Andrew Zolnai

Maps and mappers of the 2018 calendar: Andrew Zolnai

May 1, 2018 by jonahadkins, posted in Geohipsters

Live WebScene

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I’m a geologist by training and turned to computer mapping and GIS 30 years ago in Canada. Why? I took eight years high school Latin in France, and while I cannot write code I sure can fix it… Handy on Unix then Java scripts when you’re posted from Bako thru BK to Baku (that’s Bakersfield CA, Bangkok and Azerbaijan). So I’ve been in the petroleum service sector all my life, crossing over to remote sensing, geodata management and web services as GIS is apt to do. After hours, I do VGI (volunteered geographic information) to help academics and agencies find free data and publish (almost) free maps, and thus promote better citizen engagement.

Q: Tell us the story behind your map (what inspired you to make it, what did you learn while making it, or any other aspects of the map or its creation you would like people to know).

A: Oil & gas has a fantastic array of 3D subsurface data currently locked up in expensive and bespoke software and services. Using Esri for Personal Use for VGI work in England, working with US and Norwegian business partners Eagle Info Mapping and Geodata, and pulling basic data from Esri and US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, helped conflate all the relevant data in one simple 3D stack in the US Gulf of Mexico. Posting on WebScene displays a vast array of data in an easily-accessible form, to help engage agencies, operators and the public around complex geo-science. This is critical in matters ranging from smart fields (like smart cities, only in oil & gas) thru emergency response to environmental protection and beyond.

Q: Tell us about the tools, data, etc., you used to make the map.

– Esri ArcGIS Pro and Web Scene, and Geodata Seismic extension.

– Seafloor bathymetry: Esri data.

– Oilwell polylines, surface block and subsurface strata polygons, and salt dome multi-patch: US BOEM open data and courtesy Eagle Info Mapping.

– Seismic imagery not local and courtesy Geodata.

Maps and mappers of the 2016 calendar: Andrew Zolnai

May 4, 2016 by atanas, posted in Geohipsters

In our series “Maps and mappers of the 2016 calendar” we will present throughout 2016 the mapmakers who submitted their creations for inclusion in the 2016 GeoHipster calendar.

***

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I’m a geologist who turned to computer mapping 30 years ago and GIS 20 yrs ago – high school Latin helped me transition to coding just short of programming – and I now started my third business and assisted two others. I’m taking a ‘business process first’ approach, using mind mapping as a ‘talking point’ to help firms help themselves, which will determine workflows in resources planning that may invoke web maps. My Volunteered Geographic Information also helps individuals and academics put themselves on the map.

Q: Tell us the story behind your map (what inspired you to make it, what did you learn while making it, or any other aspects of the map or its creation you would like people to know).

A: Ken Field’s hexagon maps featured on the BBC during UK elections this spring inspired me to do the same in the US Gulf of Mexico: 50K oil wells taxed arcgis.com, so binning the data points allowed to show progressively more detail at large scales as you zoom in. It clearly shows for example the march of wells further offshore with time, in a way that speaks to stakeholders and public as well as engineers and mappers.

Q: Tell us about the tools, data, etc., you used to make the map.

A: Esri ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and Model Builder, scripts adapted from Esri’s Ken Field for US Gulf of Mexico wells, posted on ArcGIS Online.

'Hexagon binning, US Gulf of Mexico oilwells' by Andrew Zolnai — ‘Hexagon binning, US Gulf of Mexico oilwells’ by Andrew Zolnai

13 maps in 13 days: Andrew Zolnai

December 23, 2015 by atanas, posted in Geohipsters

Sending off the year 2015, we present to our readers the mapmakers who contributed their work to the 2015 GeoHipster calendar.

***

Andrew Zolnai

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I’m a geologist who turned to computer mapping 30 years ago and GIS 20 yrs ago — high school Latin helped me transition to coding just short of programming — and I now started my third business and assisted two others. I’m taking a ‘business process first’ approach, using mind mapping as a ‘talking point’ to help firms help themselves, which will determine workflows in resources planning that may invoke web maps. My Volunteered Geographic Information also helps individuals and academics put themselves on the maps such as this one.

Q: Tell us the story behind your map (what inspired you to make it, what did you learn while making it, or any other aspects of the map or its creation you would like people to know).

