J&K Region Explained

An interactive map that shows the divisions and areas of Jammu-Kashmir that are illegally occupied by Pakistan and China across the Line of Control (LOC) and the Chinese LOC. Note the area that resides inside the LOC and Chinese LOC lines that is now left with India after Pakistan and China's illegal occupations. Click to expand the legend button on top-left corner of the map window and check the content details. Zoom-in or out and play around the map to check the locations.

Jammu & Kashmir Disputed Area

Jammu and Kashmir is a region in northern India that has a complex history and a disputed present status. Here's a brief overview of the state on history and present status:

History:
The region was ruled by various dynasties and kingdoms throughout history, including the Mauryas, Mughals, Sikhs, and Dogras. In 1947, when India gained independence from British rule, the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir had to decide whether to join India or Pakistan. The ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, initially wanted to remain independent but eventually decided to join India. Pakistan, however, disputed this decision and sent troops to seize the region. This led to the First Indo-Pakistan War in 1947-48, which ended with a ceasefire line known as the Line of Control (LoC) dividing the region into Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Since then, there have been several other wars and conflicts between India and Pakistan over the region, including the Kargil War in 1999.

Present status:
India considers Jammu and Kashmir to be an integral part of its territory, while Pakistan claims the region as its own and supports separatist movements within it. In 2019, the Indian government revoked the region's special autonomous status, which had been granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The move was controversial and has been criticized by many, including some human rights organizations, for being undemocratic and violating the rights of the region's residents. Since then, the region has been under direct control of the Indian central government and divided into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The Indian government has said that its aim is to integrate the region more fully into the rest of India and bring development and prosperity to its people. However, critics say that the move is part of a larger Hindu nationalist agenda and has led to increased tensions and violence in the region.

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Doklam Standoff

An interactive map that shows the ground situation of the Doklam Standoff between Chinese Army and Indian Army, resulted due to China’s invasion, provocation, encroachment, and infiltration into the Doklam area of Bhutan.

Doklam Disputed Area

Doklam (Donglang in Chinese) is an area spread over less than a 100 sq. km comprising a plateau and a valley at the trijunction of borders between India, Bhutan and China. It is surrounded by the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, Bhutan’s Ha Valley and Sikkim state of India.

As the world knows, China has a peculiar obsession for grabbing lands of neighbouring countries for its territorial expansion through illegal encroachments and occupation. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China under its government’s directions, is actively involved in infiltration and invasion into other’s areas across the borders in the name of safeguarding the Chinese territory.

The Doklam standoff between China and India is the result of one such illegal encroachments by China into Bhutan’s territory across the borders at Doklam. The military standoff between PLA and the Indian Armed Forces occurred over an issue of Chinese construction of a road in Doklam. On 16 June 2017, the standoff arose as China attempted to extend a road into the Doklam plateau southwards near the Doka La pass, an area claimed by both China and Bhutan. India have acted on behalf of Bhutan, with which it has a 'special relationship', and stopped the aggression of the Chinese military at Doklam. Bhutan has formally objected to China's road construction in the area.

Several reports say the Chinese side is continuously beefing up its military presence near the disputed Doklam area after the month’s long standoff in the summer of 2017. Recent satellite images and intelligence reports show the Chinese have erected several permanent military posts, a few helipads and new trenches not very far from where the two Armies faced off. The above map describes the Doklam disputed area with the borders claimed by either countries.

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Wonders and Mysteries of the World

An interactive map that shows the new and ancient seven wonders of the world, along with other mysteries of the world. Click to expand the legend button on top-left corner of the map window and check the content details. Zoom-in or out and play around the map to check the locations.

Wonders of the World

Wonders of the World are the collection of outstanding creation of human from classical antiquity to Modern World. These buildings or structures witness the whole span of human history, from the earliest time that Man began to make his mark upon the Earth, and are places that are considered to be of great importance.

There have been many lists of Wonders of the World throughout history, but the most widely recognized and agreed upon are the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The New Seven Wonders of the World:
- Great Wall of China: A series of fortifications that stretches across northern China.
- Petra of Jordan: An ancient city carved into the rock in present-day Jordan.
- Christ the Redeemer: A statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Machu Picchu: An ancient Incan city located in the Andes mountains of Peru.
- Chichen Itza: A complex of Mayan ruins in Mexico.
- Roman Colosseum: A massive amphitheater in Rome, Italy, where gladiatorial contests and other public spectacles were held.
- Taj Mahal: A mausoleum located in Agra, India, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World:
- Great Pyramid of Giza: Located in Egypt, it is the only surviving wonder of the ancient world.
- Hanging Gardens of Babylon: Believed to have been located in modern-day Iraq, the gardens were a spectacular feat of engineering and horticulture.
- Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: Located in Turkey, the temple was dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis and was one of the largest buildings of the ancient world.
- Statue of Zeus at Olympia: A massive statue of the Greek god Zeus, it was housed in a temple in Olympia, Greece.
- Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: A tomb for a wealthy Persian ruler, the mausoleum was located in present-day Turkey.
- Colossus of Rhodes: A huge bronze statue of the Greek god Helios, it stood at the entrance to the harbor of Rhodes in present-day Greece.
- Lighthouse of Alexandria: Located in Egypt, the lighthouse was one of the tallest man-made structures of the ancient world and served as a navigational aid for sailors.

