I really enjoyed my chat with Daniel O’Donohue for his MapScaping podcast. We spoke mostly about the nature of simplicity in design and communication and the tone of mapping in social media. Continue reading The MapScaping Podcast
I chatted with Jennifer Horowitz for the Harvard on the Map radio program about my background and work, and a time when I was in a rut. Continue reading Harvard on the Map
Here is a map looking at a century of California wildfires, sliced into 100-square-mile zones. Here are some close-up extracts. The data comes from the Fire and Resource Assessment Program (acronymed to…FRAP) accessed from Living Atlas. This is an update to the previous version where I made a topological error (intersection rather than within when … Continue reading 100 Years of Wildfires
Here is an ArcGIS Pro style containing four north arrows. They have a glassy semitransparent white appearance with a shadow effect for better visibility over highly textured surfaces while muted enough to provide balance. They provide a visual reference for north that doesn’t fully obscure or otherwise steal visibility from underlying map imagery. Plus they’re … Continue reading Glassy North Arrows
CovidPulse is an interactive map that shows Unite States coronavirus trends at the local level, since February, updated daily. 0:14 Johns Hopkins University U.S. County data source0:40 What is a sparkline?1:38 Information architecture influenced by “Designing for the Scent of Information” by Jared Spool.2:25 Trend status coloration by Charlie Frye.2:45 Outlier counties with large prison populations. The unexpected questions … Continue reading CovidPulse
Here’s a map I made in 2003, for fun, when I was a student at Central Michigan University. I spent many an hour tinkering on it in the geography department’s computer lab, playing with Flash symbols, movie clips, and re-purposed ActionScript. As a new map maker the capabilities that Flash provided were vast and thrilling. … Continue reading Random Blast from the Past with this Old Flash Map! pt1
You can’t turn around without bumping into a lake in Michigan. One day I was driving and I saw two long lakes pretty nearby each other. I was indignant. How many Long Lakes are there in Michigan anyway? It turns out there are a lot. There are also lots of Round Lakes and Crooked Lakes. … Continue reading The Round, Long, and Crooked lakes of Michigan
Here is a khaki-colored basemap. Because khaki colored basemaps are insanely useful as a handsome muted monochromatic stage for your stuff. So check it, and use it as the background for your story or thematic map or whatever you feel is best. Nice and easy. Love, John Continue reading Khaki Basemap
This year the Esri User Conference is, like every other conference, virtual. The bad news is I’ll miss out on soirée-ing with the worlds greatest customers. The good news is so many more people can participate now because it’s all online, and it’s free to customers and students. Here is a rundown of the presentations … Continue reading Map Demo Jam-fest for the 2020 Esri User Conference
