About This Project
The Original Atlas
The original Atlas of Public Stocks was created to help investors find publicly traded companies near specific locations. It was an incredibly useful tool for investors planning trips or researching companies in particular regions.
"Last year I was planning an investment trip to Munich, Germany and struggled to identify local public companies. I created this website to help investors facing similar situations. I hope you find it useful." - Miguel A. Barbosa, Original Creator
Why Recreate It?
I discovered the Atlas through a tweet from Michael Fritzell, who wrote: "Still mourning since the day the Atlas of Publicly Listed Stocks went offline." That sentiment resonated with me - this was clearly a tool people found valuable and missed.
Curious to learn more, I searched the Wayback Machine to explore the original. Unfortunately, the archived version didn't work - it relied on Google Fusion Tables, a service Google shut down in 2019. The data and functionality were lost.
Archaeological Reconstruction
Determined to understand what the original Atlas could do, I started digging:
- Found a 2013 blog post on Maps Mania describing its features
- Discovered a video walkthrough by the original creator, showing exactly what data fields and interactions it had
These sources gave me everything I needed to recreate the experience: company names, tickers, sectors, descriptions, addresses, and websites - all searchable by location.
The Data Challenge
The original Atlas likely used proprietary data from Bloomberg or similar services. As an individual developer, I don't have access to that level of data without paying handily for it (and even if I did, I couldn't publish some of it due to licensing restrictions).
Instead, I built this version using free and open-source data:
- Company Data: FinanceDatabase and yfinance
- Map Tiles: OpenStreetMap
- Geocoding: Nominatim and Google Maps Geocoding API
- Technology: Searchable Map Template by DataMade
The data quality may not match Bloomberg, but the structure is there. Anyone with access to premium data sources like Bloomberg or EODHD can fork this project and replace the data with higher-quality information.
Open Source
This entire project is open source on GitHub. The code, data pipeline scripts, and documentation are all freely available. If you have ideas for improvements or access to better data, contributions are welcome!
Current Status
The map currently includes 15,000+ public companies worldwide with:
- Location-based search (from 2 blocks to 1000 miles)
- Company name search
- Sector-based color coding (8 major sectors)
- Smart marker clustering for performance
- Detailed company information including descriptions, addresses, and websites
Data last updated: October 2025
Credits
- Original Concept: Miguel A. Barbosa
- This Recreation: Jens Kristian Vyff
- Inspiration: Michael Fritzell's tweet
- Map Template: DataMade