A real-time interactive map visualizing global earthquake activity, designed to make seismic patterns intuitive and accessible to a general audience.
Project Links
This was my first-ever map, and I still have a soft spot for it. It shows the last 30 days of global earthquakes in real time, layered with tectonic plates and a heatmap. Building it was a turning point in how I think about spatial data: I learned how layering, scale, and interactivity shape how people perceive complex systems, lessons I now use in more decision-driven data work. Any time I hear about a quake on the news, I still pull it up.
Project Overview
Global earthquakes are not distributed randomly: their locations often trace the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates. This interactive map uses the USGS GeoJSON API to visualize earthquake activity over the past 30 days, making these spatial patterns easier to explore.
Built with JavaScript, Leaflet, and D3, the map combines earthquake markers sized by magnitude and colored by depth with tectonic plate boundaries and a heatmap. These complementary layers let users compare individual events with broader concentrations of seismic activity, while clickable markers provide additional details about each earthquake.
Building this project taught me how map design influences the interpretation of spatial data. I also tackled a practical geographic challenge: making the visualization wrap cleanly across the antimeridian, so earthquake activity remains continuous at the edges of the map. The result is an accessible, interactive introduction to global seismic patterns—and an early project that shaped how I approach spatial data storytelling.
Gallery
Earthquake markers: Real-time USGS data from the past 30 days,
with markers colored by depth and sized by magnitude.
Tectonic plates and heat map: Overlay of earthquake markers and
heat map, highlighting seismic hotspots and plate
boundaries.
Tectonic plates on ESRI’s National Geographic base map: An
artistic visualization of Earth’s major plate boundaries.
References
Dataset created by the United States Geological Survey.