The Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia University has built an informative and easy-to-use online graphic that shows the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy. Currently, users can view maps of the New Jersey and Long Island coasts and click on different areas to see the number of heavily damaged buildings estimated by FEMA, how the damage maps up against various socioeconomic factors, and what the affected locations look like in photos.
Red circles show the number of buildings damaged in specific areas. Long Beach, Long Island—where 3,104 structures were heavily damaged by the storm—has the biggest red circle. To see the varying levels of damage mapped against income, or unemployment levels, click on the gray buttons on the upper-right side of the map. To view pictures of the damage as you scroll down through the map, place the on-screen arrow over the black column to the right.
Click on the black column as you scroll down to see photos of the damage. Photo: Spatial Information Design Lab
The lab, which is a division of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, is currently working on a graphic mapping of the destruction in New York City.