Answer to Map #3

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Answer: This map is a dot map that puts a dot for every skyscraper in the world. Specifically, it shows which cities have completed skyscrapers of 60 stories or more.

One of the phenomena that this map makes clear is how much construction is currently taking place in Shanghai and Dubai. Both these cities are new centers of wealth. Dubai is home to the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, which was completed in 2009 and stands 2,722 feet tall. The lone dot on this map in Western Europe represents the Shard, a skyscraper completed in London in 2013. The construction of the Shard was somewhat controversial, since previously the city of London—like many other cities in Western Europe—had discouraged the construction of skyscrapers.

Friday’s hint asked you to find the only time two dots were removed from this map. That happened in 2001—specifically, September 11, 2001, when the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed in terrorist attacks. No other skyscrapers over the height of 60 stories have ever been destroyed or torn down.

The data for this map, which was up-to-date as of the end of 2015, comes from the database maintained on skyscraperpage.com.

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