Introduction

I love making maps. So much so, that I’ve jokingly told my peers, and supervisor, that I should probably change my thesis title to “I Made Some Maps: And Then I Made Some More Maps”. It’s the best part of my job, and there’s so much that can be done with it. When somebody asks me to make a map for them, or help them with their map issues, I get excited about it. “YES! I get to do fun things today!”

Maps are a great visual tool that can convey information much faster than reading a paragraph can. I want to make maps a part of my career, because I believe that they can make science and other academic knowledge accessible to anyone.

So that brings me to now, this project, I want to share the beauty of building maps in a personal way. I want to bring you with me on an experimental journey, having fun with spatial data and playing with maps. We don’t need to have a specific goal; this isn’t about trying to fix problems or educate the masses. Instead, I want to show you how I do it, and maybe empower you to try it for yourself, or even simply spark your interests in maps the way it was sparked for me years ago.

So, let’s get started! Week by week, I will introduce you to the different components of map making, how to pose a question, and how to begin answering that question. To be honest, I’m still figuring some of this out for myself. But it’s going to be fun, and I think we’re both going to learn a lot on this adventure.

The culmination of two years of work to answer the question: how much phosphorus is being put into the landscape each year, and where is it? (GIF made with the magick package in R).