Taking Maps to a new Level

Taking Maps to a new Level #30DayMapChallenge

So, have you heard about #30DayMapChallenge? In case you haven’t, it is a challenge created by Topi Tjukanov in 2019, and since then the challenge has taken the whole GIS-world by a storm! Unleashing the innovative powers of GIS-scientists, GIS-engineers, cartographers and anyone who is interested in maps truly displays the powers maps and data can have.

The challenge is open for everyone, and as long as you create original maps almost anything goes. Topi made a comprehensive page about #30DayMapChallenge to github, which I highly recommend checking out. There are also some masterpieces from 2019, so check them out as well!

Since this year’s creations have been absolutely great, we wanted to share some of our favorites during these otherwise not so great times. This year we saw a huge variety of maps thanks to the well laid out daily themes plan by Topi. Points, lines, colours, data themes and other factors were in this year’s theme catalogue. Out of all the masterfully crafted maps, we thought that these following pieces stood out the most! In case the tweet does not load automatically, please click the links to see them.

Elevation – Italy and the Alps by Dan Harris

Non-geographic map – Funky Style by Antonia Blankenberg

https://twitter.com/MapsByAntonia/status/1332695778511511552?s=20

Movement – 5km² population grid by Joe Davies

Null – Areas in GB with 0 trains stations – TheGisGirl

https://twitter.com/TheGISGirl/status/1329847106983649286

Historical Map – Ordnance Survey

https://twitter.com/OrdnanceSurvey/status/1328734686605139971?s=20

Blue – Blue(s) – Sefano Bovio

https://twitter.com/allyoucanmap/status/1324465204206440448?s=20

Honorable mentions

COVID19 – Covid Atlas – CNIG

https://twitter.com/IGNSpain/status/1331570762944290816?s=20

Big Data – Google Data Centers around the world – Koen Van Den Eeckhout

https://twitter.com/Koen_VdE/status/1332382815061749761?s=20

A Map – Evolution of OS mapping – Ordnance Survey

https://twitter.com/OrdnanceSurvey/status/1333348808412057600?s=20

Getting the geospatial circles together

Uniting a community under a single goal is a monumental challenge (pun intended) and this years #30DayMapChallenge was definitely able to do that. With challenges like this, it is always heartwarming to see professionals giving kudos to one another and seeing all the masterfully crafted outputs. So kudos to Topi for enabling our community to do this!

I believe you must agree that we can’t just wait what #30DayMapChallenge will present us in 2021. Are you going to participate? And also if we missed out on some maps that you think should have definitely made the list, please share them and tag us in twitter, so we don’t miss out on them!