Writing
Essays, project notes, and field observations about maps, machines, information, and the changing craft of making things.
Three places to begin
Prompt Cartography
A public disputation posing seventy-four questions about cartographic expertise, natural-language GIS, AI-assisted mapmaking, professional gatekeeping, and the public future of prompt cartography.
Web Mapper
A short essay on why judging AI-assisted creative work as a category confuses tools with human judgment, craft, and care.
ICA Map Design
It’s National Junk Food Day! As though the US needs an excuse to eat poorly. Strange, I don’t think there is a Binge-Drinking Day—though many days in Wisconsin might qualify as honorary entries. Nor is there a Do-Controlled-Substances Day—though, admittedly, …
Newest first · 20 at a time
Photography was once a skill, and now, one might argue, it’s not. Photoshop-like apps and digital photography have ruined photography forever. Photography used to require skill – training and years of experience. Now, any lazy person can take a picture. …
Let it be known that August 18 is a day ripe for plundering. It is very short on any relevant or useful days to celebrate. The dog days of summer (in the northern Hemisphere at least), indeed! Just a pro …
Happy Non-Profit Day. I’m not entirely sure why we are celebrating non-profit organizations. It’s kind of like celebrating Government Agency Day, or Corporation Day… I know we often presume non-profits are for causes of importance, but very often they are …
Happy Tell-a-Joke Day. Today the joke is on overly serious cartographers. Please do let me know if you find anything inaccurate or of professionally negligent about this map. To steal a line from Richard D. James (a.k.a., Aphex Twin): … …
I’ve been doing a lot of diaphragmatic breathing in recent weeks. I won’t go into details, but it turns out that to fight through any kind of non-acute pain, all you need to do is get up, keep your schedule, …
A couple of years ago my daughter asked me if we’re poor as we were passed by a bunch of classmates and their parents in their gorgeous, newish, super-sleek SUVs, while we trundled out of the school parking lot in …
I just realized how high today’s number is… 225 days?! It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this map-a-day thing so long. I’m actually worried about what might happen when the year ends. I may end up grieving or something. …
Ken already made a map for No Pants Day. It was epic! I decided to have a go at National Underwear Day. I loath rainbow choropleth schemes. But in a week where I have been trying to leave my comfort …
I’ve had several cartography students who were in the US Coast Guard. And my daughter’s friend from HOSA joined the Coast Guard this summer. Since the alternative map theme available today was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, and since this …
On this day in 1958, the USS Nautilus – the first nuclear-powered submarine in the world – reach the North Pole on a top-secret mission. Millions of Americans who still believed in Santa Claus would later learn the truth – …
Happy National Coloring Book Day! Remember the adult coloring-book fad? Regardless, coloring-book publishers don’t want us to forget it. I have nothing against coloring books, aside from the fact that millions of trees were slaughtered for a fad about 10 …
An internationally recognized day to honor all of those that voluntarily choose not to have children. As a non-accidental parent of two, this one is very alien to me. Which is great, as I like leaving my comfort zone and …
Chuck Norris died this past year. At first, I figured this day was some prankster nod to that actor’s stellar performance in Walker, Texas Ranger. Alas, it is more sensible than that; and sensible international days are quite rare in …
I absolutely love propaganda maps. I think they are effective for doing what every map does – making an argument about the environment. Yes, I find some propaganda maps abhorrent – particularly the ones that fly in the face of …
If you’ve been following along with us on a regular basis, you’ve probably noticed that I can be quite nostalgic, particularly for the 80s and 90s. To complete my Macromedia Flash nostalgia week, I present you with a video game …
Introducing Map Styler GPT, a free WebMapGPT Suite tool that turns ordinary prompts and visual references into complete web-map design schemas.
