Conventional Cartographic Wisdom that I have Failed to Grasp

When I teach cartography, I am deliberate about not presenting my students with any rules. I do not want obedience to memorized maxims — instead, I simply tell them about practices that I think are good ideas, and then I offer an explanation of my reasoning. The students can choose to follow my advice, or …

Projection Connections: A Very Nerdy Poster

Friends, I'm excited to offer to you a new poster. Not a map this time around, but something map-related. A 16 × 24-inch tangled web showing how 100+ different map projections are all related to each other: Click for a full PDF download. Note that this file may be updated if corrections are needed, so …

The Unnecessary Peril of the Fuller Projection

Throughout my career, I’ve heard a variety of rumors and conflicting opinions about whether or not you can get in trouble for using the Fuller projection. Let's find out if it's true.

A New, Unrelated Blog

Kindly readers: I wanted to let you know that I've started another little publication, one which has nothing to do with maps, but I figure is worth telling you about anyway: I climb trees recreationally, and I've decided to start writing about my thoughts and experiences. Perhaps a few of you will be interested — …

Thoughts on Practical Cartographic Education

While I have not conducted a formal survey, I think I have the right impression when I say that most university cartography courses, at least in the United States, are taught by people whose primary job (when they are not teaching) is not the regular production of maps. These courses are often taught instead by …

2022 Freelancer Survey Results

Thank you once again to everyone who participated in this year's survey of freelance cartographer rates and business practices! Herein, you will find the results of the survey, sliced into a few different charts and visuals, all crafted by my survey partner Aly Ollivierre. For previous surveys, we offered the results in the context of …

Projection Cards: Now a Reality

A couple months back, I floated an idea for making some fun trading cards based on map projections. I'm very happy to report that several dozen of you responded and contributed designs to help make the set happen. I've been spending several weeks on managing everyone and working through logistics, and I'm pleased to now …

Projection Cards

I had a whimsical idea a few months ago: map projection trading cards. Something nerdy and map-related that you could collect and exchange at conferences. I poked around at some design ideas for a while, and here's what I've come up with so far. This is the front side of the card: Most of the …

Simple Oblique Views in Blender

While many people use my Blender shaded relief tutorial, and associate me with the software, I'm really not much of a 3D cartographer. I make oblique-view maps only rarely, and when I do, it's usually in a simplified, abstract style, rather than the detailed, naturalistic representations that people like Tom Patterson produce. Here's a not-quite-finalized …

Financial Transparency: 2021 Edition

As is now my annual tradition, it's time for me to tell everyone how much money I make! Why? Well, I find the financial opacity of the freelance world a bit intimidating, and I suspect that some others do, too—particularly those who are interested in freelancing, but haven't yet jumped in. So I’d like to …