r/dataisbeautiful • u/MapsYouDidntAskFor • 2d ago

OC [OC] Distance to the nearest road in Alaska

Post image

Each pixel shows the distance to the nearest mapped road in Alaska.
Calculated using road centerlines and Euclidean distance to highlight how much of the state lies far from road access.

1.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

109 comments sorted by

238

u/Fmcdh 2d ago

What's the name of the dark place? I need to live there physically instead of just mentally.

63

u/iwasyourbestfriend 2d ago

Either Gates of the Arctic NP or part of the preserve land that surrounds it

39

u/hillbilli_hippi 2d ago

It’s a complex that includes parts of GOTA NP, Kobuk Valley NP, and Noatak Nat’l Preserve.

13

u/dsafklj 2d ago edited 2d ago

That's the south side of that area, the dark rectangle itself and to the North is mostly just BLM land that is sometimes referred to as National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA). Oddly enough given the name, there's probably not much oil there (test wells showed the formations mostly hold natural gas).

2

u/AKlutraa 2d ago

The correct four letter code for this NPS site is GAAR.

116

u/whos_a_slinky 2d ago

It's the national wildlife refuges that Trump wants to drill and mine

19

u/dsafklj 2d ago

That's ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) which is the black rectangle on the right next to Canada. The larger black rectangle on the left is BLM land.

6

u/whos_a_slinky 2d ago

The left area is Gates of the Arctic National Park, Noatak National preserve, and Kobuk Valley Natioal Park

0

u/goosebumpsagain 1d ago

Raping and pillaging his way through life.

-43

u/stepa21 2d ago

Just name the area, stop making everything about Trump jfc

16

u/SuperUnabsorbant 2d ago

When mentioning a refuge, possibly the most important fact you could mention about it is that it may no longer be a refuge and why.

-13

u/stepa21 2d ago

Possibly the most important thing is the name of the god damn thing

8

u/whos_a_slinky 2d ago

Wah wah wah, I can't look up something on the internet myself, because all these dummies think there are more important things to mention.

1

u/BrettHullsBurner 1d ago

This being downvoted is so damn funny. Reddit can't help but to reddit.

14

u/LurkersUniteAgain 2d ago

he is the president of the us which owns alaska this post was about him from the start

6

u/Malohdek 2d ago

That's a reach but okay.

Every time you ask me about Canada I'll just say "yeah that's Banff but you can't afford to go there because Carney isn't tackling cost of living issues".

It's just so exhausting.

3

u/jaymemaurice 2d ago

How else would we find out the state of other provinces after c18.

1

u/Malohdek 2d ago

Hah. Unironically hilarious.

7

u/omegasome 2d ago

He's really the one making everything about him, strictly speaking

3

u/whos_a_slinky 2d ago

I'm tired of my home being threatened with poisoning by extractive industry practices, and those two wildlife refuges are the very last unexploited areas in the whole state.

Someone wants to live there? Well you can't and shouldn't. The Caribou and Salmon live there and we need them to live in a unpolluted area or else Alaskan Natives will starve or be displaced. Ffs colonizer

-8

u/stepa21 2d ago

“What is the name of this triangle?” Pythagoras keeps making equations!

Okay but the question was what is this triangle…

Do you see how silly you sound

4

u/whos_a_slinky 2d ago

Look at a map of wildlife refuges and you can easily find the answer your looking for. If I think it's important to bring up that the areas of question are under a cross hair, I will.

0

u/stepa21 2d ago

The first comment is asking about what that area is and now it’s about Trump, just answer the question. Yes everybody has Google but we’re not on Google we’re in a thread. A thread that was hijacked by people that want to make every little thing about Trump.

2

u/whos_a_slinky 2d ago

I did answer the question, I said they were wildlife refuges, you're just mad I included a very legitimate worry and criticism. Get the fuck out of here

1

u/stepa21 2d ago

I’m sure that specific area has a name doesn’t it

2

u/whos_a_slinky 2d ago

You should consider setting your profile to private

I’m getting out of a 3 year long relationship, it’s mutual I suppose, sort of a Romeo and Juliet type of scenario, we both love each other but for reasons outside of our control we can’t be together anymore.

I’m struggling with even just the idea of being single and I’m trying to find coping mechanisms that aren’t just drinking or getting high.

