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May 25th, 2009 by Wadds

Using the web to locate the North Korea nuclear test site

Politicians and international media have been rightly quick to condemn North Korea’s second detonation early today of a nuclear device. The latest nuclear test, like a previous detonation in October 2006, was identified by seismologists as an earthquake.

The so-called secret test site in North Korea is no longer much of a secret to anyone with a web browser. US Geological Survey (USGS) data from today’s detonation (Magnitude 4.7 – NORTH KOREA, 2009 May 25 00:54:43 UTC ) and the initial one in 2006 (Magnitude 4.3 – NORTH KOREA, 2006 October 09 01:35:28 UTC) pinpoint the epicentre of the explosions to a 10km square site in Chik-tong, P’unggye-yok, on the north east edge of North Korea, near its border with China. I’ve plotted the two ‘earthquake’ sites on a Google Map.

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The Cryptome Eyeball Series is a project that uses web mapping applications to circumvent government and military secrecy. After the first nuclear test in North Korean in 2006 it collated data from sources across the web and published a series of Google maps of the test site including potential mines, works, drilling rigs and test facilities.

In a similar timeframe, Global Security Report, a US intelligence gathering organisation, reported that it had identified the North Korean nuclear test site after “a member of the intelligence committee of South Korea’s National Assembly reported on the construction of a tunnel at Mount Mantap in North Hamkyong Province”.

Both the Cryptome Eyeball Series and the Global Security Report locations coincide with the data published by the USGS. Even a decade ago this level of information would have been classified military intelligence.
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May 18th, 2009 by Wadds

Measuring the National Work from Home Day digital communications campaign

Matt Watson’s Google Map mash-up acted as a focus for National Work from Home Day on Friday. People working from home were asked to mark the day by tweeting a tag (#NWFHD) and their postcode.

twittermap150 home workers added themselves to the National Work from Home Day map during a six hour period. Matt has generated a final Google map that shows everyone’s location. The project generated more than 270 tweets attracting the attention of Sky News’ Ruth Barnett, the BBC’s Maggie Philbin and Rory Cellan-Jones, Oranges’ Matthew Horton and the Independent‘s Alex Johnson.

More than 1,000 unique visitors sought out the mashup map on the Speed web site (verified via web analytics and the use of a bit.ly link). It also attracted more than ten pieces of editorial content ranging from the BBC and the Independent, through to independent bloggers.

The project was inspired by the #UKSNOW mashup devised by software programmer Ben Marsh earlier this year. Ben’s map allowed Twitter users to plot areas of snowfall across the UK in real time during periods of heavy snow.

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