Author: John

I had the distinct privilege (and what I would later recognize as great fortune) to work closely with Rupert for my first year or so at Esri, as we collaborated on what would become the Cascade StoryMap template. I only mention Cascade specifically here because Rupert would chide me if I didn’t. To be a … Continue reading My Friend Rupert Essinger

Here are all the tracked (satellites and stuff) icebergs since the year 2000. I was interested to see a consistent Coriolis swirl around the Antarctic continent, and then a general flinging from the Antarctic Peninsula like a jai alai cesta. 17 years is sort of a long time to mentally track with a moving cycle. … Continue reading Iceberg Motion

These are the top five most plastic-polluting rivers in the world. Each day they emit the amount of plastic equivalent to those stacks of elephants. Recently I made a retro-styled comparative graphic of the top three plastic-polluting rivers in the wold, based on an article in Nature. I regretted my rather arbitrary use of a … Continue reading Top 5 Rivers of Plastic

This is the Grand Canyon flipped inside out. Some of my earliest memories of the place had to do with the trippy feeling of my eyes and mind trying to make sense of the scale. I had seen many mountain ranges and vistas, including some on the way, but the vast negative space played havoc … Continue reading Inverted Grand Canyon

This was a talk I gave at the Esri UK Scottish Conference, which was a total blast and wonderful event. I gave a similar, more cozy/boisterous version of it in a London pub the next day which was an outstanding experience. Remarkable hosts and engaging attendees. Continue reading Mapping On Purpose

A year and a half ago Betsy Mason, a journalist and blogger for National Geographic, asked if I’d like to collaborate on a map for her upcoming book, “All Over the Map”. I couldn’t say absolutely fast enough. Here’s the resulting map… Betsy had seen the initial Old Lights & New Lights map showing unchanged … Continue reading All Over the Map

Here is a small how-to for the overview globe. Continue reading The Antarctic Peninsula