30 Day Map Challenge

This map visualizes the distribution of towns across Ghana's 16 administrative regions. Ghana is divided into 228 districts, categorized as ordinary, municipal, or metropolitan based on population thresholds.

This map illustrates my international flight route from Ghana to DjangoCon US 2023 in Durham, North Carolina. The total flight duration was approximately 22 hours, excluding layovers.

A global visualization of lakes represented as polygon features, emphasizing surface area distribution and spatial patterns.

This entry explores cartographic principles by demonstrating what constitutes a poorly designed map. A map that does not clearly answer What, Where, When, and Who may be considered ineffective.

Essential cartographic elements include: Title, Legend, Scale, North Arrow, Coordinate Reference System, and Source information.

A handcrafted terrain representation of Mo'orea, a volcanic island in French Polynesia. This entry focused on physical terrain modeling without digital GIS tools.

This map visualizes major cities across countries within the Asian continent. Accessing consistent and reliable city-level datasets for this project was particularly challenging.

This map visualizes outbound flight connections from Kotoka International Airport (ACC) to airports, airfields, and helipads across neighboring countries, highlighting regional air connectivity patterns.

This map illustrates the spatial distribution of cassava cultivation across Africa. Each point represents approximately 500 hectares of land dedicated to cassava farming.

A hexagon-based elevation visualization of Lesotho. This project marked my first combination of QGIS and Blender for enhanced terrain visualization.

This map recreates the classification of 50 Level II ecological regions of North America, offering deeper insight into large ecological areas across the continent.

Originally produced by the Survey Department, Accra, Ghana in May 1971. The historical map was reinterpreted and transformed into a 3D visualization using Blender.

Originally published between 1928–1940 by the TCI Cartographic Office. The original map was georeferenced in QGIS and modeled in Blender for a 3D visualization.

Visualizes Hong Kong's population distribution by usual spoken language across its 18 districts, based on data from the 2021 Population Census.

Highlights the European road network (E-roads) and key connections between built-up areas across Ireland, the third-largest island in Europe.

Generated using Prettymaps, a Python package for drawing customizable maps from OpenStreetMap data, built on osmnx, matplotlib, shapely, and vsketch.

Inspired by a historical map from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee American Geographical Society Library, reinterpreted as a 3D elevation visualization.

Visualizes the flow of international students from West African Sub-Saharan countries to the U.S. during the 2022/2023 academic year.

Visualizes the Global Burning Index (CEMS) for 2010, developed using Climate Engine — a platform leveraging Google Earth Engine for on-demand satellite data processing.

Generated in just over five minutes using Prettymaps, a rapid workflow exercise focused on efficiency and automation from OpenStreetMap data.

Mount Kilimanjaro — the tallest mountain in Africa at 5,895m — visualized using Google Earth to emphasize terrain structure and the mountain's dominant landscape presence.

Developed using NIWA's bathymetry model of New Zealand at 250m spatial resolution, compiled from coastal nautical charts, digital sounding archives, and multibeam survey data.

A 3D visualization of a historical map depicting fossil sites in Antarctica as of 1970, originally compiled by Campbell Craddock and published by the American Geographical Society.

A 3D elevation model highlighting Laos' mountainous terrain and river systems. Laos is characterized by a predominantly mountainous landscape traversed by the Mekong River.

Homebush Bay, located ~13km west of Sydney's CBD, generated using Prettymaps to align with the black-and-white theme, emphasizing minimalism and contrast.

A 3D visualization of a historical 1987 Antarctic map from the University of Wisconsin Library, originally produced by the American Geographical Society.

Visualizes the elevation of Madagascar using the Contour Polygon tool in QGIS — less is more.

Visualizes open pubs across the UK sourced from GetTheData, a platform organizing UK open data into location-based dashboards.

Explores Japan's climate and seasonal variation across its regions using averages from 1981–2010. Is this a chart or a map? In thematic mapping, the distinction isn't always clear.

Visualizes Ghana's population density at 30 arc-second resolution (~1km), adjusted to match UN population estimates. My first use of Aerialod for 3D population visualization.

This marks the wrap-up of the visualization challenge — an incredible journey of exploring diverse mapping concepts and refining cartography skills over 30 days.