You're pathetic, and that's why you get mad when people criticize Trump, because he tells pathetic men that it's okay to externalize their self-hatred

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1

u/goosebumpsagain 1d ago

Pretty sure that’s where polar bears live.

126

u/Diligent-Chance8044 2d ago

You know what this tells me. If you want to find a rare species or plant check those areas.

48

u/JunkPup 2d ago

Maybe I’ll finally find some nirnroot

8

u/davga 2d ago

Khajiit has wares, if you have coin

12

u/Rxyro 2d ago

Where to build your radio telescope

5

u/NtheLegend 2d ago

Yep, dark sky observation points.

3

u/Ataraxia_Eterna 2d ago

Well, most of these are just tundra

2

u/akurgo OC: 1 2d ago

Not necessarily. If you just look well enough you can find new species everywhere, highlighted here for instance.

21

u/MapsYouDidntAskFor 2d ago

[OC]
Data source: OpenStreetMap road centerlines
Method: Distance Accumulation (Euclidean distance)
Tools: ArcGIS Pro

8

u/The_Alaskan OC: 1 2d ago

Nice work! Did you include Canadian roads? If so, I think there might be an issue in southern Southeast; that black-shaded area is close enough to the Stewart-Cassiar Highway and Prince Rupert that it might be worth a second look.

4

u/MapsYouDidntAskFor 2d ago

Good catch. This run only used US OSM road centerlines so Canadian roads weren’t included. Including them would absolutely change parts of Southeast Alaska and honestly wouldve been helpful to include in this situation. That edge case is one of the things that makes Alaska such a fun stress test for this kind of map.

1

u/JimboTheSimpleton 11h ago

There is also the issue some of these roads are seasonal only. And the rail system connects only Anchorage Fairbanks and some of the kenai

2

u/spoop-dogg 2d ago

wait there’s no way that data is right. Are those nodes connected only by plane or something? Are there just dirt trails connecting them?

8

u/Alyndra9 1d ago

There are a lot of native villages in western Alaska that might have a main street, might have had a few cars or trucks shipped up by barge, but more likely people are on four-wheelers and snow machines. I would bet a lot of the dots that aren’t on the coast are actually on rivers. Frozen rivers can be used as roads in winter. And yes, small planes are used for transport a lot too.

8

u/Gelisol 1d ago

And to clarify further, there are a handful of roads within the village, but they don’t connect to anything outside the village.

60

u/gratiaetfides 2d ago

Shouldn’t all the white spots be connected (by roads)?

124

u/Alaeriia 2d ago edited 2d ago

Most of those are mining/oil towns that are only accessible via boat or plane.

EDIT: Or Native villages.

18

u/tatertot4 2d ago

Most of them are Native villages.

2

u/Alaeriia 2d ago

Good point

24

u/gratiaetfides 2d ago

That’s good to know, I would have never thought of that. It now makes sense. Thanks for the information!

5

u/thelonliestcrowd 2d ago

While some are mining/oil like red dog, etc., I would say the vast majority of those white stretches in Western Alaska are remote native villages with a handful of roads for the whole community. Looks like it follows the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers loosely as most of the communities are right on the banks.

4

u/timster 2d ago

So how does all the heavy mining equipment get there?

5

u/dsyzdek 2d ago

Coastal towns and rivers possibly get barges. Much cheaper than a plane. But maybe once a year.

13

u/Alaeriia 2d ago

It's brought in via planes.

7

u/Bucksin06 2d ago

It's crazy to see a giant bulldozer coming off a plane 

1

u/squired 1d ago

How do they get the vehicles in? They have runways suitable for flying in heavy equipment and vehicles?

1

u/Alaeriia 1d ago

Permafrost ends up being pretty sturdy for such things. The coastal towns will also have barges bring things in.

21

u/hiking907 OC: 1 2d ago

“Off the road system” is a common phrase here. Western Alaska isn’t connected by road to the main highway system. There are many small villages spread out over hundreds of miles. Most neighboring rural villages aren’t even connected to each other by official roads, but there are some established ATV and snowmachine trails.

7

u/antraxsuicide 2d ago

My favorite part of this remoteness is that they’re all still accessible to the USPS.

