Drilling Maps

Drilling Maps is a subscription web map and licensable database of oil and gas drilling sites and of the health and safety issues reported near them. Syndicated Maps, which owns and operates it, launched the map in 2012 after hearing from families living near drilling sites, and says that oil and gas safety data previously had to be pieced together from fragmented government and industry databases.

The map shows energy sites, including oil and natural gas drilling sites, alongside reported health or safety news and issues such as fracking accidents, oil spills, fires and earthquakes. Users search by address or place, filter the markers and can submit a new location with its coordinates, site name, operator, type of drilling, notes and links to supporting documents; each submission goes through a verification process by the Drilling Maps team. Regional pages cover US states, cities and shale plays as well as Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East.

The provider says its data comes from news, user reports, government agencies (its FAQ names the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the EPA and state environmental agencies), industry databases and environmental organisations. Its GIS Map page describes the map as sourcing data using satellite imagery to locate oil and gas wells worldwide, its presentation, embedded on the About page, adds that well pads are sourced to the database using satellite views, and its operator states that its own manual inputs use satellite or street view images. No satellite or imagery source is named.

Access to the map costs $1 per month with a 7-day trial, opened by signing in with a Google account, or comes with the Syndicated Maps bundle of 22 maps at $9.95 per month. The data is licensed at $1.30 per record, with bulk discounts and quotes on request. The map runs in the browser and can be saved to a phone home screen as a progressive web app.