Founded in 1999 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Earth Observatory set out on an ambitious mission: to bring images, stories, and discoveries about our planet to the world. More than two decades later, it is safe to say they have done so in spectacular fashion.
As of November 2023, the Earth Observatory has published more than 12,480 image-driven stories. This number grows daily and includes satellite images, photographs taken by astronauts, and visualizations from scientific studies. Each of these graphics and stories has been cataloged in EO Explorer. This interactive map allows readers to browse articles by location, while also revealing how many stories exist within an area.
The main map of EO Explorer is helpful on its own, but its value does not end here. Within each article from the Earth Observatory, there is also a map showing where the story takes place. This serves as a link back to EO Explorer where the map reveals other stories that exist nearby.
Not every story or piece of content from the Earth Observatory is in EO Explorer. Some stories do not have an associated location. Some focus on global datasets, and others are more about phenomena than a particular place. Still, the more than 12,000 stories mapped represent an impressive collection that you could spend a lifetime exploring.
As you might expect, the map design for EO Explorer relies on NASA data, and is available to the public for use in their own mapping projects. NASA provides a version of the base map as a single image or as multiple images for use in static or tiled web maps.