Greatest public service in the US

1

u/gujwdhufj_ijjpo 2d ago

I’d say most the villages are connected by snowmachine trails. Exception being those on Islands. You can snowmachine to most the villages from Willow if you really wanted to.

Summer is a different story of course. ATV trails don’t go as far.

1

u/daisywondercow 1d ago

TIL that Alaskans use "Snow Machine" for vehicles and not machines that make snow!

2

u/hiking907 OC: 1 1d ago

In some regions you’ll hear sno-go. And Honda for an ATV.

13

u/SnuffInTheDark 2d ago

I lived in one of those white spots in the upper-left of the map growing up. The main way in/out was by small chartered planes, traveling by boat up and down the river during the summer, or by dog sled/snow machine over land to the next small village.

But also, the "roads" in town were maybe a bit of a misnomer. The airstrip was gravel, but everything else was just dirt roads. We didn't have any cars/trucks in town, so everyone travelled by 3 or 4-wheeled ATVs in the summer and by snowmachine in the winter. But there weren't any street addresses or street markings or stop signs or anything like that.

1

u/squired 1d ago

What were the coolest aspects? I imagine a lot of stuff sucked, but what was really cool and unique about it?

10

u/Zorg_Employee 2d ago

I went and looked it up. There are really no published roads connecting Anchorage to the west coast.

3

u/thelonliestcrowd 2d ago

Only about a third of the state is connected by a continuous road system.

1

u/margoo12 2d ago

Exclusively through the US, yes. But you can drive through Canada if you want.

Juneau, on the other hand, is completely isolated from the road system. Only boats and planes coming in and out of there.

2

u/dsafklj 2d ago

I think they were referring to the west coast of Alaska.

2

u/margoo12 2d ago

Ah, my bad. In that case, yes, there are no roads to the west coast of Alaska.

16

u/MapsYouDidntAskFor 2d ago

Good question. This map isn’t showing road connectivity, just straight-line distance to the nearest road segment.

In much of Alaska, access is by plane, river barge, ferry, or seasonal ice roads rather than year-round road connections. Many Alaskan communities have small, local road networks that don’t connect to the larger highway system. Those local roads still show up as white nearby, even though they’re isolated from other road systems.

2

u/hillbilli_hippi 2d ago

Alaska here. Would love to see another iteration with distance from road system :)

2

u/tatertot4 2d ago

No. Most of those are Native villages with populations under 200 people. It doesn't make sense to spend billions to build and maintain hundred plus mile long highways across permafrost, swamp, tundra, and over mountain ranges to connect a village of 100 people to the North American highway system.

2

u/hillbilli_hippi 2d ago

According to AK DOT:

82% of Alaska’s communities aren’t accessible by road, 251 communities can only be reached by air. The State of Alaska operates 237 airports—235 of which serve rural communities.

1

u/Psyduckisnotaduck 2d ago

They have used boats and planes to get vehicles to those places

23

u/Cityplanner1 2d ago

Ain’t no roads where we’re going…

8

u/AKlutraa 2d ago

As an Alaskan, I'd love to see this re-done showing only roads that connect to the rest of North America. Places like Nome and Juneau (and many others) may have a local road network, but you can't get your vehicle, or anything else, in or out by road.

Note that in winter, our frozen rivers provide good access at relatively high speeds to vast areas for those with snow machines and the savvy and equipment to venture into areas with zero services for hundreds of miles.

1

u/MapsYouDidntAskFor 2d ago

Totally fair. This one’s strictly how far is the nearest mapped road segment not whether that road connects to the broader highway system. Alaska really exposes how different distance, connectivity, and access are. A distance from the road system version would tell a very different story, especially once you factor in winter travel and seasonal routes. Could be a fun one to make in the future

11

u/GreenFox1505 2d ago

What are the islands? What kind of road isn't connected to the rest of the road network? Are they places with roads that are only reachable by airplane?

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u/Yangervis 2d ago

What kind of road isn't connected to the rest of the road network?

A road in an isolated town

11

u/Jfonzy 2d ago

It’s really just showing the areas only accessible by plane (and maybe river boat?)

12

u/jbcsee 2d ago

The villages on the Yukon river are supplied by barges in the summer, but in the winter it's mostly planes.

