Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 27/09/2026So 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 · 27/09/2026I'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 EsselstynTibor M. Kalman @kalmantibs.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Wendell 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 · 14/08/2026Great piece, Ruth! Very well argued, and I love the vegemite reference. =) 010
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Not familiar with the reference material, but I appreciate the effort! 010
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Thanks for reposting! The hashtag made me laugh out loud. 010
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Thanks 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 · 26/07/2026This (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 · 26/07/2026Thank you for pointing that out! That was not my intent. 010
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/07/2026Part 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 · 23/07/2026I 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 1/2zuzai.orgZuzai, a new word, indicates the absence of AIAbout the word zuzai, coined to denote things made or done without artificial intelligence. 43314
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/06/2026Here 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 · 23/06/2026The 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 · 23/06/2026Surprise 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 & 🧵. 1/3 120
Reposted by Blake EsselstynHansi Lo Wang (he/him) @hansilowang.bsky.social · 12/06/2026My 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.orgA Trump push to cut 'statistical noise' could mean less data from the Census BureauNew 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 EsselstynRedistricting Data Hub @redistdatahub.bsky.social · 06/05/2026Looking 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 · 25/04/2026This one's a keeper for sure! I appreciate that it's local. 000
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 08/04/2026This has provided the most fun I've had with an interactive map in quite a while. 051
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 08/04/2026So 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 EsselstynOpenscapes @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 · 23/02/2026I 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 · 23/02/2026One 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. 2/3 100
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 23/02/2026In 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/1DnDOarcg.isThis story map was created with the Story Map Cascade application in ArcGIS Online. 121
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 19/02/2026Some fascinating prognostication in this episode! 010
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 03/02/2026Fascinating 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 · 19/01/2026An 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 · 30/12/2025Other 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 · 30/12/2025After 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). 1/3 110
Reposted by Blake EsselstynRachel 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.comEpisode 27: Are you GLaD about GeoAI? A conversation with Kryzsztof Janowicz 043
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 27/10/2025Check out the number of parties to choose from in the image ... could be a factor in participation. 000
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 16/09/2025I 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 · 16/09/2025I know three people whose birthday is today. I told them that they should celebrate at 1:04. =) 121
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Do 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 EsselstynChris 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.comElections CoordinatorThis 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 · 29/08/2025I 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 · 29/08/2025What 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 · 29/08/2025It 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... 3/5census.govCensus Bureau Releases New Geospatial DataThe 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 · 29/08/2025And (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... 2/5census.govTIGER Data Products GuideHelp determining which TIGER Product to use. 100
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 29/08/2025TIL the US Census Bureau is releasing its latest TIGER/Line data in GeoPackage format! 🧵 www.census.gov/geographies/... 1/5census.govTIGER/Line GeoPackagesView the available TIGER/Line GeoPackages from the Geography program. 100
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 28/08/2025Is the talk on the 4th or the 11th? The CNG post shows both. 100
Blake Esselstyn @mapblake.bsky.social · 27/08/2025The text of this post says Sept 4; the image says Sept 11. Which is accurate? 100