iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Some maps I've come across in games recently

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

New map table in progress, hand routed

Unfinished, 5 ft, rectangular wood tabletop with routed design of the Finger Lakes, spanning the width of the table

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Reposted by Aaron Koelker

Nick Parish | Current Flow State Fly Fishing @nickparish.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Big stuff launching tomorrow...

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Getting weird with DEMs and Blender UV mapping

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Wanted to try out the new #StoryMaps Frames, so I made this bite-sized story about whirlpools. arcg.is/CD0uP2

arcg.is

Maelstroms

Whirlpools Around the World

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Reposted by Aaron Koelker

Daniel Huffman @pinakographos.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

I am also celebrating by finally organizing my #cyanotype misprints and having another one of my irregularly-scheduled "pay what you want" sales. Please consider giving a home to one of these less-than-perfect hand-printed pieces. Some have scorch marks! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

A detail image of two cyanotype maps of Lebanon. One is darker than the other and has some browning on the bottom.

An image of a cyanotype of the Seven Summits. Some of the text is dark and blurred and difficult to read.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Shockingly, nobody took me up on running the #BostonMarathon with this thing strapped to their wrist

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Currently obsessing over this 12 ft wide, 1921 strip #map of Palisades Interstate Park in NJ/NY. An amazingly detailed birds-eye view paired with a profile sketch of the park's cliffs, as seen from the Hudson River. collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/coll...

Close-up of Palisades Interstate Park sketch map by Robert. L. Dickinson

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

A quick and dirty map I made of the federal lease cancellations announced by DOGE so far. Data from DOGE's website on 3/14/25.

A blue and grey map of the United States and territories showing the number and location of federal lease cancellations, using proportional circles and number labels.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

A few months ago, I made this #StoryMap about glacial relicts and refugia, with a look inspired by botanical field journals. It was a fun side-project to reseach and create. storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9b04...

storymaps.arcgis.com

Glacial Gardens

Relicts, Refugia, and Preserving Biodiversity

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

A particularly tricky round of Cartographer's Tetris

A map of Long Island NY with green labels and markers over orange land. The labels are dense and often curved to fit.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Maps.com is doing a new series on the mapmaking process and asked me to talk about my map of map turtles. I also recommend the first entry with @peterincan.bsky.social and his awesome wildfire map. www.maps.com/behind-the-m...

maps.com

Behind the Map | Maps.com

Get insights into the mapmaking process and hear directly from cartographers and creators who share the how and why behind some of our favorite maps.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Recently updated this map for a watershed non-profit group to be vertical instead of horizontal. The original use-case was for tabling events, so we'd made it wide to get more of the map closer to the reader and save them from having to lean forward. The new layout is for signboards at boat ramps.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

This animation I made for a recent project shows the changes in ice extent over North America since the last glacial maximum (roughly 18k years). Each frame was hand drawn using Procreate.

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Reposted by Aaron Koelker

Atlas of Design @nacis-atlas.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Share the joy of maps with a gift of the Atlas of Design! And why not donate a copy to your local library, school, or book drive? All volumes of the Atlas are now available to ship, including the recently released Volume 7. atlasofdesign.org/order/

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 31/10/2024

Happy Halloween. Here's a map I did several years ago of cemeteries and graveyards within Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Fun fact: the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard is that the latter is typically associated with a church.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

This is a #map (?) I drew of Taughannock Gorge in upstate NY. I designed it specifically with a #risograph machine in mind, and printed it out at a community print space here in town. Excited to try out some other ideas there.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 16/07/2024

Since videos don't work here yet: Here's a link to another 10ft receipt map I made of the Boston Marathon. It's contained in an enduro route sheet holder so that, theoretically, someone could awkwardly reference this on their wrist while as race. aaronkoelker.com/boston-marat...

aaronkoelker.com

BOSTON MARATHON – Aaron Koelker

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 23/06/2024

Working out another receipt map project idea

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 30/05/2024

Experimenting with a hand-drawn approach

A post-card sized map of the Great Lakes. Water is in blue with green outlines around the shore. Urban areas are shown in orange, and cities are shown with black circles and labels. The style mimics a rough risograph print, with some printing misalignment and imperfections.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 23/05/2024

I recently moved to Ithaca, NY—so I made this #map of waterfalls to help get familiar with the area. I look forward to finding a typo immediately after posting.

A map of about 50 waterfalls around Ithaca New York. The colors are primarily blue and green. The background features hand drawn rivers, lakes, and streams, and the terrain has a painterly style.

Closeup of a map of about 50 waterfalls around Ithaca New York. The colors are primarily blue and green. The background features hand drawn rivers, lakes, and streams, and the terrain has a painterly style. The image is centered on southwest Ithaca.

A closeup of the locator map, with a simplified shape of New York state and the Finger Lakes visible. An arrow and circle shows the extent of the map, with a north arrow pointing up.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 02/02/2024

Here's a technique I've been using to create dynamic highlights on my data in ArcGIS Online—handy for a bit of extra visual flair or filtering out data when you don't have the right attributes. I've been using it with shifting hurricane forecast cones. youtu.be/M7e2N3c_WvI?...

youtu.be

Creating Dynamic Highlights and Masks in ArcGIS Online with Blend Modes

Using groups and blend modes, we can create on-the-fly highlights and masks for feature layers in the ArcGIS Online Map Viewer. This can give us some nifty v...

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 21/12/2023

Here's another ribbon map of a river; this time designed specifically for a receipt printer. Perhaps the most unnecessary thing I've ever made.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 07/11/2023

For the multiple people that suggested using a receipt printer. Not perfect, but readable! Will be a fun challenge designing a new map that works within the limitations.

Part of a river map being printed from the top of an Epson receipt printer: black plastic cube with roughly 7 inch sides. The visible part of the map says Pinhook Swamp on the right while the river can be seen as a thick black line to its left.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 24/10/2023

Florida citrus isn't doing so well. Here's a #StoryMap I'd been working on that takes a closer look at the different challenges facing the industry. arcg.is/5rHLa0

arcg.is

Green Oranges & Land

Challenges and Change in Florida Citrus

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 24/10/2023

More reposts, this 12ft long ribbon map of the Suwannee River with a 3D printed wind-up container. I'm now looking into buying a receipt printer... for reasons.

A black 3D printed capsule with the end of a ribbon map extending out from it on to a table, the end of which is against a ruler showing it is 2.5 inches wide. Rolled up draft copies of the ribbon map are upright on the table as well, adjacent to the container.

A close up of the ribbon map showing the overview area of the river across Florida dn Georgia, as well as the legend and a list of distances between towns on the river. The colors are mostly bright greens and blues.

Two copies of the ribbon map pinned to a board at the NACIS 2023 map gallery. One copy is the 12ft long version and is pinned up into long folds with a paper clamp. The other copy is a 12 inch wide by 36 inch tall version with the map arranged in 4 side-by-side sections.

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Aaron Koelker @aaronkoelker.bsky.social · 23/10/2023

I'm going to repost some things from that old bird app for some semblance of continuity here, starting with this experimental Blender map of the St Kilda Archipelago I made a few months back.

An isometric view of the St Kilda Archipelago, with cyan water and green, cell-shaded land. Labels in white and pale lime color, some floating above and below the islands while other curved labels lay at an isometric angle on the water's surface.

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