Read the 74-Question Disputation Here There is no cathedral door to post these questions on, and I don’t want to take the Martin Luther and Reformation metaphor too far. But since this is an official International Cartographic Association site, and …
It’s National Junk Food Day! As though the US needs an excuse to eat poorly. Strange, I don’t think there is a Binge-Drinking Day—though many days in Wisconsin might qualify as honorary entries. Nor is there a Do-Controlled-Substances Day—though, admittedly, …
A public disputation posing seventy-four questions about cartographic expertise, natural-language GIS, AI-assisted mapmaking, professional gatekeeping, and the public future of prompt cartography.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this one. World Chess Day. Chess is literally a game about flanking an opponent geographically, wiping out their forces, and striking down the leader. Can’t get much more geographic than this, honestly. …
I had braces when I was young. I remember my parents obsessing about me brushing my teeth well and flossing, because the braces cost a “fortune” and I had better make sure I took care of my teeth and blah, …
I’ve only had caviar a few times. I’m pretty sure the stuff that cost ~$3 in Hungary in 1994 wasn’t legit, but I’m counting it. It was delicious – though bright orange. It was some sort of egg. Maybe just …
About 10 years ago, I believed that emojis were a scourge. I felt they were making people stupid and would atrophy our brains. I despised emojis. Now… I use them all the time. I don’t believe in brains atrophying from …
I don’t like snakes. I have a (seemingly) primordial bias against them. My dislike for them only increased when, as a child I stepped on a Gardner snake barefoot while playing tag in my yard. Not poisonous, but unexpected and …
Prompt Cartography introduces Map Design Lab, a free, open, research-based style mixer for reusable map design schemas and AI-assisted cartography workflows.
A quick WebMapGPT garage note on the new beta map design schema builder at Prompt Cartography.
Personally, I’ve never been one for body painting. But alas, there is a day for it. And it was a good excuse to do something a little more lighthearted. Plus, there weren’t many other options on this day, as I …
A WebMapGPT garage note on map design schemas, preview maps, prompt cartography defaults, and why captured styles are only the starting point.
My good friend, Fuad, from middle school in Beijing was from Tanzania (with Omani citizenship). He spoke Swahili, as did another friend of mine, Evelyn, from Uganda. Swahili is the best sounding language I’ve yet heard. (Yes, personal preference, but …
Today is Malawi Independence Day. On July 6, 1964, Malawi became an independent country. Before this it was a British protectorate referred to as Nyasaland. I thought it would be nice to make an app celebrating a country who far more …
As a continuous government, the country that celebrated its independence yesterday is fairly old. But not as old as Isle of Man! Not even close. Tynwald Day is July 5th. Tynwald Day is the Isle of Man’s national day, marking …
The United States of America (USA) is 250-years old today. The country is now nearly post-geriatric (joining only a few other countries for sticking around this long, such as the Swiss). I would argue its foundational institutions are showing some …
A hands-on WLIA workshop on prompt cartography, practical LLM workflows for GIS professionals, and making maps through natural language.
Reusable, editable map design schemas give AI-assisted cartography a clearer visual brief, faster first drafts, and better design direction.
At first I was worried that this day was sponsored by a plastic bag lobby group to hand out disposable plastic bags. Why did I think that? The grammar seemed incorrect. “Plastic Bag Free Day” doesn’t accurately suggest to me …
As a 14 year-old, my family migrated to the People’s Republic of China (in February 1991), back when China was an afterthought in the world economy and communism was crumbling around the world. I was lucky enough to attend the …
A short essay on why judging AI-assisted creative work as a category confuses tools with human judgment, craft, and care.
I was so happy when I saw UFO Day was this week – now more commonly referred to as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) now. Not because I believe in them. But because I’m personally convinced by the surfeit of evidence …
The US is obsessed with hydration. It’s pretty amazing how many people carry around water bottles compared to when I was growing up. So it makes sense that someone, somewhere, came up with a National Hydration Day. There are many …
Today is a two-fer: two ridiculous national days merged into one, statistically spurious bivariate choropleth map. Because… why the heck not?! I was dreading this day when I saw it on the calendar. There wasn’t much of interest. National Kissing …
A calm argument for investigating UAP reports, official archives, witness testimony, and the deeper evidence field with better instruments and less ridicule.
Happy World Yoga Day. I can’t do yoga. I can’t stretch. I’m old. My sister-in-laws are yoga instructors. Yes, plural. They don’t make a living at it, but they tell me I should do it. I probably should. But I …
The world has a lot of refugees. The world is also full of many great refugee maps already. Since today’s map is merely part of a daily map challenge, I’m going to admit this, straight-up: If you are really interested in …
The traditional watch market was being decimated by smart watches, I had read about 10 years ago. But not the entire watch market, apparently. Later I read that luxury watch sales are still strong among… well, wildly rich people I …
One of my daughters is a staunch vegetarian – won’t even eat fish, even if Kurt Cobain tells her they don’t have feelings. The other loves to fish. Whenever we go north on the weekends to visit my dad who …
A deliberately provocative note on why prompt cartography can make cartographic work more creative, not less.
