iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Lake Michigan! Live! @lake-michigan.live · 29/09/2026

Current* conditions near Fish Creek, WI:

NE view from the end of the Fish Creek public dock overlooking Fish Creek Harbor on Lake Michigan. // Image captured at (local time): 2026-09-29 07:36:12 CDT (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Image sourced from: youtube.com/@FishCreekMarina // Current Temp in Fish Creek: 56 F | 13 C // Precip: overcast clouds // Wind: N at 0 mph | 0 kph // Humidity: 94%

0233

Reposted by Jen Mapes

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I just went downstairs, walked three minutes to a boulangerie, and got a warm baguette. Tell me again why 15-minute cities are bad.

331308102

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Nostalgic for maps like this that were clearly not made by AI. Nothing fancy. Meets map goals✅ Attuned to map audience ✅

Amazing map showing the park in Barberton for their mum festival, using basic shape tools for the park and lake, comic-sans adjacent font, clip art and perhaps best of all a bald eagle and American flag.

0111

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Vanessa KW (she/they) 📍 DC @run-for-funner.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

💥 We are BACK!!! 💥 Come join the official #CreativeCarto relaun this Sunday at 5pm EST, now with me plus 3 other hosts: @alyolli.bsky.social , @sarahbell.bsky.social , and @vickyjohnsondahl.bsky.social 💓💓 creativecarto.github.io #cartography #cartographer #gis #geospatial

11612

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I'm quoted in this SF Chronicle article about a planned housing devnt in Brisbane, a suburb of SF. The first thing I said to the reporter was "happy to talk to you but it's not a small town." A really fascinating case of how the *idea* small towns flavors development even in the largest cities.

141

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Little free library inside the bus station is a great idea.

Bus shaped little free library with books piled on top.

091

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Richard Delevan @richard.wickedproblems.earth · 23/09/2026

Really good Bloomberg package on the AI data centre impact on urban heat island effects in the US, with exhaust heat raising temps up to 4ºF (2.25ºC) higher up to 1/3 mile away from the data centre. One more driver to 70% US opposition to data centres. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

39946

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

While they're not on Bluesky, shout out to the Osher Map Library - ran into a friend of a friend who is far outside academia. She said she visited the library on vacation and they invited her to join them for lunch and a grad student talk and she loved it. This is how we do it! Kindness is so easy.

060

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Cartonaut @cartonaut.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Why are there so many Maps done in rainbows? 🌈 What do the symbolize? Rainbows are color ramps With scales that are extreme Purple means you're gonna die. Someday we'll find it The rainbow projection To break our addled minds...

static.klipy.com

Kermit The Frog: Someday We'll Find It

ALT: Kermit The Frog: Someday We'll Find It

061

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Powerful use of a GIF map here.

161

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Middle of nowhere, Northern CA, but check out that bus stop.

120

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Does this romaniticize the walking communte? Sure. Is it not that far from my commute, past neighbors and birds and the city waking up? Also, yes.

100

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Akron's added some really nice bike (+boating) infrastructure to Summit Lake. Once a disposal site for the rubber industry, he lake was an environmental justice disaster but is on the upswing. We came here to do some miles on the towpath: herons everywhere. www.akronciviccommons.org/summit-lake

Great blue heron looking out over Summit Lake from the biking boardwalk after a rainstorm.

162

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I've made many maps, but showing redistricting options for city wards is a huge cartographic challenge. To show current ward and previous ward=up to 10 colors. Who may change wards? Why were they moved? Zoomed in to find their homes; zoomed out to see landmarks. Etc. & x 5 map options.

Map labeled Map E with a QR code linking to an online map. Explanatory text: Ward 1 & 4 need more people, Ward 2 & 3 need fewer people. Map E moves people from Ward 3 to Ward 1&4. Then, next to detail maps: these blocks would move from Ward 3 to Ward 1; these blocks would move from Ward 3 to Ward 4; Map E also moves people from Ward 2 to Ward 4.

130

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

As part of this project I was bequeathed these documents showing several projects we never built including a mall, a parking lot where the historic train depot (still) is and a brutalist elevated skyway at the main intersection in town!

pile of planning documents from the 60s and 70s

Drawing showing a parking lot next to the river, a local would notice that the historic train depot is no longer there.

A 70s-era cement-style building with elevated walkways looms in front of the city's historic mill at the main intersection in town.

A plastic overlay on an aerial image shows the plan for a mall on a wetland as well as a cloverleaf intersection. Neither were ever built, thankfully.

020

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Nothing makes you realize the kids are alright more than sitting & talking with a couple dozen of them for a couple hours at office hours. It would be great if the Ranting Pundits convinced that they know What Is Wrong With Higher Education could meet these students full of great questions & ideas.

