iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sitting next to somewhat famous recently discovered mastodon tooth right now.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Oh yeah, that's got to be it. I've been incrementally shrinking my layout from 900x900 to 600x600 then 180x180. The in-layout render always looks the same, but when I hit 180 pixels you can see the export raster is much more pixelated. You prob have to re do the layout.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I'm trying to recreate this with a small project but all my PDF exports show the same rester as what I see in screen in QGIS regardless of the changes I make to export dpi. I wonder if you are having a general memory issue? How big is the PDF export?

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

There is also an export resolution setting in the layout properties, but no idea if that affects PDF exports. You might also try oversizing the layout (larger size same aspect ratio) to get a higher res image in the PDF, then resize in Adobe later.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Are you changing from the default Lossy to Lossless for image compression settings?

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Equal Earth is more accurate for area representation, but I feel like its still very non-conformal (Africa is very elongated) How far off is Robinson in area? Its got a more natural/conformal look to the shapes of land masses and at first glance seems closer to Equal Earth for area than Mercator.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Rainbow colors are an objectively terrible way to relate "more or less" as a data range to symbology. Besides mismatched color connotations, when converted to BW you can clearly see the false high value peaks in the ramp.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Flock cameras are the Cybertrucks of the law enforcement world. They are objectively terrible, everybody hates them, and the people who use them are blissfully ignorant of what douchebags they are. #deflock @deflock.org

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Looking for an 'affordable' house to rent in the Bay Area? Not on the peninsula you're not!

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Quick trip out to Half Moon Bay last week. Only spent about 90 minutes on the water but caught this nice cabezon to bring home and fry up!

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Looking for (well articulated) opinions and impressions plus ideas for other map projections that might work well in a 2 page magazine spread for showing off global routes.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Contracted to do 2 page spread for a set of global expedition routes. Looking for input on projections. My goto prj for stuff like this is Miller. Winkel Tripel is prob a 'better' choice but I'm not a fan of the rounded ocean background, I'd want to ignore that and fill the page w blue. #gischat

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Disturbing view of what the US has become. These are all the known ALPR cameras across the country right now. This will only get worse unless we fight back. deflock.org

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Ha! I was just pulling this out of my Pinterest maps board earlier for a diff thread... Lets see how many hand maps we can get the crew to contribute! #gischat

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Great example of why NOT to trust the AI summaries. Asking a question about outboard motor placement the AI responded with an absolute answer about the height (2" below bottom) but the post that answer is based on the author only stated how their motor is currently set up, not how it should be.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

There is a false equivalence in citing examples where content is made BY people WITH tools vs AI content that is typically made by the tool itself (at the request of an author). A lack of skill or creativity in a particular art can be overwritten by AI tools. Not so with film, photog, lit etc..

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I'm not sure how much water that would have otherwise gone to baby seals got used in making this AI animation of an old map monster. But I might be ok with it! 🫣

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

What kind of an insane person cuts a BLT like this? Are we just doing whatever the fuck the we want now!?

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Want to work with the GIS data from this lava flow map of Kilauea? The USGS data release (if you can find it) lists 100 separate items. Want to download those individual footprints? You will have to individually grab each of the shapefile component files, for every lava polygon layer. WTF?

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I'd guess the flavor of rainbow matters. Some are more legible than others. The rainbow globes here are garbage (compared to the diverging blue/red), but the rainbow palette used in the ocean currents map is doing a good job, even if I hate it!

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

They make it difficult to see larger regions or trends (like the cool or warm regions in your 2nd example). They make reading the map for contextual information more difficult (see how hard it is to spot Hawaii in 1st vs 2nd image). Rainbows are for unicorns!

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

And you can augment it with gradients as well, the fog map uses stipples to represent fog flow and the main fog bank by just creating gradient areas in PS.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Good shaded relief is usually a big layer stack! I don't do this much anymore, because of time involved. There's usually the initial SR, the hypso layer, a texture layer, maybe a hue-shift layer for highlights and shadows (blue/gold). Then that gets layered into the AI file w a bunch of other stuff!

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Counterpoint. Eduard or Stipples? :P

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

If vibe-coding is ok to turn in as real work then so is "vibe" writing a 30 page essay on english lit or "vibe" creating a pop art collage for art class. 🙄

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

It takes up to 3 days, 7 or more emails, and over 700 words to get Esri to reset an orphaned offline user license. Something that an admin should be able to do in 5 minutes. How much does that process cost Esri in wages vs the very unlikely chance they are getting played for a free copy of Pro?

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Gas prices are getting out of control around here.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Drinking 80% of your first cocktail then touching it up with 20% of a new cocktail does not count as a second drink! #thenewmath

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

#gischat This IG ad for a Udemy GIS course looks just like my "don't let the GIS app make the map for you" slide from my cartography lecture! :P

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The Southern Ocean would like to have a word.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

I refuse (refuse!) to use chopsticks that pull this shit on me! You go to hell shitty chopstick.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

OMG, I was just looking at this stupid logo today thinking, WTF is this supposed to be! Also in the one that pops up for an ArcGIS Pro update routine, check out the left edge... its not even smooth! Who made this thing?

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

This map image popped up in my Pinterest feed yesterday, from an old Medium article on Gyres apparently. Neat for it's total lack of any other feature besides currents and yet it still draws a pretty legible map of most of the world. #gischat

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

This the kind of thing I'm guessing he might have have in his mouth...

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Traffic circles are apparently an intelligence test and a LOT of you are failing!

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Skull N arrow, for treasure maps!

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

#gischat anyone familiar with this project? usmaps.com There's not a lot of info in the About section, no data sources, no authors or cartographers listed.

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Ice list wiki QR because Meta keeps removing from it's platforms. Copy and spread as needed!

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

If a river is always flowing, is it even the same river all the time? www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...

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David Medeiros @mapbliss.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Simplified trail map of the Kalalau Trail. A grueling 11 mile (ea way) hike into the beautiful Kalalau Valley on my home island of Kauai. I made the full hike with some buddies ages ago, zero prep, all the wrong equipment, in one day, out the next morning (7-8 hours each way!). etsy.me/4pU5OdQ