The summer months bring children home from school and popsicles to the stores. But it’s not all sunshine and long, lazy days come May and June. Unfortunately, summers also bring weather conducive to unplanned and unwanted wildfires.

In the last decade, an average of 64,100 wildfires occurred annually, as reported by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). Every year these fires collectively burn 6.8 million acres, along with countless buildings destroyed, and lives lost. The recent 2020 Western United States wildfires and the 2010 Russian wildfires were among 23 of the largest wildfires the past 10 years, which have resulted in a lot of destruction. Take a look at the map below to see where more of these massive wildfires take place.

View Largest Wildfires of the Last Decade in a full screen map

The map is based on Wikipedia data we gathered in late September 2020. You can filter the map by negative effects of the fires (acres burned, buildings destroyed, and death count) or by when the wildfire occurred (month and year). Otherwise, read on for more information.

10 Wildfires With the Most Area Burned

Wildfires result in multiple kinds of destruction, perhaps the most obvious being land. Though devastating to think about, the area burned helps provide an idea of the severity of these fires. The average football field amounts to 1.32 acres, yet by the time some of the largest wildfires were extinguished, they damaged 16,000,000 times that amount, as you’ll note below.

Name	Approx. area burned (acres)	Approx. area burned (ha)
2019–20 Australian bushfire season	16,000,000	6,300,000
2014 Northwest Territories fires	8,600,000	3,500,000
2019 Siberia wildfires	7,400,000	3,000,000
2010 Bolivia forest fires	3,700,000	1,500,000
2018 British Columbia wildfires	3,339,170	1,351,314
2017 British Columbia wildfires	3,004,930	1,216,053
2020 Western United States wildfires	2,936,960	1,188,544
2015 Russian wildfires	2,700,000	1,100,000
2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires	2,240,000	906,000
2019 Alberta wildfires	2,182,960	883,414

The table shows the 2019 Australian bushfires saw the most area burned this decade. This is nearly double the second-most, which notably took place in Canada. The Great White North was home to four of the ten largest wildfires. Specifically, British Columbia had two large fires and both the Northwest Territories and Alberta saw two each this decade.

Both Russia and Bolivia have seen their fair share of wildfires. The Siberia wildfires took place in 2019 while Russia faced similar issues with its 2015 fires. As for Bolivia, the country dealt with the 2019 Amazon rainforest fires and its 2010 forest fires are ongoing.

The only large wildfire not yet mentioned happens to be the most recent, beginning in late July 2020: the Western United States wildfires. Washington, California (where it’s known the worst statistic about the state is that 6.7 million acres burned in wildfires between 2008 and 2017) and Oregon faced the fires. While the newest addition to the top 10, these fires already burned nearly 3 million acres, though area burned isn’t the only consequence of wildfires.

Buildings Destroyed by Wildfires

In addition to land, buildings are also often burned down during a wildfire. This leaves even more to rebuild after the blaze finally dies out. While the exact number of buildings destroyed in a wildfire is not always known, there are cases with that data available.

The 2018 California wildfires destroyed 22,751 buildings, the most in recent years. 2018 was a terrible year for wildfires in California as the state’s 2018 Camp Fire saw 18,804 buildings go down, the second-most this decade. Finally, the 2020 Western U.S. wildfires are the last to result in over 4,000 destroyed. While impactful, land and buildings can be salvaged. What can’t be saved are the lives lost in these fires.

Deadliest Wildfires of the Decade

Area and buildings burned aren’t the only metrics of a wildfire’s destruction. Unfortunately, there’s also the death count—and the fires with the most land or buildings burned aren’t always the deadliest. These five wildfires saw 50 or more deaths:

1. 2018 California wildfires (103)
2. 2018 Attica wildfires (102)
3. 2018 Camp Fire (85)
4. June 2017 Portugal wildfires (66)
5. 2010 Russian wildfires (54)

Both the 2018 California and Attica wildfires resulted in a death toll of over 100 people. Northern California’s Camp Fire nearly reached that level with 85 fatalities that same year. Portugal and the 2010 Russia fires saw 66 and 54 respectively. Thankfully, at least eight of the fires had no known casualties. Now let’s move on from the trends of wildfires’ negative effects to their to date commonalities.

Largest Wildfires by Year and Month

The number of massive wildfires is increasing. The decade that began with just two large wildfires in 2010 ended with a string of scorching summer seasons.

