Where are you located on Earth?
Berlin, Germany
What do you do?
I am a Senior Solutions Engineer at Seqana, where I work at the intersection of geospatial product design and software engineering. My work focuses on translating environmental data into tools and applications that help people make informed decisions.
How did you get into making maps/Geospatial Field?
I found my way into maps through geography, which allowed me to merge my seemingly diverse interests in the environment, social change, and graphic design into one discipline. I’ve always respected how maps blend science, technology, and art into something that can help people engage more deeply and closely with our world.
What inspired your map? At the time I created this map, CNN had recently reported a record-breaking marine heat wave in the North Pacific that stretched roughly 5,000 miles from Japan to the US West Coast. Scientists have referred to abnormally warm patches of water like this as “the Blob”. Past Blob events have been linked to major ecosystem disruptions and die-offs.
I hoped that presenting the data in a beautiful way could help people slow down and sit with this tough story. The design of the map was inspired by the works of John Nelson, Ginny Mason, and Laris Karklis.
What tools and data did you use to make the map? I used Python, QGIS, and Adobe Illustrator to make my map. The data came from Natural Earth and the Copernicus Marine Service (https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00016).
Anything you’d like to tell the readers of Geohipster? Creativity moves in cycles of rest, inspiration, and creation. Don’t feel like you always have to be in the creation stage. Allow yourself breaks, make things just for you, and trust that stepping away is part of the process. Comparison is the thief of joy. Lean on and give back to your communities; take care of each other.