The Seven Wonders of the Nature:
Similar to the man-made lists of seven wonders, there is a list of seven natural wonders of the world, but there is no consensus among the experts and judges as there has been debate over how large such a list should be. In 1997 CNN compiled the following list of seven natural wonders of the World:
- Aurora: Natural light display in the polar regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic).
- Grand Canyon: Spectacular river valley in the Colorado Plateau in Arizona, United States.
- Great Barrier Reef: World's largest coral reef system off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
- Harbor of Rio de Janeiro: Oceanic bay located in southeastern coastline of Brazil.
- Mount Everest: Earth's highest mountain above sea level on the border of Nepal and China.
- Parícutin Volcano: Cinder cone volcano located in the state of Michoacán, Mexico.
- Victoria Falls: Gigantic waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

New Seven Wonders of the Nature:
A similar new list of seven natural wonders chosen through a global poll, was organized from 2007 to 2011 by the same group, is lested below:
- Iguazu Falls: Gorgeous waterfall on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná.
- Hạ Long Bay: Means "The bay where dragons landed", is a maze of jewel-like islands in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam.
- Jeju Island: Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes in the Jeju Province of South Korea.
- Puerto Princesa Underground River: 8.2 km long underground river boasts jaw-dropping cave formations, stunning limestone cliffs in Palawan, Philippines.
- Table Mountain: Flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
- Komodo Island: The land of dragons, unexplored marine life, and exotic beaches, one of the 17,508 islands that comprise the Republic of Indonesia.
- Amazon Rainforest: Tropical rainforest located in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

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Mumbai Flood Prone Areas

An interactive map that shows flood-prone areas in the Mumbai city. The map has been created based on flooding and water logging data observed in news and local sources based on Mumbai flooding incidences reported in 2005, 2015, 2017 and 2018. The red dots shows the major locations known for water logging and the pale blue polygons show the approximate extent of the water logging area based on news reporting or local knowledge.

Mumbai Overview

Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra state of India, is a densely populated city on the western coast of Indian peninsula. A cosmopolitan metropolis, earlier known as Bombay, Mumbai is also the largest city in India. Mumbai is undoubtedly the commercial capital of India and is one of the predominant port cities in the country. Mumbai's nature, as the most heterogeneous and multicultural Indian city, is symbolized in the presence of the Bollywood industry within the city, the center of the globally-influential Hindi film and TV industries. It is also home to India's largest slum population.

Mumbai is called as an island city because of its nature of origin. It was originally a conglomeration of seven islands on the Konkan coastline, which over time were joined through land-fillings to form the island city of Greater Bombay. The city has an estimated metropolitan population of about 22.05 million in 2018, making it the 4th most populous city in the world and one of the populous urban regions in the world.

Mumbai is an efficient city in some ways, but this reputation depends on fair weather. It turns into a soggy mess with the arrival of a monsoon. This year (2018) the season has begun with the spectacular collapse of a pedestrian bridge on a crucial railway line in Andheri, causing injuries and overall urban paralysis. Not even a year has passed since the ghastly stampede on a foot over bridge at Elphinstone Road station, that took over 20 lives. The recurrent disasters involving infrastructure are proof of the indifference among policymakers to the city’s needs, even as they speak of a ‘global standard’ of living, which is highly questionable.

Mumbai Flooding Problems

Come monsoon season and Mumbai, the so called to be a global city, turns into an ugly gutter with flooding and water logging in many parts of the city, disrupting the normal life of the city to almost standstill position. There are some specific areas in the city which are highly prone to flooding and water logging; the first name that comes to this list is the Hindmata area. It’s like the epicenter of news when it rains heavily in Mumbai. Few hours of heavy rain and this place starts drowning. Apart from this places like Kurla, Sion, King Circle, Dadar, and Matunga are prone to severe flooding. Moving to the western part of the town, Juhu, Bandra, Mahim, Santacruz, and Kalina are areas where it rains a lot and these areas are also prone to fill in fast. These areas form the backbone of Mumbai, connecting the island city to its suburbs, or forming entry points to the suburbs. All these flooding and water logging cause public and private transport coming to a standstill, with loss of lives and properties.

Although, it floods every monsoon, the civic body refuses to listen to residents’ claims, said activists. As somebody says, “Mumbai will flood, it will flood every monsoon…, and there is only one reason for that, that is, the people of Mumbai and also those who rules the city…” Obviously, the people of Mumbai are responsible because they throw all their waste garbage here and there, which flows in gutter and blocks all the sewage pipes which results in water logging, and hence cause flooding Mumbai City. Similarly, the civic body is also equally responsible for these floods because of their negligence behavior, lack of planning ability, incompetent planners and engineers, and top of all, a corruption-prone and unethical mindset of the people who are responsible for management of the Mumbai civic system.

