Category: Cartography
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Koyukuk River Meanders
This winter I created my own river meander map to mimic Fisk’s work. My goal with this map project was two-fold: First, to faithfully reproduce a map that from a distance appears to be part of the Fisk series, and second, to create an ArcGIS Pro style for others to do the same with their…
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Daylight in Denali
We have reached the winter solstice, a special day in the northern latitudes. In places that receive sun, it is the darkest day of the year. For places so far north as to be in the polar night, it is the mid-point of the darkness. Either way, after December 21, the earth begins to tilt…
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#30DayMapChallenge 2025
This October, when the prompts came out for the annual #30DayMapChallenge, I happened to have some extra time on my hands to finally attempt creating 30 maps in 30 days. Although it made for a somewhat exhausting month, it was incredibly satisfying to rise to the challenge after years on the sideline. Below are some…
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United by the Unigrid
A discussion on the history and changes in National Park Service cartography, including the evolution of map-making techniques and the future of geospatial products, including the incorporation of Indigenous place names.
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The Devils and The Details
Devils (not Devil’s) Canyon along the Susitna River is one of those places that, even without knowing anything about whitewater paddling, if you have been exposed to any cross-section of life in Alaska, then you know it is a big deal.
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One if by land, two if by sea, three if by ski
This blog post talks about the cartographic principles and GIS workflow behind creating this map of Alaska air routes with real-life flight data using two GIS tools: geodesic lines and projected coordinate systems.
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Nenana River Map
Earlier this summer, as a group of us planned to float the Nenana River after work one day, we discussed where to put in our boats. Sam suggested the Grassy Knoll and John, chuckling, replied, “Where do you mean when you say the ‘Grassy Knoll’?”….
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Anabranching
My favorite part of being a pilot is the opportunity to see patterns across the landscape. While I was working on other riverine projects this winter, I found myself distracted by Dr. Aileen Buckley’s how-to on symbology of rivers using elevation data from satellite imagery. I immediately wanted to try it out on the Koyukuk…
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Erratic Behavior: Mapping 3D Points of Interest
For my birthday this year, I bought myself a present: The 3D Point of Interest (POI) mapping ability in DJI GS Pro. A small splurge to be sure ($10), but oh, the great joy it brought me! As soon as it was loaded on my mobile device, I immediately started my flight plan with a…
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Red Relief Image Maps
A few years ago, a colleague of mine shared a paper with me about a new method of visualizing elevation data using slope gradient and convexities/concavities, called a Red Relief Image Model. I was initially skeptical – as far as I could tell, the visualization wasn’t all that different from a multi-directional hillshade with a…
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