I reviewed Ian Muehlenhaus’s author archive across the #365DaysOfMaps run, including posts from January through August 2026 and the late-2025 material available on the Commission site. The recurring voice is informal, first-person, candid about process, occasionally self-deprecating, willing to make an argument with a map, and usually ends by exposing the original prompt rather than pretending the result emerged fully formed. (Map Design)

The World, Tested

Nuclear testing is a pretty bleak topic. So naturally, I decided not to make a cheerful map about it.

Admittedly, there are already plenty of maps that carefully catalogue nuclear tests, provide filters, charts, timelines, exact yields, technical explanations, and enough interface widgets to keep a GIS analyst occupied for an afternoon. I didn’t want to create another one of those.

I wanted the map to feel unpleasant.

The result is a dark Equal Earth world map that slowly accumulates the scars of nuclear testing from 1945 onward. When a test occurs, the timeline stops. The location flashes white-yellow, a proportional circle expands outward, the world physically shudders a little, and a low boom rolls through the browser. Then the circle collapses into a small, glowing, pulsating dot that remains behind.

And then it happens again. And again. And again.

The quiet periods move quickly—because watching 12 uneventful months crawl past is not particularly enlightening—but when testing accelerates, the map forces you to sit through every explosion. By the height of the Cold War, there isn’t much sitting around.

I combined the primary historical nuclear-testing dataset with a separate dataset of North Korean tests from 2006–2017. I also had Web Mapper generate the boom/thunder audio synthetically in the browser. There’s now a faint seismograph-like clicking underneath everything as well. It’s almost ignorable. Almost being the key word there.

What I like most is that the map really isn’t about extracting values from a dataset. Sure, the information is there. But the point is cumulative repetition: flash, boom, scar. Flash, boom, scar. Data is emotionless. Booms reverberate through you.

Maps make arguments. This one argues through atmosphere (pun intended).

Is it the best map of the year? Nope.

Is it one of the better ones thematically – i.e., tying the map to the day? Perhaps. It takes a while, but it’s kind of fun to keep playing in the background while rifling through health insurance copay bills.

View Map Here

Original Prompt

Intent

Create a morose and macabre portrait of nuclear testing over the years. I want this to be emotionally compelling and artisitc, not data-focused.

Audience

Social media distribution; anti-nuclear groups; citizens worried about radiation, nuclear power, nuclear testing; school groups; anti-nuclear proliferation groups and orgs

Data description

Data shows nuclear testing over time, including lots of scientific data about magnitude, etc. I am only really interested in date, magnitude, country testing, and location. The other information is fine to include in a CSV download available in sources, but no need to highlight it on the map.

Preferred stylistic choices

Somber, glitch electronica with entire map rumbling and sound of distant thunder at volume in proportion to magnitude of the test rumbling over the glitch electronica background. Dark, minimalist base map, equal earth projection. Animated and non-stop map on a loop. Month and Year in browser window corner. Months and years speed up until right before it flips to month of test, then play each test at normal speed in a row in that month (some months have more than one) before speeding up to showing one month a second again.

Animations. Bright yellow or white flash on dark background with boom/thunder sounds and an animated proportional circle growing fairly quickly – all tests sized in proportion to blast magnitude. (Smallest circle is 10px.)