Visualisations Thunderbolts and lightning, very very enlightening Craig Taylor and I recently collaborated on a series of spatial visualisations using global lightning strike location data. This is what we came up with!
Interviews An interview with spatial artist Craig Taylor Learn about Craig's journey with spatial visualisation, get insight into his work and technique, and find out just how he manages to consistently churn out so many amazing visualisations.
Community Very spatial people to follow on Twitter I keep an eye on a lot of people within the spatial community on Twitter. This is my curated list of who you need to be following.
Newsletter Spatial Awareness #15 Read issue 15 of the Spatial Awareness newsletter, rounding up the latest in the spatial community.
Community features Amazing 3D rendering with Aerialod Alasdair Rae has put together a guide on how to use the amazing Aerialod tool (covered in a previous issue) and his tips for getting the most out of it.
Community features How to make a beautiful map Who doesn’t want to make a beautiful map? Aside from a catchy title, this tutorial by Boris Müller goes into detail on how he and Fabian Ehmel created a
Community features 3D Streetmix visualisations Streetmix is a really useful tool for quickly prototyping new layouts for streets. What if you removed vehicle traffic altogether? Or what if you put in a protected cycle path?
Community features Tron-like videos from SAR constellation If you’re not familiar with synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) then I’d highly recommend taking a look. It’s a fascinating area of remote sensing that’s being used in
Community features Blender visualisation with clouds It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for spatial visualisations created in Blender, I’ve certainly featured them enough in this newsletter. This one by Sean Conway is
Community features Dutch railways annual report This visualisation by Jan Willem Tulp is a perfect example of thinking outside the box. It’s such a clever way of looking at temporal spatial data and visualising it
Community features Aerial embroidery I absolutely love anything spatial that has been created in ways you wouldn’t expect, and this aerial embroidery by Victoria Rose is no exception! The attention to detail is
Community features #mapsathome #mapsathome is a great hashtag on Twitter that’s packed full of people sharing random maps and map-related objects that are within their home. I want them all! #mapsathome on Twitter
Community features How to map an island in the Pacific One of my favourite map-makers David Garcia has started a newsletter about his unique experiences and stories behind why he creates maps. His first issue is already out for you to read at your leisure, it’s well worth it. How to Map an
Community features Videos from FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2019 All the videos from the FOSS4G Oceania event from last year are now online. There’s tonnes of them with presentations covering a diverse range of topics. Most are 20 minutes long so a nice length to watch without having to invest too much
Community features How to do Map Stuff If it’s possible to find a silver lining with this pandemic, it would be the way the spatial community has come together to help each other out and share knowledge. So many physical events have been cancelled this year and it’s been
Community features OpenSkyNetwork data during the pandemic Air travel has been affected particularly negatively by the current pandemic, with some airlines and airports effectively closing down entirely. What’s interesting is that ADS-B tracking data is being constantly collected, and as a result we’re now able to create some interesting
Community features UP42 — The open platform for Earth data and analytics I’m a little late to the party on this one. UP42 was launched a while ago now, a new platform for accessing and processing Earth observation data. I have to admit that I’ve not used it myself yet, but it looks slick
Community features Behind the scenes of a Planet satellite launch Ever wondered what happens after a satellite is launched? I know I have. This post by Planet delves into the process they go through from first contact with their satellites all the way through to capturing their first image and integration within their wider
Community features Mapzen project updates Some news that put a smile on my face recently was seeing that the various Mapzen projects are still alive and kicking. They produced a large number of innovative projects in all areas of the spatial scene before Mapzen shut down; including tile-based routing,
Community features getlon.lat — Help! I need a geocoder Have you ever looked at the terms of service or licence restrictions when choosing a spatial platform? Did you know that some platforms don’t let you use them if you use OpenStreetMap? It’s a minefield. This website by Steve Bennett does a
Community features Recent updates to Mapbox GL JS The Mapbox team have continued to churn out release after release for Mapbox GL JS, with countless new features since the last issue of the newsletter. Major improvements include a new LOD-based tiling system (in preparation for relaxing tilt limits) as well as improved
Community features Radio Garden While not strictly spatial, this fun website lets you explore obscure radio stations from around the world using a 3D map in your browser. It has been created by Jonathan Puckey and his team and it’s quite addictive — I’ve found plenty of
Newsletter Spatial Awareness #14 Read issue 14 of the Spatial Awareness newsletter, rounding up the latest in the spatial community.
Community features Mapping the shadows of New York City If you wander around any particularly large city, especially in winter, you’ll notice how little sunlight actually reaches the streets. In this visualisation (and accompanying story), The New York
Community features Cristina Poiata It’s been a pleasure seeing the maps submitted by Cristina for the #30DayMapChallenge — they have a fantastic attention to detail and design. Each has been submitted through her agency z creative labs, which is also worth checking out. Cristina’s Twitter feed is
