Use this map to find the data centers in your backyard

A striking development has emerged in artificial intelligence. Policy PolicyPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All Policy AI AIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All AI Tech TechPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

FollowSee All TechUse this map to find the data centers in your backyardKnowledge is power, so here’s how to find power-gobbling data centers near you. Knowledge is power, so here’s how to find power-gobbling data centers near you. by Gaby Del Valle Gaby Del VallePolicy ReporterPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

Technical Details

FollowSee All by Gaby Del ValleMay 14, 2026, 5:40 PM UTC An interactive map tracking data center construction and AI policy, built by Isabelle Reksopuro. Part OfAll the latest updates on AI data centerssee all updates Gaby Del Valle Gaby Del VallePosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All by Gaby Del Valle is a policy reporter at The Verge covering surveillance, the Department of Homeland Security, and the tech-right.

When Oregon resident Isabelle Reksopuro heard Google was gobbling up public land to fuel its data centers in her home state, she didn’t initially know what to believe. “There’s a lot of misinformation about data centers,” she said. “Google has denied taking that land.

”Technically, she explains, The Dalles, a city near the Washington state border, sought to reclaim that land, “and Google is just a big, unnamed power user. ” The city had in fact asked for ownership of a 150-acre portion of Mount Hood National Forest, claiming it needs access to Mount Hood’s watershed to meet municipal needs as its population — 16,010 as of the 2020 census — grows. But critics, including environmentalists, say the city is trying to secure more water for Google, which has a sprawling data center campus in The Dalles that already consumes about one-third of the city’s water supply.

Industry Implications

This controversy made Reksopuro curious about the backlash to data centers being built in other communities. So Reksopuro, a student at the University of Washington who studies the connections between tech and public policy, decided to map it out. Using information collected by Epoch AI and data scraped from legislation on data centers, she built an interactive map tracking AI policy around the world.

She designed it to be simple enough for anyone to use. “I wanted it to be something that my younger sisters could play through and explore to understand what are the data centers in the area and what’s actually being done about it,” Reksopuro said. She hoped to shift their opinions that way, “instead of like, through TikTok.

”Four times a day, the map searches for new sources and checks them against the existing database Reksopuro built out.

This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.