National Anxiety Day is a day designed to bring awareness to contemporary stressors that are plaguing many of us. The idea is to take deep breaths, develop coping mechanisms for our anxietites, and not let anxiety rule our lives. I …
Ken Field and I joined GeoMob to talk about 365 Days of Prompt Cartography, AI, and why cartographic judgment matters more than ever.
Most of us do not spend much time thinking about forklifts. They are there, somewhere in the background — orange, yellow, beeping, lifting pallets in warehouses, hardware stores, loading docks, shipping centers, factories, lumberyards, big-box retailers, and…
Who’s your best friend? It’s a question I expect a primary schooler to ask. But low and behold, there is a day for this. Most of us have great friends throughout life. Perhaps at any given time, you can even …
Streaming services are convenient. I know this. I use them constantly. I am not writing this from a hand-cranked Victrola while yelling at a passing Tesla. But sometimes, scrolling through endless movie titles on a couch feels less like entertainment …
I typically don’t go the war map route, even though I love playing war games and reading about global conflicts. Heaven knows, an American making war maps is kind of scary! :-\ I would argue the United States has used …
Unfortunately, in life, we haven’t figured out a way to “undo” things. National Start Over Day is meant to encourage people to embrace fresh starts, shake off past mistakes, and tackle new goals. Back in 1997, I decided I wanted …
I spent most of my working career in the Dairy State (Wisconsin). It’s an idiosyncratic kind of place. A place where people literally don styrofoam cheese hats on weekends and happily refer to themselves as “cheeseheads.” I do love cheese …
My (former) step-mom’s birthday is June 4. Or it was, until 1989. After that, her Chinese passport changed her birthday to June 3. Just a reminder that the PRC began erasing June 4th, and all such birthdays, out of existence …
A Geomob conversation about #365DaysofMaps, #PromptCartography, and what changes when AI becomes a cartographic collaborator.
There aren’t too many things to be proud about as a Minnesotan. We are a small state population wise. There’s Bob Dylan – but he ditched us for the East Coast at a young age. There is Prince, but let’s …
One of the first recorded longest paper airplane flights was in the 1980s. It took place in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Had I known when I I was a professor at UW-La Crosse, I may have celebrated this day with the …
Douglas Adams. Enough said. Brilliant author. Brilliant free-thinker. And I guarantee you he brought a towel with him to the afterlife… wherever that may be. Today is Towel Day. If you don’t know what that is, it’s okay. I recommend …
My previous boss was professional aerospace engineer. She had worked for one of the two major airplane manufacturers and a satellite company before joining academia. It was always interesting going to meetings across the US with her, because she refused …
I’m a big taffy fan, so I hate to admit it, but this did not turn out as I envisioned. And given it’s a holiday weekend here in the US, and it was merely a conceptual attempt to create a …
Today is World Goth Day. A day we celebrate the positive aspects of the Goth Scene. I’ll admit: I’m a goth poser. I still crank Nine Inch Nails about once a month. I will play The Cure once in a …
Yes, this is a real day. And yes, it is an official United Nations Day. And … if this name wasn’t contrived via committee, I don’t know what was. Let’s try and break it down. “Cultural Diversity”… okay… following so …
Happy National Frog Jumping Day! Based on a short story by America’s, I think it’s safe to argue, all-time best humorist, Mark Twain, National Frog Jumping Day is celebrated every year by tens of, if not even dozens of, people …
I don’t know what’s more bizarre: So many days named after random and really dumb things like, well, odometers. Or… So many software engineers publicly insisting that their job is going to remain relevant into the future, because they can …
Well, well… here we go. World Awareness Day… an odd one indeed, but one that everyone can relate to. Most of us have dealt with our own egos tripping us up from time-to-time. And I haven’t yet met a person …
I wasn’t sure what to map for this one. I asked my family what to map, and the most entrepreneurial one (i.e., the youngest) of us, answered: average allowance rates! And so the map idea was born. Unfortunately, I couldn’t …
Today is US National Mini Golf Day – as opposed to international mini golf day in September. I figured we will probably only make one miniature golf map this year, so I made a golf game that tours the world. …
Happy Red Cross and Red Crescent Day. I thought I would make a map that doesn’t use red on it to study which countries are affiliated with Red Cross versus Red Crescent. On top of that, which of these countries …
Happy World Password Day! I had fun with the Scrabble Map a while ago. I love games. So I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to create a game for World Password Day. Your goal: crack the password for every country …
