blog/Process

Say hello to global Stamen terrain maps

| 07.12.16

I think I’m goin’ to Katmandu,That’s really really where I’m going to Hello, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Columbia & French Guiana! | Left: 2016 | Right 2014 As of today we are live! with a new and improved global version of our terrain map, first launched with the support of the Knight News Challenge,...

Tracking birds of prey from Mexico to Alaska and back

| 07.06.16

Osprey migration paths in North America It’s an exciting time to be interested in birds! Parrots are giving testimony in murder trials. Night parrots, thought to be extinct for 100 years, are being captured and tagged. Thousands of glowing pigeons carrying LEDs are flying through the air in giant collaborative night-time flocking art projects. And...

The coolest room in the whole damn world

| 05.26.16

Last year we got to pay several visits to David Rumsey’s amazing map library in his basement in San Francisco’s Cole Valley. At that time it was the country’s largest collection of maps in private hands. It was the coolest room in the whole damn world. David showing his map of rivers in Asia David...

Diving into ecosystem data with Berkeley’s Ecoengine and interfaces from Stamen

| 05.05.16

New Tools for Research with UC BerkeleyExplore, Compare, Inspire! Most people know that the University of California at Berkeley is a world-class research university. Some folks have heard of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology. But not so many people know that the university houses seven natural history museums which together hold 12 million specimens that...

Introducing the Atlas of Emotions, our new project with the Dalai Lama and Paul & Eve Ekman

| 04.26.16

In 2014, the Dalai Lama asked his friend, scientist Dr. Paul Ekman, to design him an Atlas of Human Emotion. His Holiness was intrigued by conversations that he and Paul had been having over the years about their different views on the subject of emotion. His Holiness comes, of course, from the Buddhist tradition. Paul’s...

OpenStreetMap past(s), OpenStreetMap future(s)

| 04.08.16

I gave a talk at AAG last week, as part of a session about OpenStreetMap data analysis. [UPDATE: I gave a similar talk at State of the Map US in Seattle on July 23, 2016. You can watch the video on YouTube. UPDATE #2: Maurizio Napolitano translated this post into Italian!] Slides at http://sta.mn/dnp I...

Exploring the Amazon with Code and Data

| 04.05.16

A project with Stamen and National Geographic As a child, I dreamed of being a National Geographic photographer. What could be better than going exploring to find just the right perspective to help everyone appreciate and better understand this amazing world we call home. I never expected that I would partially realize this dream in...

Taking Missing Maps into the field in Ecuador and Peru

| 03.18.16

This is the first in a series of updates on Seth’s travels to map some of the poorest areas on earth by extending Field Papers, a project we’re working on with The American Red Cross and our friends at Spatial Dev. There’s a brief intro to that project here. Photo: Nick Hallahan We left DC...

Using Instagram and Open Data to Put the Public in Public Lands

| 03.17.16

CaliParks.org opens a door and listens to people being themselves outside This spring, CaliParks.org (a site I worked on with GreenInfo when I was still at Stamen Design) relaunched with a new look and a clear purpose: Highlight the thousands of photos pouring out of California’s parks every day. And it’s working amazingly well. I...

Patrolling Trails in OpenStreetMap

| 03.16.16

A how to guide (in the weeds, so to speak) Update on Tagging added March 25, 2016 The coverage of our efforts to mark prohibited trails prompted a fair amount of conversation on OpenStreetMap’s mailing lists (this message and following) and chat rooms. Based on community discussion there and elsewhere, the best solution for marking...