Tell Us About Yourself
I’m Dilara, originally from Istanbul, Turkey. I studied at the prestigious M.Sc. Cartography program at four different universities in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. I have a multi-disciplinary background spanning cartography, urban and regional planning, design, and technology. Currently, I work as a part-time data scientist in Germany.
Tell Us the Story Behind Your Map
The story of my Native Wine Grapes of the Mediterranean Region map is quite personal. When I first arrived in Germany, one of the first things that caught my attention was the strong cultural attachment to beer. This made me curious about how different regions have their own favorite alcoholic drinks, and how geography and culture shape those preferences.
For me, wine has always felt special. When I was asked to create a map during the Project Map Creation course at TU Wien, I considered many different topics, but I felt particularly drawn to this one. Grapes are one of the most ancient fruits, and they are central to human history and culture mainly due to wine production. To me, wine symbolizes authenticity, and it creates an atmosphere where meaningful conversations can be pursued.
With this map, I wanted to highlight the Mediterranean Sea, a place I feel deeply connected to, and illustrate how native grape varieties are distributed around it, symbolized by the grapes and waves across the sea. My goal was to design the map as simple and inviting as a plate of grapes.
Tell Us About the Tools, Data, etc.
I created this map using a combination of manual and digital techniques. Almost all parts of the map were hand-drawn. The workflow started with building datasets from sources such as the Wikipedia pages on native wine grapes and the Vitis International Catalogue. Then, I visualized the data in ArcGIS Pro and printed it out on paper. After sketching on the printed visualizations, I finalized the map and its layout using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.