Happy World Dance Day! I was hoping to find a dataset with all of the Let’s Dance video game champions from across the years by country. (My daughters have made me try to play that game for years. Suffice to …
Warning: this is the darkest map I’ve made yet this year. It’s also my favorite. Just not for the faint of heart. I’ve always liked maps that move me emotionally. Piss me off. Get me riled up. Or make me …
While many in this country are out marching for “No Kings Day”, the Netherlands is currently celebrating Kings Day. Kings Day was created in the 1800s when the monarchy was under siege and not quite well liked. So they distracted… …
Today is World Intellectual Property Day. It’s a day to celebrate innovations, patents, and intellectual property breakthroughs and meant to inspire young innovators, future inventors, and humanity broadly. However, as one may have gleaned from my map on copyright law …
I have an affinity for New Zealand and Australia. I have some dear friends down under, and every time I’ve visited those two countries, I’ve thought: if only I could be so lucky as to live here some day. Alas, …
I remember Chernobyl. It was terrifying, because watching the news, no one in the US seemed to know what was going on over in the Soviet Union. And Ronald Reagan seemed a bit senile at the time. As a kid …
Today is World Book and Copyright Day according to UNESCO. I have mixed feelings about copyright. (Books are alright.) The way I see it, copyright is simply the commodification of reason for the benefit of individuals over the common good. …
I leave you this week, before handing off the next week to my colleague, on a happy but cautionary note. Bananas feed much of the world’s population. Bananas are a staple crop. This map is designed to celebrate National Banana …
Happy National Moment of Laughter Day, America. You certainly can use it. You’re being led by a (allegedly) senile narcissist and going through hegemonic decline at a steady clip. It’s rough going – both here and for the rest of …
Happy National Scrabble Day! I always stunk at Scrabble. It didn’t help that my mother was trained as an English teacher. She loved spelling, definitions, grammar — all of it — and took no mercy on her children, regardless of …
Happy drop everything and read day! Beverly Cleary shaped millions of American children’s reading habits. She was a prolific author of children’s literature from the 1950s onward. Sadly, she passed away at 95 in 2021. However, her stories and books …
I knew going into this that this map was going to disgust me. But I couldn’t resist. Besides, it’s a Saturday, so hopefully it doesn’t get too many looks. I like fondue well enough, but how do you make a …
We made it to 100! To celebrate, I thought I’d make a map showing that LLMs are not destroying white-collar, cerebral creative jobs on their own. Oh, no! The internet did a number on many of those first. In particular, …
Winston Churchill… the man, the myth, the cigars… Today is officially Winston Churchill Day. Here is a story map of his life to celebrate. Single prompt. If I were to revise, I would remove the lines, but alas, I’m excited …
This morning, President Grump decided to rename every country in the world. According to his Poop Social post, he didn’t want to, but many tremendously successful, well not as bigly successful people as him, but moderately successful people, had been …
Many of my first maps were drawn with crayon. And perusing the Children’s Map Exhibit at the International Cartographic Conference every two years, others continue to follow suit. So I thought for Crayon Day, I would skip the interactive map …
Bipolar disorder is a real thing and nothing to mock. It impacts millions around the world, including several distant relatives and in-laws of mine. So I’m not mocking this disease. However, I do get a little tired of mapping global- …
Happy Piano Day! The 88th day of every year is considered Piano Day by… pianists? Not sure. But it’s official, so I made a map for it. When I saw this day on the calendar, I was reminded of the …
Happy Celebrate Weeds Day! At first I figured this was some inside joke for people who love marijuana. Surely, someone had to be stoned to come up with National Weeds Day where people celebrate weeds, right? But the other option …
Happy Theatre (or Theater?) Day! Today’s map is a bit weird. I decided to ask Perplexity to create a dataset of renowned playwrights from different countries that are perhaps not famous but have done work that has received awards or …
March is Epilepsy Awareness Month and today is the day – Purple Day! (As a Minnesotan, I almost felt compelled to do something Prince related, but… the day is too important to belittle it with a cultural reference to a …
Happy National Awkward Moments Day! This is a day I can relate to, as my children say I’m the most awkward person they’ve ever met. I’ve always been awkward; as a teenager I fought against it. As an adult, I …
