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Google Maps app shows precisely what would happen if your town got nuked
What would happen if a nuclear weapon exploded in your city? With this Google Maps application by Aussie designers Carlos Labs, you enter your address or town, select a nuclear weapon, and hit Nuke It! Boom — you can see exactly how much damage would be done. The deep red color means total destruction, dark red would be third degree burns, light red signifies second degree burns, and yellow means you'd get a pretty nasty sunburn.
When you choose your weapon, notice that the nuclear hall of fame is all there, from the 15- kiloton "Little Boy" dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, to the Tsar Bomba, the 50-megaton monster exploded by the Soviets in 1961 in the largest nuclear detonation in history.
While the danger of nuclear war has lessened since the Cold War, we still have a figurative gun to our heads. A graphical app like this just brings it all into stark reality, making us realize that if a widespread nuclear war broke out, society would break down so quickly that those located at ground zero would be the lucky ones.
Carlos Labs, via Blgd Blog and Neatorama
By Ron at 2:26 PM ON 02/26/09
i would like tto see how my state (VA) would be changed by a eruption from st helens. i feel pretty protected here with all the military stuff around the city and state but ill download it anyways. thanks!
By beach_of_scorpions at 6:55 PM ON 02/26/09
Me too! I would love to see that as well.
By Smurf at 10:14 PM ON 02/26/09
Check this site http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/nuclear-urbanism.html
He posted this back in the middle of December on the same thing. He has some really interesting stuff on the site from time to time.
By dancesonsnow at 4:03 AM ON 02/27/09
This is a bad idea...
I can just see Osama Bin Laden or one of his Lieutenants sitting in front of a computer somewhere going "hmm, this site is really helpful..."
By zintradi at 10:14 AM ON 02/27/09
Well, this might sound a bit nitpicky...
but they should add some variables... like airburst vs. ground (i.e. if it were delivered in a van vs. missle or plane) Terrain, density of downtown buildings.
By skullivan at 5:45 PM ON 03/01/09
I live about 20 miles to the east of the farthest east perimeter of the thermal damage radius. I'm not sure if that's comforting or not.
@dancesonsnow
I really doubt this is anything they couldn't figure out for themselves.
By mrvadeboncoeur at 10:58 AM ON 03/05/09
There was a 1999 episode of "The American Experience" on PBS titled "Race for the Superbomb" that had a similar blast map feature available on the companion website. I think they used maps from mapblast.com (a Microsoft site). I remember taking my stress out on my boss at a former job in 2000 by virtually nuking his house, and hoping that the blast radius wouldn't get to my house...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/
But in the last year or two I think they took down the blast radius mapper.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/sfeature/blastmap.html
I'm glad to see that it is now available on another site! Thanks for the link!
By Norm // Meet In the Lobby at 12:11 PM ON 03/05/09
Tacky and useless. My guess is our Australian friends have never actually visited a nuclear "ground zero" site. Their use of the phrase "Nuke It!" proves that, I suppose.
By Sarafimm at 7:34 PM ON 03/05/09
A true application would include the variables of where the bomb detonated, terrain, time of year, wind variables and the nuclear cloud direction. I'm sure there is a much more sophisticated version of this app somewhere. Probably in use by more than one government.
By Joe at 10:57 AM ON 03/08/09
Thermal damage is nice to know (what buildings would get knocked down, how close you need to be to be instantly vaporized) but if you are actually looking for survivability, it would be nice to have some bands from point-of-impact indicating radiation levels. 'Ballparking' it would be fine. Presume ground detonation with no wind.
You imagination can fill in some of the gaps.
By cadwern at 1:42 PM ON 03/08/09
the world might just survive if we nuked london washington and new york
By Joel K. at 1:52 PM ON 03/09/09
Makes me think of the map Hawkins had in the much too short television series, "Jericho" on CBS and now Sci-Fi Channel.
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Joel K.:
Makes me think of the map Hawkins had in the much too short television series, "Jericho" on CBS and now Sci-Fi Chan...More »