iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

So far my only (tiny) suggestion is to make the pop-ups for the "Go to my current location" tool either close themselves after some time or be closeable by the user. I opted to not change the location access setting in my browser, but the pop-up persists, and I don't see a way to close it.

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I've been studying contour/elevation/relief maps for upwards of 30 years and this one stands out for its wealth of visualization options and elegant interface. Pretty amazing to explore. High resolution in NL is extra cool. Even keyboard shortcuts!

111

Reposted by Blake Esselstyn

Tibor M. Kalman @kalmantibs.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Wendell Berry, revered American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, and farmer. August 5, 1934 - August 31, 2026. Rest in Peace, sweet soul. ❤️‍🩹🕯️🕊️

1429767

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Great piece, Ruth! Very well argued, and I love the vegemite reference. =)

010

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Not familiar with the reference material, but I appreciate the effort!

010

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Thanks for reposting! The hashtag made me laugh out loud.

010

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Thanks for reading that far! Today is the first time I've become aware of @anthonymoser.com If only I'd read that essay first!

020

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

This (to be clear, the linked article) was the first time I'd heard of snailjet. Great concept, and great name! I'm curious how the stickers will look in 20 years. Maybe you'll report back then?

000

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Thank you for pointing that out! That was not my intent.

010

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Part 2, mostly for the nerds: Zuzai is a recursive acronym. It stands for "zuzai uses zero artificial intelligence" If you like the idea, please spread the word! 2/2

0167

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I wrote something, based on my conviction that the current moment calls for a new word. A nice, crisp word to indicate that something was made or done *without* AI. My proposal for this new word is ... zuzai. zuzai.org 1/2

zuzai.org

Zuzai, a new word, indicates the absence of AI

About the word zuzai, coined to denote things made or done without artificial intelligence.

43314

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Here are the original displayed image (in the one above I added the yellow for better visibility) plus one with time zones, which is more cluttered but provides additional context. Also, if you're really super curious, here's the FlightAware depiction, too: www.flightaware.com/live/flight/... 3/3

000

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

The flight path was not a great circle. Evidently so many airlines are avoiding Russian and Iranian airspaces that there's something of a bottleneck on the route between the two airspaces over Azerbaijan. (When I flew from Amsterdam to Tokyo, that's the route that KLM chose.) 2/3

200

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Surprise on a KLM flight yesterday from Tokyo (Narita) to Amsterdam: the entire flight was in an eastward direction. Though both Tokyo and Amsterdam are in the Eastern Hemisphere (with ~⅜ of the world's longitude between them), most of the flight was in the Western Hemisphere. See image & 🧵. 1/3

Map of earth as globe with northern Russia at center. Yellow line shows flight path extending east from Tokyo-Narita airport into Pacific Ocean then over Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland before finishing at Amsterdam airport.

120

Reposted by Blake Esselstyn

Hansi Lo Wang (he/him) @hansilowang.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

My latest @npr.org story: New public data for redistricting, policymaking and research may be reduced as Trump officials limit the ways the Census Bureau can protect people’s privacy when it releases statistics www.npr.org/2026/06/12/n...

npr.org

A Trump push to cut 'statistical noise' could mean less data from the Census Bureau

New public data for redistricting and other uses may be reduced as Trump officials limit the ways the Census Bureau can protect people's privacy when it releases statistics.

26144

Reposted by Blake Esselstyn

Redistricting Data Hub @redistdatahub.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Looking for the #Tennessee congressional map proposed today by the state legislature? We created one in DRA sourced from the county, VTD, and census block descriptions in SB 7004 & HB 7003. Map: tinyurl.com/3e59msnv Data source: tinyurl.com/rfccsw27 #redistricting @davesredist.bsky.social

011

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Will it be possible to attend virtually?

000

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

This one's a keeper for sure! I appreciate that it's local.

000

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

This has provided the most fun I've had with an interactive map in quite a while.

051

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

So cool. In just a few minutes, I've gotten a better understanding of Maastricht's built environment. I love the interactive features.

020

Reposted by Blake Esselstyn

Openscapes @openscapes.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

📅 March 19 @juliesquid.bsky.social will reprise her AGU Greg Leptoukh Lecture: Forking as a Worldview: How Openscapes uses the open source concept of copy-modify to support researchers & shift culture in science. Everyone welcome. Details: openscapes.org/events/2026-... #openscience #kinderscience

2104

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

I have no immediate plans to migrate the content to another platform; the explanation is based on a set of numbers and groupings that are now outdated. At some point I would like to provide an updated version. If folks have recommendations for FOSS scrollytelling platforms, please let me know! 3/3

010

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

One thing about this early generation of scrollable story maps is that the content can't be indexed by search engines. Nonetheless, as of today, the explainer has had nearly 3,000 views, almost all presumably driven by people sharing links to it. Not too bad for a somewhat arcane topic. 2/3

Map of North Carolina, showing counties grouped as required for the State House districts after the 2010 census. Some counties are their own groups, while other counties, grouped with adjacent counties, are in groups, or clusters, of two to seven counties.