From 2011 to 2016, there was just one large fire per year. Yet that number increased in 2017, a trend that continued the following year in 2018, the worst of the decade. 2019 also faced a similarly high amount of fires.

As for the months of the largest wildfires, you already know most have occurred throughout the summer. But which summer month(s) specifically?

The most dangerous month for the start of large wildfires has historically been July. May and August yield similarly high numbers (four each), which together, make up roughly 35% of the largest fires. When you combine all three of these months, nearly 61% of the largest fires over the last 10 years are accounted for. Find out how you can help in future wildfire seasons.

Make a Disaster Relief Map

Wildfire season is an annual occurrence that appears to be getting worse as the years go on. But fires aren’t the only life-threatening emergency we should be prepared for, as 2020 proved.

You can make maps that help others during hard times, like how a South Philly graduate student mapped free food resources in her neighborhood with the help of BatchGeo. See her map that became a pandemic resource here. Then, get a full tutorial on how you too can make a disaster relief community resource map.

Technology advancements have certainly helped society. But they no doubt have their downsides. One gray area is the increased use of CCTV or closed-circuit television cameras in most major cities around the world.

Of course, surveillance cameras have their benefits. They help deter and solve crimes and even mitigate traffic. While some aspects of CCTVs are intended to make the world a safer place, privacy activists worry about allowing police unfettered access to footage of our daily lives feels invasive. Whether you’re of the opinion that increased surveillance keeps us safe or you’re against the watchful eye of CCTVs, you should know where your city stands on the matter. A couple of cities have nearly three million surveillance cameras while others have significantly fewer CCTVs—just 40 cameras or so, which you can find on the map below.

View CCTV Cameras by City in a full screen map

On the map, you’ll see the number of CCTVs in 120 of the world’s most populated cities. The data is from Comparitech, which they also conveniently offered in the form of a spreadsheet. Sort the map by the number of CCTV cameras, the population, and then the number of CCTV cameras per 1,000 people or let us highlight our findings of the cities with the most and least surveillance below.

Cities With the Most Surveillance

More surveillance means easier to solve crimes and there are plenty of highly-populated cities around the world with millions of CCTV cameras. Most of them are located in Asia. Without factoring in population, the following 10 cities are the most-watched:

City	Country	# of CCTV Cameras
Shanghai	China	2,985,984
Chongqing	China	2,579,890
Shenzhen	China	1,929,600
Tianjin	China	1,244,160
Beijing	China	800,000
Guangzhou	China	684,000
London	England	627,707
Ji’nan	China	540,463
Wuhan	China	500,000
New Delhi	India	179,000

As the table above depicts, Shanghai, China is the city with the most surveillance. Shanghai has nearly three million cameras scattered around its 2,448 square miles. To put that perspective, the second most-watched city, Chongqing, China, is 31,776 square miles. Shanghai has 400,000 more CCTV cameras than Chongqing, though Shanghai takes up almost 13 times less space. Shanghai must hide cameras in every nook and cranny.

Following Shanghai and Chongqing are four more Chinese cities: Shenzhen, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and the country’s capital, Beijing. All of these cities have over 650,000 cameras, and Shenzhen and Tianjin’s numbers are in the one-millions. The next city is another capital, though this one is the first to be outside of China: London, England. London is the #1 most-watched city in Europe.

And while the following two cities of China and India’s capital, New Delhi, are all located in the same continent of Asia, it’s still notable New Delhi was slotted as #10 given China’s monopoly. In fact, 80% of the top 10 cities are Chinese, so we don’t expect to see China anywhere near the list of cities with the least CCTVs.

Cities With Less of a Watchful Eye

Not all of the highly-populated cities of the world are equipped with CCTV cameras on every corner. There’s a difference of up to five figures between the cities with the most surveillance and those with the least, as you’ll see on the table below.

City	Country	# of CCTV Cameras
Reykjavik	Iceland	40
Nairobi	Kenya	42
Stockholm	Sweden	70
Melbourne	Australia	93
Belfast	Northern Ireland	120
Luxembourg	Luxembourg	139
Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	150
Kitakyushu	Japan	194
Amsterdam	The Netherlands	203
San Jose	Costa Rica	215

No single country dominates the list of ten cities with the least watchful eye like China did with the most CCTV cameras. However, 50% of the cities on this list are located in Europe. This includes the city with the least amount of CCTV cameras watching its residents and visitors: Reykjavik, Iceland. Reykjavik is home to just 40 surveillance cameras in it’s 106 square miles. Nairobi, Kenya has a similarly small number of surveillance cameras.

