World map of present and past manufacturers

[SolanaBogon]

Hello everyone,
I've been for years, occasionally during my free time, and also helped by friends, creating using Google Earth a map of the whole world including many locations related to any vehicle (in the broadest sense) production; present and past. It's mainly assembly factories and head offices, but also includes design studios and reasearch/engineering centers if those are relevant. It does not include locations like bodystamping or engine fractories though.
At first it was only listing cities, but as time goes it became more and more precise. Investigating where a factory demolished in the 1980s once stood is actually pretty fun!
It's still mostly a work in progress, it will never be complete and due to my own interests, some era, countries or vehicle category are more complete than others, but i think the advancement is enough to share some screenshots. It would be too sad to keep it to myself!
Here are: Berlin, Detroit, Paris, Sao Paulo and Wuhan. Enjoy! Feel free to ask some more cities if you're interested!

[SolanaBogon]

And the other pictures which I could not add to the first message:

[Wendax]

Nice!

[SolanaBogon]

Thanks! Two more cities: Prague and Barcelona, plus two complete countries:

[Bill d isere]

Do you have an interactive online version?

If you don't have it yet, you can locate the Barron Vialle factory in Arandon Passins (38510) in France here:

[SolanaBogon]

Do you have an interactive online version?

If you don't have it yet, you can locate the Barron Vialle factory in Arandon Passins (38510) in France here:

I don't have any interactive online version. With a friend we made one for a related but much smaller project. In my oppinion there are too many drawbacks, like a limited number of possible locations, and only a maximum of 10 folders. Plus it's a flat map, so it does not take Earth's roundness into account. But I will most likely post the file when it's complete.

Thanks for the info about Barron-Vialle! I didn't have it on the map, and interestingly it is quite isolated:

[Bill d isere]

Ok, I look forward to your updates then!

The factory, initially, was in Lyon Montplaisir (32 chemin des Alouettes), but during the First World War, the buildings suffered several damages.
After the war, the economy was not very good and Mr. Vialle bought a large house in Arandon, with the idea of destroying it to recover the materials needed to repair his factory.
At the same time, he landed a major contract to renovate railway equipment. It needs space and a connection to the railway network.
The Arandon site is well suited to this new activity and he likes the house, a sort of castle. He therefore decided to build a brand new factory here.
The adventure ends in 1926.
Subsequently, Mayor of the commune, he made his buildings available to the State in order first to make them a gathering camp for Spanish refugees, then after the defeat of France, the camp would serve as a detention camp. concentration and thanks to its connection with the rail network, it will serve as a starting point towards other camps, in France, then further afield...

[SolanaBogon]

Thanks for the info! I added the former Lyon factory, it is quite close to other heavy-duty manufacturers (see attachement)
Well i can post the file in its current state, but it will be veeeery messy 

[Bill d isere]

This district of Lyon, at the time of the explosion in automobile manufacturing, was rural and very sparsely built. Thus, there was plenty of land available for building large factories.

Take the time to refine the work

[SolanaBogon]

Oh that makes sense. I love when those companies' story and History mix together!

[Bill d isere]

I share this pleasure

[SolanaBogon]

Update on the Detroit area, the world auto (ex-)capital! It's not complete and I don't plan it to be, but I think I added a big enough sample. Here I've shortened the names for more visibility, and then I made an animated gif showing its rise and fall through the decades (only including assembly factories).

[Bill d isere]

Splendid !

[SolanaBogon]

Thanks!

[SolanaBogon]

I've completed Australia, so I tried uploading the .kml file here to see if it works, and it does not. So here is a link instead: https://www.mediafire.com/file/v6dphg8lvz9790z/Australia-factories-map-bySB.kmz/file
This file has to be oppened with Google Earth; you can also oppen it with Google Maps, but it won't be displayed properly, and some pins will be missing.

And here is the Melbourne area for illustration.

[SolanaBogon]

I think I am about 60/70% complete for Paris' region, so i made this animated gif. It truly highlights that the Western part was historically more industrialized.
Note: the period from early 30s to mid 60s is my favorite era, so it might be over-represented. Don't be surprised to see dots within Paris itself after the 1990s, the map also includes relevant design centers or headquarters (like PSA or Dassault)

[pnegyesi]

This is a really nice undertaking. Congratulations

[SolanaBogon]

Thanks! Sadly I realized i took too many assumptions about the years (several companies actually moved at least once), so I'm currently rechecking everything done until now

[SolanaBogon]

Updates with some interesting locations of high concentration: industrial areas of Tehran, Iran, and 6th of October, Egypt ; shipyards in Tuzla, Turkey ; Berlin-Johannisthal airport which was home of various aircraft plants ; and business district of Minato, Tokyo