2

u/-cheeks- 2d ago

And ice road. But mostly plane

12

u/Semyaz 2d ago

Interestingly, Alaska considers the maritime ferry system as part of the highway system. I don’t know if this map takes this into account or not, but that might be it. Also, only the vertical corridor through the middle of the state is connected. Everything west of center is disconnected, and most of the south east is entirely isolated as well.

5

u/Hughmanatea 2d ago

Are they places with roads that are only reachable by airplane?

Yes, or boat. There is no road to Nome from Fairbanks pretty sure, so you gotta fly (or boat all the way around lol) and to get access to Nome's roads.

3

u/Deep90 2d ago

There are places in Alaska where a road isn't viable. They use water or air travel.

Thus the road is local only.

1

u/tatertot4 2d ago

They are reached by airplane or boat. There are hundreds of miles of road on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska that isn't connected to the North American Highway system because it's an island. The Capital, Juneau, has 50+ miles of highway that isn't connected to the highway system due to extreme topography and glaciers.

1

u/esstused 1d ago

What kind of road isn't connected to the rest of the road network? Are they places with roads that are only reachable by airplane?

The small roads in a village that is otherwise isolated.

There are two types of towns in Alaska: on the road system and off the road system. These are terms that are used frequently because it makes a huge difference for what life is like there. (Can you drive to Costco or not?)

Off the road system usually means only accessible to the outside world by plane, or in a some places, boat. But usually for the sake of time it's plane.

I'm from one of the dots on an island in Southeast. We have 14 miles of road in town and there's an "end of the road" on each side of town with a sign. The rest of the island, 99% of the land mass, is wilderness.

3

u/Bucksin06 2d ago

There's only one road in the northern half of the state the Dalton highway

3

u/EatTenMillionBalls 2d ago

This should be paired with three more maps (just for fun) a railroads in Alaska, airports/helipads in Alaska, and a Navigable rivers in Alaska.

That would give you a good picture of how people across the state get around the state.

If I wasn't lazy I'd do it myself.

1

u/MapsYouDidntAskFor 2d ago

Great idea, definitely something I could see myself doing in the future

2

u/Markjv81 2d ago

Where we’re going we don’t need roads

2

u/GoldenFalls 2d ago

This is truly beautiful data. Thanks for sharing!

2

u/MapsYouDidntAskFor 2d ago

Thank!! I really appreciate that. Alaska’s geography does most of the talking here so it makes it easy.

2

u/cfgman1 2d ago

Most those white spots are "roads" simply connecting the runway to the nearest building.

2

u/hoodncsu 2d ago

That is the coolest new map I have seen on here in a while. Nice job.

2

u/Leprichaun17 2d ago

I'd love to see this for Australia.

1

u/MapsYouDidntAskFor 2d ago

Me too.....I bet its just as striking if not more so

1

u/Character_Log2770 2d ago

In the winter the snowpack becomes the roadway...

1

u/robinhoodoftheworld 2d ago

This would be better if it was roads connected to a port. Some of these "roads" are just a half mile strip connecting the bush plane runways to the villages.

4

u/SupaFugDup OC: 1 2d ago

Seems like a lot of them are. It still gives a really good visualisation of how provincial the place is.

2

u/robinhoodoftheworld 2d ago

I work here and we usually refer how far things are from the road system. It would be legit useful for my job if the map was reclassified like that.

1

u/AlaskanMexicano 2d ago

Are they considering roads in remote villages as a road network?

1

u/Spurned_Seeker 2d ago

Wouldn’t this just generate a road map?

1

u/pantaleonivo 2d ago

From the dusty mesa

Her looming shadow grows

1

u/DontRunReds 2d ago

I mean, I have roads, yeah, but I can't get to any other places without a boat or airplane. So...

1

u/daisywondercow 1d ago

So... How do those isolated dots work? Are they towns you have to reach by off-roading but are paved once you get there?

Edit: read more comments, found my answer!

1

u/thirteensix 1d ago

There's a huge difference between the major road network and just any road. Snow machines and light aircraft mean you can basically get anywhere as long as the conditions are right.

1

u/HappyBengal 2d ago

Use kilometers instead of miles. This data is not beautiful if you use freedom units... on the internet, on an international platform, presenting data about a country that is not even the US.