Stockholm, Sweden, the country’s capital has a relatively small number of CCTVs for crime deterrence and such. Stockholm’s crime and safety indices are average: 44.48 out of 100 for crime and 55.52 out of 100 for safety.

The other seven cities have just under or just over 100 CCTVs. However, there are several factors that affect how many CCTV cameras a city may need, including population size and crime levels.

How Population Blurs the CCTV Lens

Shanghai, China and Reykjavik, Iceland are notable for being at one end of the extremes when it comes to their number of surveillance cameras. However, once population size is taken into account, things can get blurry. Since we know the number of CCTV cameras and the number of people in each of the following cities, we can also know the number of CCTV cameras per 1,000 people. Let’s see where the cities of Shanghai and Reykjavik fall when we factor in population.

Most CCTVs by Population

While Shanghai has more CCTVs overall, Chongqing, China steals the number one spot from Shanghai based on population. Chongqing is followed by Shenzhen, China, bumping Shanghai to #3 once population is accounted for.

City	Country	# of CCTV Cameras	# of People	# of CCTV Cameras per 1,000 People
Chongqing	China	2,579,890	15,354,067	168.03
Shenzhen	China	1,929,600	12,128,721	159.09
Shanghai	China	2,985,984	26,317,104	113.46
Tianjin	China	1,244,160	13,396,402	92.87
Ji’nan	China	540,463	7,321,200	73.82
London	England	627,707	9,176,530	68.40
Wuhan	China	500,000	8,266,273	60.49
Guangzhou	China	684,000	12,967,862	52.75
Beijing	China	800,000	20,035,455	39.93
Atlanta	United States	7,800	501,178	15.56

Additionally, whereas before no city in the U.S. made the top ten, Atlanta, Georgia now makes the cut. Previously #46, when population is entered into the equation, it settles in as #10.

Though not in the top 10, the city of Abu Dhabi in the UAE made a significant jump from #31 to #12. Chicago, Illinois, also notably moves from 24 to 13. Plus, even though Tokyo, Japan is the #1 most populated city out of the 120 on the map, it still has relatively few CCTVs: 0.65 per 1,000 people.

Least CCTVs by Population

Nairobi, Kenya replaces Reykjavik as the number one city with the least surveillance when population is taken into account. In fact, Reykjavik now no longer even appears on the top ten list.

City	Country	# of CCTV Cameras	# of People	# of CCTV Cameras per 1,000 People
Nairobi	Kenya	42	4,556,381	0.01
Melbourne	Australia	93	4,870,388	0.02
Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	150	7,070,665	0.02
Manila	Philippines	300	13,698,889	0.02
Cairo	Egypt	500	20,484,965	0.02
Stockholm	Sweden	70	1,608,037	0.04
Dhaka	Bangladesh	1,000	20,283,552	0.05
Surat	India	614	6,873,756	0.09
Brasilia	Brazil	453	4,558,991	0.10
Bangalore	India	1,301	11,882,666	0.11

Other cities that no longer make the list are Belfast, Luxembourg, Kitakyushu, Amsterdam, and San Jose. Instead, we now see Manila, Cairo, Dhaka, Surat, Brasilia, and Bangalore. Stockholm moves further down the list as Melbourne and Riyadh rise once population is accounted for.

Nearly Every Country’s Most Surveilled City

There are 66 countries represented on the map. Of these, 17 countries are home to multiple cities with lots of CCTVs. Below is a list of the 17 country’s most surveilled cities.

• China: Shanghai (2,985,984 CCTV cameras)
• India: New Delhi (179,000; capital)
• Russia: Moscow (146,000; capital)
• Australia: Sydney (60,000)
• South Korea: Seoul (37,883; capital)
• UAE: Dubai (35,000)
• United States: Chicago (35,000)
• France: Paris (33,479; capital)
• Mexico: Mexico City (26,400; capital)
• Japan: Tokyo (24,500; capital)
• Canada: Toronto (14,955)
• Pakistan: Islamabad (9,950; capital)
• Italy: *Rome (8,300; capital)
• Brazil: Salvador (7,300)
• Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City (6,150)
• Colombia: Bogotá (4,856; capital)
• South Africa: Cape Town (1,578; capital)

New Delhi, Moscow, Seoul, Paris, Mexico City, Tokyo, Islamabad, Rome, Bogotá, and Cape Town are the capitals of their respective countries. This makes sense as capitals are often highly populated cities with a need for increased surveillance. However, Shanghai, Sydney, Dubai, Chicago, Toronto, Salvador, and Ho Chi Minh City aren’t the capitals of their countries yet still have the most CCTVs.