325728

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Today's near miss was driver turning right into the McDonald's as children were headed to the adjacent school. A kid on a skateboard was inches from being hit. My kid was right behind him on bike. When they expanded this McDonald's the city made the st one way but let them keep this side entrance.

One way street with elementary school with crosswalk going to McDonald's. Pretty sure that striped crosswalk is faded or gone now.

220

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Elisabeth @affabletoaster.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

#KidicalMassHfx And to the twit who got mad that we were “bringing the kids into [our] agenda,” behold, the kids’ agenda:

An elementary-age girl is riding her bike in the centre of the lane, with her left fist proudly and powerfully raised over her head. She is wearing a black tutu, teal helmet, and probably high heels. A stuffed penguin is in a doll seat on the back of her bike. She is plainly thrilled.

1828746

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Working with a retired architect on a Tap Talk about “things Kent planned but never built” & frequently we were better for it. We fought off plans to build a mall adjacent to the bog, twice & its absence left room to build mixed use downtown when that came (back) into style.

050

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

"The question, then, is not whether Americans will forget parts of 9/11. They will. The more interesting question is what remains after that forgetting takes place." A question also for Kent State & other sites of tragedy- perhaps shared humanity is an answer for us, too. @spaceforpeace.bsky.social

061

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Seeing this a lot as I study impact of school closures & consolidation on mobility. Schools eliminate neighborhood schools -> more need for busing. One mom was worried about her kid having to wait because he was...recovering from being hit by a car while walking. www.wkbn.com/news/local-n...

wkbn.com

Youngstown City Schools, families search for answers amid busing issues

Some Youngstown families say they’re dealing with transportation problems at the start of the school year, and they’re looking for answers.

022

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

As if trunk or treat wasn't bad enough, now we're just doing "fall festivals" in parking lots centered around cars.

Let us know if you can make it! RSVP (with AI-created emphasis) What's the Same: We will still utilize vehicles to decorate. Vendors will still have an activity/prize. What's different: The name of the event, earlier in the season, students don't need to dress up.

020

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Elle @biknmusicmama.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Important to note that the latter picture represents hundreds of thousands of fewer kids developing asthma and respiratory problems; fewer heart attacks, less cancer, less dementia.

0185

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

This is 💯the correct headline not “could be deadly” but rather if exposed & don’t get shots *you will die*

041

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Obsessing a bit about this dangerous bridge between a playground and an ice cream shop that dumps out onto a major road (rt 322) with no sidewalk/shoulder/crosswalk that I saw in Philipsburg PA.

decorative metal bridge crosses a gully to a gate on a white picket fence around a playground. Bridge ends in a road with no shoulder or crosswalk or sidewalk.

zoomed out view of two lane road with middle turning lane on one side is an ice cream restaurant and the other a playground with a bridge connecting the two but no shoulder or crosswalk

160

Reposted by Jen Mapes

every usps @everylot-usps.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

CUBA: 309 BAIRD ST, CUBA KS 66940-9998

0143

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I just found out that my advisor's daughter is an amazing journalist doing work like this series on restoration.

020

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Loved this talk about using paper circuits to draw students into geography at NACIS! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wslo... Now you can read more in CP.

youtube.com

Maps That Glow: Teaching with Paper Circuits - Theresa Quill, Leanne Nay

YouTube video by NACIS

041

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Lesson learned. When you tell your fifth grader not to bike while wearing a long jacket *also* tell them not to tie it around their waist. Kid is banged up but ok. Bike is in bike hospital. Handmade jacket is not recoverable. Could have been much worse.

Long silky lilac fabric caught in a disc brake

250

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Peter Flax @pflax1.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The act of riding a bicycle is undeniably simple but also a radical thing. People who ride for transit KNOW that there are many trips that simply don't require a costly, dangerous motor vehicle to be done. And they know if more people realized the same, their community and the world would be better.

822236

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

This seems an unnecessarily elaborate method for teaching fifth graders state names.

000

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

In my own small town I found that car drop off reduced perceived safety of walking/biking to school resulting in more car drop offs, resulting in less walking and so on….

3204

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I appreciate this scientific* approach to drawing fantasy maps! I just bought this collection of Photoshop brushes for a fun NACIS conference activity. (*I'm a geographer not geologist=cannot vouch for 100% accuracy) www.mapeffects.co/tutorials/mo...

mapeffects.co

How to Place Mountains on a Fantasy Map | Map Effects — Map Effects

Learn where to place mountains on a fantasy map using simple principles for tectonic, ancient, and volcanic ranges. Plus practical tips for creating natural-looking mountain systems on your maps.