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

In 2019 I created a Story Map explainer of NC's distinctive county grouping requirement for legislative redistricting. Soon that resource will vanish (Esri is retiring that old platform). If you want a refresher on the so-called "Stephenson" process, now's the time! #NCPol 1/3 arcg.is/1DnDO

arcg.is

This story map was created with the Story Map Cascade application in ArcGIS Online.

121

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Some fascinating prognostication in this episode!

010

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Fascinating exploration. In 2024, I was a visiting instructor introducing GIS, and a student from Western Sahara refused to accept that Felt could be a credible tool given how its base map showed Western Sahara's boundary (unlike UN, Wikipedia, Google, NatGeo, etc. when viewed from the Netherlands).

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

An illuminating look below the surface of this topic, revealing what such a change would entail.

110

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

- I did not make a significant wrong turn that required rejiggering the route, nor was there congestion on the roads that would have been nice to avoid. - The car I was driving didn't support Android Auto. - Yes, my phone is set to French language, in anticipation of #QGISFR2026 🤓 3/3.

000

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Other notes: - I was driving from Maastricht to near Charleroi in Belgium. YMMV depending on OSM data. - In the screenshot, you can see I was in flight/airplane mode, using downloaded data. Still worked well. - It also offers the "first person driver" view. I just prefer keeping north as up. 2/3

130

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

After years of using Google Maps as my primary app for driving navigation, today I drove to an unfamiliar place using @organicmaps.bsky.social for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. Particularly nice was that the app was less talkative, not stating the obvious (e.g., merge). 1/3

Screenshot of map interface of Organic Maps app during navigation.

110

Reposted by Blake Esselstyn

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

🎧 new episode of the #GLaDpodcast is out! You can run but you can’t hide. @levijohnwolf.bsky.social, @darribas.bsky.social and I went to the source (Krzysztof Janowicz) to hear more about Geo + AI, AI for Geo, and my personal bugbear GeoAI. #geography #geoAI open.spotify.com/episode/7zZj...

open.spotify.com

Episode 27: Are you GLaD about GeoAI? A conversation with Kryzsztof Janowicz

043

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Check out the number of parties to choose from in the image ... could be a factor in participation.

000

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Does the event start at 1:04? ;)

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

I just learned from a math teacher that it is a day: Perfect Square Day! And this is a special one for this century, because 2025 is 45² bsky.app/profile/sara...

022

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Also, were you aware that 2025 is 45²?

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

I know three people whose birthday is today. I told them that they should celebrate at 1:04. =)

121

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Do you know anyone whose birthday is today (Sept. 16th)? If they like math—or even if they don't—you could point out to them that 9 / 16 / 25 is a sequence of perfect squares. AND! 2025 is also a perfect square (45²). Best time of day to acknowledge? Perhaps 1:04. 🤓

010

Reposted by Blake Esselstyn

Chris Cooper @chriscooperwcu.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

🗳️Job🗳️ The Buncombe County Board of Elections is hiring an absentee voting coordinator It's a great team in a terrific location. Sept 15 deadline. buncombecounty.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Buncom...

buncombecounty.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

Elections Coordinator

This job posting expires at 11:59PM on September 15, 2025. No applications can be submitted after 11:59PM on September 15, 2025. Job Title: Elections Coordinator Department: External Hiring Range: $29...

065

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

I was a bit surprised to see that searches for "census geopackage" and "tiger geopackage" in Bluesky turned up zero results. May this post remedy that situation! 5/5

000

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

What does it say about me that I've been on Bluesky since November of 2023 and this is what I choose to make my first original post/thread about? 🤓 4/5

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

It also appears that this is not new news; the first such release evidently was in 2024. (For my work, I still mostly use the 2020 geographies because of their alignment with the PL 94-171 redistricting file.) www.census.gov/newsroom/pre... 3/5

census.gov

Census Bureau Releases New Geospatial Data

The U.S. Census Bureau today announced the release of new geospatial data, including the first-time release of TIGER/Line files in GeoPackage format.

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

And (at least as of today) it would appear that the Census Bureau is making the 2025 TIGER data available as GeoPackages and NOT shapefiles. www.census.gov/programs-sur... 2/5

census.gov

TIGER Data Products Guide

Help determining which TIGER Product to use.

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

TIL the US Census Bureau is releasing its latest TIGER/Line data in GeoPackage format! 🧵 www.census.gov/geographies/... 1/5

census.gov

TIGER/Line GeoPackages

View the available TIGER/Line GeoPackages from the Geography program.

100

Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Is the talk on the 4th or the 11th? The CNG post shows both.

100