Surveillance Data Pops with Custom Base Map Styles

We opted for the dark map style for our CCTV map, which we think fits the topic of surveillance perfectly. When you make your maps with BatchGeo, you have the option to customize your base map styles with the click of a button—no code required. Choose between six map base styles when you make your first custom map at batchgeo.com.

Excel is a powerful tool that experts and novices alike turn to for their data needs. This includes location data like addresses, cities, and states, and even zip codes, where Excel tricks come in handy. There are tricks to keeping or showing leading zeros in zip codes and to shortening zip codes to five digits.

In this post, we’ll show you how to:

• Keep or show leading zeros
• Shorten to five digits from Zip+4 format
• Make a map based on a list of addresses or zip codes

The first Excel zip code trick is how to keep or show leading zeros.

Keep or Show Leading Zeros

As you type numbers beginning with “0” into Excel or Google Sheets, the zeros are automatically removed. However, there may be times when you wish to keep those leading zeros. Phone numbers, product numbers, and zip codes are examples of such occasions. Imagine you’re working with location data from Puerto Rico. It would be incredibly frustrating to type in a “00923” zip code only to have “923” appear.

Keep Leading Zeros as You Type

While keeping leading zeros isn’t the default in Excel, there is a way to keep zeros as you type by changing the format to “Text.” Do this by following the steps below:

1. Select your desired cell(s)
2. Navigate to the Home tab in Excel
3. Click the dropdown of the Number option
4. Select Text

This amends the cell’s default settings, though an error ⚠️ message will appear. Click Ignore Error, and now, leading zeros will remain as you type. Alternatively, you can add an apostrophe (’) in front of the number with leading zeros, and Excel will treat it as text. However, perhaps you need your zip codes in a number format so you can use other Excel magic. If this is the case, you’ll want to show leading zeros a different way.

Show Leading Zeros in Cells

You can show leading zeros in cells in a way that still treats the data as a number via formatting.

1. Select your desired cell(s)
2. Right-click on the cell(s) and select “Format Cells…”
3. Navigate to the “Special” Category
4. Select Zip Code

This method is best for situations in which you need to work with a numeric dataset. Another Excel zip code trick you need to know is how to shorten zip codes to five digits.

Shorten to Five Digits

While less common, U.S. zip codes occasionally come in a nine-digit form called Zip+4. In fact, the five-digit zip codes most of us are familiar with are actually abbreviated versions of nine-digit ZIPs. In many cases, though, five-digit zip codes are preferred. If your spreadsheet contains nine-digit zip codes you want to get rid of, you can shorten the nine-digit zip codes to five digits in one fell swoop with a simple formula.

Follow the steps below to shorten to five digits:

1. Insert a new column to the right of your current zip code column
2. Type or copy and paste =LEFT(C2,5), replacing C2 with your cell’s identifier
3. Drag the formula down the rest of your column

Now your nine-digit ZIPs are shortened to five-digit zip codes. And, since you also now know how to keep and show leading zeros, you can take your data one step further and make a map.

Make a Map

Once you’ve mastered Excel zip code tricks like displaying leading zeros and shortening numbers to five digits, you can make a map. BatchGeo allows you to map your data for free. Create custom maps like the one of places in San Juan, Puerto Rico below.

View San Juan, Puerto Rico locations in a full screen map

When you’re ready to make your own map, gather your data in a spreadsheet. Our post on how to simplify complicated data in Excel spreadsheets can guide you. Once you have your data, get started making your map with the following steps:

1. Open your spreadsheet
2. Select (Ctrl+A or Cmd+A) and copy (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C) all your data
3. Open your web browser and go 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

Now that you know how to make a map with BatchGeo, you can make custom maps like cities around the world by latitude and longitude or national animals of every country. You can even customize the base style and marker shape and color of your maps. It’s easy to let BatchGeo’s geocoder map your data in seconds, leaving plenty of time to customize your map exactly how you want.