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Dangerous Places on Earth

An interactive map that shows most thrilling and dangerous places of the world, which one would not dare to visit in general. These places include dangerous country-borders and locations, which are considered as life-threatening, hazardous, or risky for normal life survival. In the map the red circles with skull symbol shows dangerous locations, whereas the yellow lines show the dangerous country-borders. Click on these features to know more details about it.

Dangerous Places on Earth

When we say the world is a beautiful place to stay or roam around, we should put exception to some places though. Because not all places on this earth are beautiful; some are dangerous too. From deadly earthquake-prone locations to areas with a surplus of crime, there are places on earth that are considered as life-threatening, hazardous, or risky for normal life survival. It’s now easier than ever to visit distant locations around the world. But just how there are beautiful places to visit, there are places that are definitely not tourist-friendly. Of all the places to go on your next vacation, these places should not be on your travel list. You might consider not visiting these places when planning your next trip.

The above map tries to explore and summarize such places on the interactive online map for quick reference.

The definition of dangerous places on earth can be explained as two types - ones that are naturally dangerous for humans to strive, and others that are dangerous because we humans have made it so for ourselves. Places like hurricane-prone areas, harsh deserts, or earthquake or volcano-prone regions comes under the first category, whereas places like most of the war-torn regions, disputed country-borders, or nuclear leakage and contaminated sites, crime-ridden cities, etc. comes under the second category of dangerous places on earth. When we obviously can't do anything for the first category; we can definitely control the second category if we have will-power and understanding and make the world a better place to live.

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The Great Wall of China

An illustrative and detailed map showing the greater geographical extents and ground points of the Great Wall of China, including the Great Wall Traces, Forts, Watchtower and Beacons, identified through various times of the Chinese Dynasties, started from the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), continued through Han, Liao, and Jin Dynasties, and finally entering the Ming Dynasty (1368-1664 CE).


Data Source: The KMZ files of the Great Wall of China is freely available to download at the site researchgate.net.

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is the most extraordinary feature of engineering in history and one of the most iconic man-made structures on the planet. It is the ultimate wonder of the world. It took more time, more people, and more material to build this mega structure than any other man-made features on this planet. The world’s longest wall is the biggest and an awe-inspiring feat of ancient Chinese defensive architecture. The Chinese great wall winds its way across west to east breadths of China, generally built along the historical northern borders of China, scaling all kind of terrains: deserts, rocky mountain peaks, valleys and deep gorges, till it reaches the sea in the far east. Some sources claim that a trace of the Great Wall of China is visible from the space as well.

But why did the Chinese go to that staggering length to build it. Well, as I read somewhere, the wall was the result of immense blood, sweet and fear the ancient Chinese people faced. The ancient northern borders of China were battle grounds of frequent invasions from the fearsome horse-riding archers - the Xiongnu. This forced the Chinese emperors to adopt a radical strategy; they decided to build a wall - a linear complex fortress. It was built to keep out the raiding parties of nomadic tribes of the Eurasian Steppe, including the Mongols, Turic and Xiongnu, of modern-day Mongolia and Manchuria and to protect the Chinese states, empires, and the Han people from these invaders. With the wall height raising up to 20 feet, the wall distinctively changed the landscape across the territories, blocking strategic week points and passing through various terrains, and evolved over 400 years and 6000 miles.

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials. Millions of the people were involved in construction of the Great Wall over various times of the Chinese Dynasties, started in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), continued through Han, Liao, and Jin Dynasties, and finally took advanced shape during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1664 CE). The labour force used to build the Great Wall were not very skilled craftsmen or engineers, but were common workers, soldiers, forcibly recruited farmers, slaves, convicts and war prisoners. Even then the Great Wall of China carries a simple yet sophisticated and wonderful design; simple enough to be built quickly and with locally available materials and sophisticated enough that still stand upright after centuries.

How I created this map

The KML file that I downloaded from the above-mentioned source was suitable for opening in Google Earth Pro desktop application, but was not suitable for opening on top of online Google Map. So, I studied the content and structure of the KML, made some changes using normal code editors, like Notepad++, SciTE Text Editor, and made changes so that all layers open in Google Map. I have edited the KML files to remove the folder view and converted the data for normal layered view. And then I have added generalised lines to show the extents of the great walls. The KML file was containing various point locations of the of the great walls, like pillar or post locations, fort positions, location of beacons or watchtowers. I interpreted these point locations on top of satellite image in Google Map and tried to draw the traces of the great walls in various dynasties as shown in the map.

Seeing the vastness of the Great Walls of China, it is difficult to draw the exact extents of the walls with precise orientations and alignments. But I have tried to use my best judgment, with whatever time available, to compare the KML data with the impressions seen in the background Satellite image and decide on the positioning of the wall. Somewhere it could be correct, somewhere it might not be accurate. I leave it on the viewer to interpret accordingly. After all, this map created just to explain the extents of the Great Walls of China and to show why it is considered as a wonder of the world.

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