 Hurricane Maria, we thought we’d make a map to highlight other historical natural disasters, specifically, the most disastrous. While Hurricane Maria wouldn’t make our list of the most disastrous natural disasters with the previous official report of 64 deaths, it would be considered one of the deadlier hurricanes with what is said to be the more probable death count: 2,975. This is more than 45 times the official number and makes Hurricane Maria one of the deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. We searched for even more data about the world’s deadliest earthquakes, floods, and wildfires, and costliest tropical hurricanes and tornadoes, including the overall most disastrous, some pretty recent natural disasters, and where in the world these disasters strike most frequently.

View Most Disastrous Natural Disasters in a full screen map

Check out the map above for the facts regarding the locations and casualty count of the most disastrous natural disasters ever. Or read on for more info about these tragic occurrences.

Dismal Disasters: All-Time Most Disastrous

All of the natural disasters we mapped resulted in the loss of 1,000 or more lives, but there are always those catastrophes that result in the greatest amount of lives lost. Here are the top ten most disastrous natural disasters by their estimated death toll:

Type	Rank	Estimated Death Toll	Event	Location	Year	Notes
Flood	1	1,000,000	1931 China floods	China	1931	May have been as high as 4,000,000 casualties
Flood	2	900,000	1887 Yellow River flood	China	1887	May have been as high as 2,000,000 casualties
Flood	3	500,000	1938 Yellow River flood	China	1938	May have been as high as 800,000 casualties
Hurricane	4	500,000	1970 Bhola cyclone	Bangladesh	1970	Then East Pakistan; may have been higher — November 13, 1970
Hurricane	5	300,000	1737 Calcutta cyclone	India	1737	October 7, 1737
Hurricane	6	300,000	1839 India Cyclone	India	1839	November 25, 1839
Earthquake	7	280,000	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake	Indonesia	2004	December 26, 2004
Earthquake	8	273,400	1920 Haiyuan earthquake	China	1920	December 16, 1920
Earthquake	9	242,769	1976 Tangshan earthquake	China	1976	May have been as high as 700,000 casualties —  July 28, 1976
Flood	10	231,000	Banqiao Dam	China	1975

As you can see from the table above, only three of the five types of natural disasters we mapped make the top ten most disastrous. Floods, earthquakes, and tropical hurricanes are the costliest natural disasters in all of history. To see only the three costliest natural disasters for yourself on the map, use our grouping feature to group the map by type. Note that when you do this and select flood, hurricane, and earthquake, 98 out of the 102 disastrous natural disasters we mapped belong to those three categories.

Country-wise, China has bore witness to the worst — and most — natural disasters on the top ten most disastrous list. That is without taking into account that four out of six of China’s top natural disasters may have resulted in more casualties than officially recorded. If those casualty counts are as high as some experts say they are, the #1 ranked 1931 China floods would be eight times the size of Bangladesh’s fourth-ranked 1970 Bhola cyclone. Whether or not the estimated death toll for the 1931 China floods is lower than the reality, it still takes the cake as the costliest natural disaster in history with 1 million deaths, but up to as many as 4 million deaths. The second-place natural disaster, China’s 1887 Yellow River flood would be four times the size of Bangladesh’s fourth-ranked hurricane if experts are correct that the casualty count may have been as high as two million.

India has also seen some pretty terrible disasters, especially in the form of cyclones or hurricanes. India’s hurricanes seem to occur almost exactly one century apart. As for the most recent natural disaster to make the top ten deadliest list: it’s the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which hit Indonesia the day after Christmas just 14 years ago. The deadliest earthquake since the 1600s, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake is only to be beaten by an earthquake from way back in 1556: the Shaanxi, China earthquake. The 1556 Shaanxi, China earthquake is officially reported to have caused the deaths of 820,000 people, but the death count may have been as high as 830,000 casualties.

Modern Mayhem: Worst of the 21st Century

Even more recent than the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake are the following natural disasters, ordered by year:

• 2016 India floods — estimated death toll of 1,000
• 2013 North India floods — estimated death toll of 5,700
• 2011 Southeast Asian floods — estimated death toll of 2,828
• 2011 Philippines floods — estimated death toll of 1,268
• 2010 Haiti earthquake — estimated death toll of 160,000
• 2010 China floods — estimated death toll of 3,189
• 2010 Pakistan floods — estimated death toll of 1,600
• 2008 Sichuan, China earthquake — estimated death toll of 87,587
• 2008 Myanmar Cyclone Nargis — estimated death toll of 138,366
• 2007 China flood — estimated death toll of 1,348
• 2006 Southern Leyte, Philippines mudslide — estimated death toll of 1,144
• 2005 Kashmir, Pakistan earthquake — estimated death toll of 100,000
• 2005 Fujian, China flood — estimated death toll of 1,624
• 2005 Mumbai, India flood — estimated death toll of 1,503
• 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake — estimated death toll of 280,000
• 2004 Eastern India flood — estimated death toll of 3,076
• 2004 Haiti Spring Flooding — estimated death toll of 1,605
• 2004 China flood — estimated death toll of 1,029
• 2002 China flood, torrential floods, mud-rock flows — estimated death toll of 1,532

Four of these 21st-century natural disasters resulted in over 100,000 deaths. Ranked at #7, #14, #19, and #24 (out of 102), respectively, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, 2010 Haiti earthquake, Cyclone Nargis, and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake are the natural disasters that have taken place during our current century with the most lives lost.

Floods and Earthquakes and More, Oh My!

You would think that the most common deadly natural disasters are the three that appeared on our top ten deadliest natural disaster list. Remember that our top ten deadliest natural disasters since the 1600s were comprised of only three types: four were floods, three were earthquakes, and three were tropical hurricanes.

While these three types of natural disasters certainly are the most common and deadly, it’s not necessarily in the order you’d expect. Of the 102 most disastrous natural disasters on our map, 62 are floods, 27 are earthquakes, and just nine are tropical hurricanes. That’s not necessarily what you’d expect glancing at the top ten list, in which the amount of earthquakes tied with hurricanes. Clearly, floods are by far the most frequent natural disaster to result in the deaths over 1,000 people. As for the low number of hurricanes? Three of the nine tropical hurricanes resulting in 1,000+ deaths since 1600 are accounted for in the top ten most disastrous natural disasters of all time.

So while tropical hurricanes that cause the death of over 1,000 people rarely occur (only nine times since 1600), when they are that severe, they result in lots and lots more casualties than 1,000. Three wildfires also make our map, along with just one tornado that has killed over 1,000 people. Watch out, Dorthy!

Take Caution in these Countries with the Most Disasters

We already know that China has historically been home to many of the costliest natural disasters ever seen, but just how many natural disasters has China withstood over the years? If you count up all of China’s natural disasters on the map above, they total to 28 natural disasters since the 1600s that resulted in 1,000+ deaths, which is more than any other country. India, known to face many a hurricane or cyclone throughout the years, has had 13 natural disasters resulting in 1,000 or more lives lost. Other countries that have witnessed more than one deadly natural disaster include:

• Bangladesh — 7
• Iran — 6
• Pakistan — 5
• Italy — 4
• Netherlands — 4
• Japan — 3
• Peru — 3
• Philippines — 3
• United States — 3
• Ecuador — 2
• Haiti — 2
• Vietnam — 2

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Now that we know all about the world’s most disastrous natural disasters, it’s time to do something about it! Learn how to make a Disaster Relief map to help members of your community find the resources they may need after a natural disaster. It’s easy to make maps that matter with BatchGeo.