Map of global light pollution

The Nov 2004 issue of National Geographic contains a poster size map of
the world with a map of the "Earth at Night" on the reverse - shows
areas of light pollution and darker areas - similar maps are available
from various places on the web. Might be of interest to people on this
group.

Cheers
Dave

David McKee wrote:
The Nov 2004 issue of National Geographic contains a poster size map of
the world with a map of the "Earth at Night" on the reverse - shows
areas of light pollution and darker areas - similar maps are available
from various places on the web. Might be of interest to people on this
group.

Cheers
Dave


I've seen a BAA/Philips 'Dark Skies' map for the UK
(e.g. http://www.mapsworldwide.com/mwwlive/m29235.htm) but
it's only about as detailed as the maps that appear on
the CPRE website. Although it has cities and major roads
marked it's probably only really useful to suggest
whether it's worth taking a telescope on a holiday trip.
I could probably guess that ..

Are there any higher resolution photos or maps available ?
It would be nice to find something that indicates which
backroads in my own county are well shielded from nearby
streets and towns.

-adrian

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 13:29:38 +0000, David McKee wrote:

The Nov 2004 issue of National Geographic contains a poster size map of
the world with a map of the "Earth at Night" on the reverse - shows
areas of light pollution and darker areas - similar maps are available
from various places on the web. Might be of interest to people on this
group.

And I have just that as my decktop background at the moment ;-)

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html


Mike

In article , adrian.110504
@ntlworld.com says...
Thanks. It's a pity it didn't get off the ground, though it's hard
to collect such a lot of local data (and will people reveal their
own favourite dark sites, anyway ?).

This should be fairly trivial to calculate to anyone with a good quality
GIS system. If you plot the positions of the nearby houses and other
light sources, then the system should be able to allow for the rise and
fall in the ground and show dark spots. I'd suggest asking a GIS
lecturer/researcher from a University if they'd help.

Cheers,
Aled (who has more than a passing interest in map generalisation)