A: CLIWOC (CLImatalogical database for the World OCeans) maps all ships captains logs, 180 attributes such as temperature & wind speed per reading typically twice a day, collected by British, Dutch, French and Spanish navies (and a few minor ones but not the Portuguese). From 1750 to 1854 they’re the best climate data available offshore, making about 1/4M points. The global sailings by time slices were posted on the so-called Stamen backdrop: its black oceans bring out the ships’ location colour coding. This map shows in the late 18th c. the French traffic to New France (E Canada) in yellow, in blue the Hudson’s Bay Company sailings to N Canada and the British East India Company sailings to India, and the Dutch triangular trade to the Caribbean and W Africa in green. http://bit.ly/1T1bblS

Q: Tell us about the tools, data, etc., you used to make the map.

A: Original CLIWOC climate data MXD was imported into File Geodatabase. 1/4M original points turned into 1/2M points after the four navies’ look-up tables normalised the climate data. Realistically, ArcGIS Online only posted these in decade time slices thru the time stamping. http://bit.ly/1Mgrgyy These were exported as GeoJSON both as time slices and in bulk, and uploaded into AWC EC2 stack. From there they were rendered in MapCentia GeoCloud2. http://bit.ly/1Yg3xL8

'CLIWOC ships captains logs for 1750-1774 time slice' by Andrew Zolnai — ‘CLIWOC ships captains logs for 1750-1774 time slice’ by Andrew Zolnai

2016 GeoHipster calendar showcases technological and cartographic artistry

November 18, 2015 by GeoHipster Team, posted in Geohipsters

Last month GeoHipster put out a call for maps for the 2016 GeoHipster calendar. The response was overwhelming, with nearly two dozen maps being submitted. The submissions represented a cross-section of the cartographic talent and imagination of the geospatial industry. The GeoHipster advisory board certainly had its work cut out for it.

We would have loved to have simply used all of the maps we received, but Pope Gregory XIII gave us a calendar that only had room for twelve. So we are happy to announce the authors whose work you will be seeing throughout 2016 (in no particular order): Meg Miller, Asger Petersen, Jacqueline Kovarik, Terence Stigers, Katie Kowalsky, Rosemary Wardley, Ralph Straumann, Gretchen Peterson, Jonah Adkins, Stephen Smith, Mario Nowak, and Andrew Zolnai. Congratulations to each of you, and thank you for your support of GeoHipster and your dedication to the craft of mapmaking.

GeoHipster has adopted a mission of exploring the state of the geospatial industry from the eyes of those working in it, and the response from the community has been humbling. Part of that mission is celebrating the great work and creativity resident in the community. As part of that celebration, GeoHipster will be publishing a feature on each map throughout 2016 so our readers can learn a bit more about how and why each map was created. We will be doing this not only for the 12 maps selected for the calendar, but for all of the maps submitted this year, in recognition of the support and creativity shown by all who participated. We are excited to expand GeoHipster to include the art of our community.

Finally, we’d like to give a shout out to Mapbox for their continued support of GeoHipster’s independent content, this time by sponsoring the 2016 calendar. Their support will help expand the types of content we offer next year, including reprising the “young professionals” showcase of up-and-coming talent that was debuted this month.

The calendar is currently being designed, and will be ready to order by the US Thanksgiving holiday. It makes a great gift, and is a super way to answer the inevitable question we all field from our family during the holidays: “So what is it that you do?”

The 2015 GeoHipster Calendar is available for purchase

November 5, 2014 by atanas, posted in Geohipsters

We are excited to announce that the first-ever GeoHipster wall calendar is ready for production. We thank all who submitted maps for the calendar, Christina Boggs and Carol Kraemer for co-originating the calendar idea, and Christina again for her ongoing assistance with logistics and curation.

The 2015 GeoHipster Wall Calendar makes a great holiday gift for the geogeek on your list, so pick up a few. The proceeds from the calendar sales will help GeoHipster offset our operational costs, stay ad-free, and maintain independence.

The 2015 GeoHipster Calendar is available for purchase from CafePress. All calendars are made to order (you need to specify January 2015 as Starting Month (as opposed to the default setting — the current month)).

The calendar features maps from the following map artists (screenshots below):

Gretchen Peterson
Jonah Adkins
Ralph Straumann
Markus Mayr
Bill Morris
Andrew Zolnai
Stephen Smith
Damian Spangrud
Farheen Khanum
Christina Boggs
John Van Hoesen
Steven Romalewski
Joachim Ungar

IMPORTANT! The screenshot below is intended ONLY to give an overview of the overall layout — which map goes on which page, etc. When you order the 2015 calendar, you will get the 2015 calendar. You can verify this by reviewing each individual page online before you order.