Today is the World Baseball Classic (WBC) Championship game! I don’t know who is playing yet, because Venezuela and Italy are duking it out for the final spot as I write. However, the World Baseball Classic is one of the …
Happy Artichoke Day! When I saw this day appear on the calendar, I couldn’t help but think of Thom Yorke’s lyrics from the song Atoms for Peace on his first solo album The Erasure: “Peel all of your layers off, …
Happy Buzzard Day! I love buzzards, so I was excited to see this day is actually a thing. And I love bins, so I thought… let’s see what happens when I prompt for binning. I went to iNaturalist again and …
Happy Crowdfunding Day! In a superficial, self-centered world built on likes and hearts, I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me that there would be an official “crowdfunding” day for narcissistic influencers, carpet-baggers, and yes, some people who actually are in …
Happy Earmuff Day! This day celebrates the 15 year-old inventor, Chester Greenwood, and his 1877 patent of the first earmuff. Greenwood invented earmuffs in Farmington, Maine, to keep the 15 year-old’s ears warm while iceskating and working outside. He created …
Happy World Kidney (Awareness) Day. This day is meant to commemorate survivors of, and raise awareness about, kidney and renal disease. I decided to try and make a more detailed visualization for this map. It works on desktop best — …
Happy National Grammar Day! I’m a stickler for grammar. My kids can’t stand it. Grammar, though, is natural language syntax. It’s key for clear communication with other humans and LLMs. So I was excited to see this day show up …
Happy National Cold Cut Meats Day! I imagine that this may have been started by the cold cut meats industry to offset National Colectoral Cancer Awareness Month. Cold cut meats are designated as a Class 1 carcinogen by the World …
Happy National Banana Cream Pie Day! In honor of a pie I’ve never had, I decided to show each state’s adult obesity rate. Howeve,r you have to find your state first! It’s hard digging through all of that cream! Celebrate …
Happy National Tooth Fairy Day (and welcome to March)! The Tooth Fairy has been shaking parents down for cash for a long, long time around the world. How much does it cost parents? Well, geography matters. (Hint: I’m glad I …
Today is National Science Day (in India)! I figured we could celebrate by looking back at the past 25 years of scientific breakthroughs and accomplishments since the millennium turned in 2001. I asked Perplexity to find major scientific achievements and …
Happy World Polar Bear Day!!! Polar bears are beloved by many. They are also amazing hunters, tracking prey over vast distances. Climate change is threatening their existence, however. They may be extinct within 100 years, some have predicted. To …
Happy Fairy Tale Day! I thought about mapping where Grimm’s Fairy Tales took place, but then decided that, even though that would be cool, I wanted to see what kind of fairy tale an LLM would come up with. So …
Happy National Wine Day! (49/365) Unfortunate, it doesn’t fall on a weekend evening, but alas, at least the winemakers of the United States invented the day for those of you that love to imbibe fermented grapes. I tried using Perplexity. …
Happy Human Spirit Day! Perhaps in 20 years we’ll be celebrating AI Spirit Day? Or the LLMs will be? Alas, until then, we have coffee. Keep slamming coffee my friends. (Sorry, to any colleagues who don’t much like it. May …
Happy National Almond Day! Today’s map celebrates California’s hegemonic position as producer of 80% of the world’s almonds. The idea came to me when I went to find data on almonds, and some US government organization had an interactive map …
Happy Recognize Singles Day! Presumably this day is inclusive of those who were rejected on Valentine’s Day or just want to remain single. Regardless, it’s a day. And I thought I could celebrate it by mapping where in the US …
Happy Valentine’s Day! Send a hopeful Valentine a poem in a variety of languages by clicking on your country of choice and entering their email. (Warning: carrier fees may apply…?) View Map Here Original Prompt Hi. I want to create …
World Radio Day by the United Nations because… well… maybe because people were forgetting about the importance or radio for emergency communications, etc.? I’m not quite sure. Personally, I love radio. Have ever since I saw Pump Up the Volume …
Happy Paul Bunyan Day! Paul Bunyan is a Minnesota (and northwoods) legend. He carved the Grand Canyon with his glorious ax. And Babe the Blue Ox? Well… Today’s map offers places named after Paul Bunyan that you can visit to …
It’s World Cancer Day. I decided to create a global map of the leading cause of death by cancer for males and females by country. The data was collected and cleaned using Dataset Doctor GPT. Map created with Web Mapper …
On a serious note: it’s National Missing Persons Day. The United States has a serious problem. People go missing… a lot. And they are often never found. Complicating matters, the FBI reports on national missing persons statistics, but it doesn’t …
