Beyond the Ocean: Mapping the Changing Geography of Surfing

Surfing has always been a geographic pursuit. Coastline, bathymetry, swell direction, wind and weather determine where waves happen — and surfers organize a surprising amount of their lives around being in the right place when they do.

Wave pools are beginning to change that equation.

Amy and I recently put together Beyond the Ocean: Wave Pools Around the World, an ArcGIS StoryMap exploring where modern wave pools are being built, the different technologies used to create surfable waves, and some of the places that helped move the idea from novelty to something much bigger.

It's a GIS project, but it's also a subject I happen to love.

We mapped wave pools around the world, broke the technology into five basic approaches, and then used geography to tell the story through five very different places: Kelly Slater's Surf Ranch, Waco Surf, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon, the almost Mad Max-looking Surf Lakes prototype in Australia, and the new Atlantic Park in Virginia Beach.

And then we brought the map home.

The Point Surf Park is taking shape in Fellsmere, Florida, just inland from Sebastian Inlet. For a Central Florida surfer who knows exactly what a long summer flat spell feels like, it's hard to overstate just how exciting that is.

The next great Florida wave may not come from the Atlantic at all.

Link to StoryMap: https://arcg.is/0v0bW50

Cover Page Photo Credit: Wavegarden Press Kit - Blayr Barton, Atlantic Park in Virginia Beach