0130

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I recently revisited a 5 yr-old restoration project in the woods where I spent my childhood. The woods are gone, bulldozed and replaced by sand plain, what would have been there without human intervention. It's meant to be habitat for the endangered karner blue butterfly. 183 acres of it.

A blackberry push begins to grow on the chipped wood trail that runs through the preserve.

A field sparrow among the August flowers and grasses in the preserve.

An orange butterfly surrounded by grasses and sand in the preserve.

Goldenrod in the foreground of a photo of the sparsely-treed preserve.

1110

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 01/07/2026

NEW BLOG FOR YOU Google's energy consumption numbers in their new climate report are mind-blowing. 2 years ago they flipped from linear to exponential growth, and their climate impact is blowing out, too. A WILD testament to the obscene bloat and waste of GenAI: ketanjoshi.co/2026/07/01/g...

a chart showing google's rising energy consumption - huge, and rising faster than ever before

Google's total energy consumption more than new zealand

4426571470

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Also loved these signs! I was sure it was some local controversy, but no! It was an ad for a community movie party! 80s music + Ferris Buller's Day Off.

Sign saying in large letters "Save Ferris" with a date and time, in smaller print explains movie/80s theme.

060

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Saw some smart placemaking in Auburn NY today. Saturday art market, the local tourism folks were there giving away free homemade lemonade. They’d rented portable mini golf. Just inside the visitor center (Equal Rights Heritage Center) is this blackboard map where they can update events for sites.

Map of the city with locations marked and events for each location added by hand.

Miniature golf holes with hinges so they’re potable.

060

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

If there’s a tool that lets me “write” 10 articles a year instead of 1 without any change in my life, let me say: I have zero interest in that Since it’d obviously ramp up “productivity” talk, further perverting an area of life where volume is not an end in itself, I’d avoid it on that ground alone

511410

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Enjoying everyone’s garden pictures! So here’s mine — 14 years of slowly retaking this space that had been filled with gravel and sickly grass.

A front yard garden built with bricks and multiple levels, black eyed susans are the highlight. Flags for Good rainbow Ohio flag on the front porch.

Back yard strawberries and tomatoes in raised beds.

Green beans climb string up the side of a house.

A monarch flies in a sea of purple coneflowers and a green & blue & white City of Kent flag.

091

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Meanwhile, out in the world. Like, it *could* just be a unique map projection?? But I do not know what would produce this truncated Lake Erie

AI-generated poster about the new truck ferry that will carry cargo from Cleveland Ohio to Wheatly Ontario, with a map showing each point. The map puts north to the left and shrinks the western half of Lake Erie into a very small area, enlarging Sandusky Bay in the process. A facebook user asks "what kind of map is this?" The title of the map is Across the Lake Beyond the Borders and it includes three AI-esque icons indicating that it is a new trade route that is faster and reliable and a sustainable solution.

100

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The NACIS schedule is out! Particularly excited about our panel on the fantasy maps of Karen Wynn Fonstad. She was highlighted in the NYT series of overlooked obituaries although they annoyingly refers to her as a "novice cartographer" when she in fact was an expert. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/o...

nytimes.com

Overlooked No More: Karen Wynn Fonstad, Who Mapped Tolkien’s Middle-earth (Gift Article)

She was a novice cartographer who landed a dream assignment: to create an atlas of the setting of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

1329

Reposted by Jen Mapes

NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Funded Masters of Arts (Island Studies) position University of Prince Edward Island “Island Metabolisms and the Genesis of the Canadian Agri‑Food System" Supervisor - @joshmacfadyen.bsky.social , Director of the UPEI GeoREACH Lab niche-canada.org/2026/07/24/f... #envhist #aghist #PEI

niche-canada.org

Funded Masters of Arts (Island Studies) position University of Prince Edward Island

Funded Masters of Arts (Island Studies) position studying “Island Metabolisms and the Genesis of the Canadian Agri‑Food System.”

01410

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Following @everyheron.bsky.social really brightens my feed ❤️

000

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Tom Phillips @tom-phillips.com · 31/07/2026

it absolutely feels like an instruction went round to every division going "you must integrate this tech, this is a big strategic priority" and nothing about that system let the Google Earth team go "uh but we definitely shouldn't, right"

0302

Jen Mapes @mapesgeog.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Ok, I know #northisasocialconstruct but please let's put north as up in shelter in place maps. (I've been to the ER there enough to know that north is to the left here, I'm guessing it was someone's phone map screenshot)

map showing a shelter in place radius near Summa Akron City Hospital from the city fire department alerting to a fire resulting in hazardous smoke.

020

Reposted by Jen Mapes

Daniel Huffman @pinakographos.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

The eagerness to share and learn is probably a big reason *why* they're some of the best mappers in the world.

071