Happy Groundhog Day! I’ve never been that into Punxsutawney Phil’s special day. I always doubt his wisdom. So I thought I would go to iNaturalist and download every sighting of a groundhog in Pennsylvania since January 1, 2021, so we …
Happy World Hijab Day! Around the world there are meetings and get-togethers, as well as a free online conference for people to celebrate the hijab. You can learn more about the online celebration and local chapter meetings and support here: …
Happy Hot Chocolate Day! It’s been a chilly January in much of the United States. Pretty standard for Minnesota, where we often reach -30-degrees C in December, January, and even February, but still… I was pumped to see this National …
Happy Martyr’s Day! It’s a national day in India celebrating Mahatma Gandhi. To honor his legacy, I created a map of his historic march with information along the way at each stop. Again, doing one of these a day in …
Happy National Jigsaw Puzzle Day! As the weather hit -30-degrees C here in the Free State of Minnesota this past week, I was thrilled to see this day arriving soon. Puzzles are how we socialize without talking in the winter …
Happy National Hug Day. My family loves hugs. But I know a lot of people that don’t really enjoy them. Some people prefer light kisses on the cheeks, handshakes, fist bumps, or back pats. One’s preferences are definitely cultural and …
Happy Penguin Day, everyone! This map was actually the easiest to make this week, which surprised me, given it’s a stereographic projection in Leaflet, and Leaflet loves Web Mercator. Thank you for the MAPPPD for sharing all of their incredible …
Happy Quark Day! Quarks are the building blocks of the universe. At least, from the human, physicalist perspective. From a quantum perspective, maybe not? I don’t know. I’m just a geographer and the Information Physics Institute — which holds some …
The original Winnie-the-Pooh is no longer copyrighted, which is fortunate, because it allows me to celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh day by creating a new, updated children’s story about President D.J. Pooh and his past year in office. Note The Map Design Commission …
Snowmobile (snow machining) is a way of life for many in the northern parts of the United States and much of Canada. It’s also a frequent cause of massive injury and death. (Back in 2002, I lost an uncle to …
Today is Nothing Day. Nothing Day is celebrated annually on January 16 around the world by people with nothing better to do. (Dad joke!) It was purposefully established as a “non-event” by columnist Harold Pullman Coffin in 1972 to give …
Happy National Bagel Day! I was so excited when I saw this on the calendar. Back in 1999, I spent a weekend studying bagel diffusion as cultural and economic phenomenon for a field techniques class at the University of Minnesota …
Tempura Today… Gone Tomorrow? is the seventh prompt map this year. I thought after yesterday’s dramatic and serious theme, I would lighten it up a bit by focusing on unsustainable fishing. 🙂 Actually, I did lighten it up a bit …
The Day Democracy Almost Died is a graphic-novel style timeline of official and unofficial events that unfolded in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021. Now, on this fifth anniversary of this event, you can follow along in this action-comic themed timeline …
If your hand begins to cramp just thinking about writing a screenplay, it shouldn’t. AI is revolutionizing the industry. However, AI’s brains are built on a history of brilliant screenplays written by humans. Screenplays that tug at our heartstrings, build …
This day stood out to me. Kind of a different one from most. I wasn’t sure what to map. This is what I came up with — find hypnotist organizations around the world; determine how hypnotism is regulated around the …
Sip Happens™ is a tongue-in-cheek, propaganda-style map created for International Straw Day that cheerfully celebrates convenience while quietly revealing its consequences. Built through iterative prompting, the map layers real-world microplastic data with sea turtle…
Today’s map leans deliberately quiet: a collection of places often cited as introvert-friendly — including cities and towns where pace, density, climate, or cultural norms tend to reward observation over human interaction. The map isn’t declaring winners or promising…
To start our commission’s #365DaysOfMaps journey, I built a little quirky map that looks at how different cultures mark the “start” of the year — spoiler: January 1 is just one contender among many. This map isn’t fancy, it isn’t …
Prompts are structured design briefs. Here is how to make them consistent and testable.
The Map Design Commission is excited to announce the release of a new, free GPT tool that creates web maps via prompt. No need to know how to code or handle datasets. In many cases, you don’t even need to …
Dear Map Design Community: It’s been a while since this blog has been used. A lot has happened since the last post, in both map design and life. My apologies for the Commission’s absence. This falls on me. For those …