Ground Zero

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a nuclear bomb goes off in your city? With Google's Maps framework and a bit of Javascript, you can see the outcome.
And it does not look good.


Search Usage

Just enter the address of that boss, teacher, colleague or loved one.
If you can find it in Google Maps, you can nuke it.

  • West 42 St, Manhattan, NY
  • 48 Martin Place, Sydney
  • Mount Everest

 

Want to see some Fallout?

We now have Ground Zero II - with more bombs and countries, it maps the radioactive fallout from an atomic explosion. Just click here to see it !

About Weapons and Countries

(29January2009)
The list of weapons contains bombs of historical significance - but what happens with modern, nuclear-assertive countries not in the list?

  • France: has a similar to "B61", also deployed by jet fighter.
  • India, Pakistan: equivalent to "Fat Man". Probably larger.
  • Iran, Syria: deny having a bomb. Yet. Smaller than "Little Boy".
  • Israel: denies having a bomb. Ever. As big as "Joe-4".
  • North Korea: go to Ground Zero II to see it
  • South Africa: had "Little Boy", but renounced nuclear weapons.

About the Code

This is a version of the Ground Zero Mapplet that we published previously. Read that article for more information on the sources for the calculations and other technical details. The conversion to use the Maps API was fairly quick, but the following had to be updated or reworked:

  • Maps API does not seem to support a getPoint callback function for the marker object. This is the reason the map has to be dragged around -instead of just dragging the marker, as in the Mapplet version.
  • The general layout of the screen and new size for the display, raises use-cases that did not exist in the Mapplet version. The layout of some objects had to be modified.

Update 2.0 incorporates the LocalSearch Ajax API from Google. New logic and closures had to be put in the mapplet to support this change, but we think it was worth the effort. You can click here to get the ZIP archive of the script.

You can also copy and paste the following to mashup the Ground Zero script into your own website or blog:

Science Caveat

I designed the script to show the usage of Javascript functions on top of a Google Map. The radius of a nuclear explosion seemed entertaining and facetious enough for this demonstration. The thermal effects of the blast are shown here because they are easily understood by users of all ages and cultural backgrounds.

It's hard to describe the lethal radiation dose, in Sieverts, to a school kid.

In a real-life scenario, the area of thermal damage is affected by a multitude of factors; including the terrain, mountains, and height of the explosion. This script does not assume these factors.

The formulas used here are in the public domain, and were sourced from the websites of the Federation of American Scientists and from Wikipedia

With thanks to: Jenn, tetris11, Marc van W, mendicantbug, Google

Disclaimer: This code is posted "as is", with a Creative Commons license and neither Carlos Labs nor any of its representatives guarantee the suitability of this script, or assume any responsibility for your actions.

This script is free to use on any software project, free or otherwise, provided you credit Carlos Labs and you do not remove the header in the script.

Project: 200712B