It’s finally time for me to write something about generative AI. While I’ve made occasional comments on social media, I haven’t spoken in any detail. I touched on some colleagues’ genAI work in a recent blog post, but my focus wasn’t really on genAI itself — it was how and where its products were shared. … Continue reading GenAI for the Static Cartographer →

As noted in the previous GeoCurrents post on the “deserts” of Colombia, Colombia is usually considered to be the world’s rainiest country, receiving some 127 inches (3249 mm) of precipitation annually, averaged over the entire country. Learning this fact inspired me to make a map of average annual precipitation by country, which is posted below. […] The post Average Annual Precipitation by Country Mapped appeared first on GeoCurrents.

Described as a “an absurd guide to the regular wish-it-wasn’t-so paranoia of running as a woman in the city“, the Guide to Running While Female in Central Phoenix shows what to look out for along running routes in central Phoenix. This map is produced by Steady Hand Maps. Jen Urso is an accidental cartographer, more of an artist who was asked to make a map. She has since made many very attractive hand drawn maps including the one above. The legend is simple, three symbols for where you can safely run in a sports bra (it gets extremely hot there), where you will get cat calls and places you should only run in the daytime. Here is a zoomed in area. It gives some detail for those of us who don’t have to think about this stuff when going out in public. Urso in her blog post begins with this quote; “I thought it was a funny and obvious map of my experience as a woman runner. The thing that shocked me the most was how shocking it ended up being…to men.“ She concludes with “My map, in its absurdity, points out that this is not and should not be normal or acceptable. We want to go outside, alone, and feel strong and capable. We just want to run.“ If you want to dig deeper, you can listen to her interview on the Phoenix NPR station or watch one on FOX-10. For more maps by Jen Urso, you can browse through her map showcase here. Here is an example she did for a dance studio in St. Louis.

A recent GeoCurrents post suggested that the electoral geography of the United States has strikingly deviated from that of Latin America during the 21st century. In the U.S., population density has become one of the main influences on voting patterns, with cities favoring candidates on the left and the countryside preferring those on the right. […] The post Does Colombia Have an Urban/Rural Electoral Divide? Despite Bogotá, Not Really appeared first on GeoCurrents.