Those of you that follow my social media pages during the month of November will of course be familiar with the 30 Day Map Challenge – a social media cartography challenge predominantly centered around Twitter. For each day of the month, there is a different theme or topic to map.
There are no requirements on how many maps are made – some people may just do a couple, while others might attempt to cover nearly all of the themes. Ever since doing my previous self-styled 7 Day Cartography Challenge back in 2017, I’ve enjoyed the concept of just sitting down and smashing an interesting map out. It’s a great way to avoid resting on one thing for too long, exposes me to new datasets and skills, and the results are pretty awesome too!
For this year’s 30 Day Map Challenge, I decided to see how far I could get, and here they all are! I hope you enjoy them – just expand the section to see the larger preview.
Day 1 (Points) - Fish and Chip Shops of Christchurch
Data: LINZ (CC-BY-4.0), Christchurch Fish and Chip Shop Reviews page, OpenStreetMap contributors
Day 2 (Lines) - Christchurch Coastal Shared Pathway
Also known as Te Ara Ihutai, a beautiful walk along the estuary on a sunny day!
Day 3 (Polygons) - South Island Pastoral Leases
This land includes some of New Zealand’s iconic high country scenery, and is cultural, environmentally, and economically significant.
Data: LINZ (CC-BY-4.0)
Day 4 (Hexagons) - The NZ Dairy Boom, 1994-2017
A map showing a hexagon grid of New Zealand, showing increases to dairy cattle between 1994 and 2017. High values are concentrated in Canterbury, Southland, Manawatu and Waikato.
Data: Ministry for the Environment, LINZ (CC-BY-4.0)
Day 5 (OpenStreetMap) - Hinewai Reserve
Hinewai Reserve is a 1250 ha ecological restoration project near Akaroa on Banks Peninsula.
Data: OpenStreetMap Contributors
Day 6 (Red) - New Zealand's Coastal Sea Surface Temperature Trend
A map of coastal sea surface temperature trend changes between 2002 and 2018. Areas near Westport experienced the highest change, while the Eastern Coast of the North Island experienced the lowest.
Data: Stats NZ, NIWA (CC-BY-4.0)
Day 7 (Green) - Abel Tasman National Park Cross Stitch
A map of Abel Tasman National Park showing hut locations and tracks.
Data: OpenStreetMap Contributors, DOC, LINZ (CC-BY-4.0).
Style by John Nelson.
Day 8 (Blue) + Day 9 (Monochrome) - Doctor Who Locations
A blue map of England and Wales, showing the counts of locations that have been featured in the TV show Doctor Who. There are large labeled clusters shown in London and Cardiff.
Data: OpenStreetMap Contributors, DoctorWhoLocations.net
Day 10 (Raster) - Golden Bay and Farewell Spit
Golden Bay and Farewell Spit, shown here in LINZ’s awesome 10m satellite imagery.
Data: LINZ (CC-BY-4.0)
Day 11 (3D) - What's In a City? 3D Edition Story Map [Interactive]
I’ve remastered my ‘What’s in a City?’ interactive Story Map with shiny 3D visuals, letting you soar around the Christchurch CBD!
View it here
Day 12 (Population) - The Great Kererū Count 2021
A map of Kererū observations across New Zealand as recorded in the Great Kererū Count 2021 survey.
Data: The Great Kererū Count
Day 13 (Natural Earth) - Global Methane Emissions Per Capita [Interactive]
Venturing back towards interactive maps, here’s a web map of Global Methane emissions per capita, created using Natural Earth and OWID country data.
View it here
Data: Our World in Data, Natural Earth.
Day 14 (Map with New Tool) - Christchurch Cycle Commute Patterns [Interactive]
Venturing back towards interactive maps, here’s a web map of Global Methane emissions per capita, created using Natural Earth and OWID country data.
View it here
Data: Our World in Data, Natural Earth.
Day 15 (Map without a Computer) - Swallows & Amazons
My cartography skills are pretty firmly anchored in the digital realm, but here’s my attempt at a hand-drawn reproduction of the map from the classic children’s book Swallows & Amazons.
Day 16 (Urban) + Day 17 (Land) - Christchurch Cycleway Network by Land Use
Christchurch’s Major Cycleway Network, shown by land-use zone within 500m of all the completed and planned major cycle routes.
Data: ECAN / Canterbury Maps, OpenStreetMap Contributors.
Day 18 (Water) + Day 19 (Islands) - Matiu / Somes Island
Matiu / Somes Island, found in Wellington Harbour
Data: FENZ, LINZ (CC-BY-4.0)
Day 20 (Movement) - Antarctic Iceberg Tracks
Dating back to the 1970’s.
Data derived from “The Antarctic Iceberg Tracking Database” by Jeff Budge and David G. Long, of Brigham Young University – via John Nelson / Esri.
Antarctic topography from RENA, Natural Earth.
Day 21 (Elevation) - Taranaki Maunga
Testing out a different style of relief hillshading.
Data: LINZ (CC-BY-4.0), adapted from a style by John Nelson.
Day 22 (Boundaries) - In a Box [Interactive]
Data: Stats NZ (CC-BY-4.0), Natural Earth.
Day 23 (GHSL Dataset) - The Nile Delta
The Nile River Delta, Egypt – what pattern of human settlement looks cooler than this?
Data: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL), Natural Earth
Day 24 (Historical) - Gold Mining Operations
This one was a bit of fun to do, throwing some gold nuggets around the map!
Note: there are some inaccuracies on the map (which was made in a hurry!)
Data: NZPAM
Day 26 (Choropleth) + Day 27 (Heatmap) - Dairy, Sheep + Beef, or Both?
A 3D perspective map showing concentrations of livestock across New Zealand. The colours distinguish between areas with just dairy, just sheep+beef farming and areas with both.
Data: Ministry for the Environment (CC-BY-4.0)
Day 28 (Not Flat) - Te Aō | The World Dymaxion Map
The globe may not be flat, but why not make it a 20 sided icosahedron instead? Download and cut out this map of Te Reo continent names and build your own.
Day 29 (NULL / No Data) - NZ Rainbow Community, 2018 Census
There was no representation of New Zealand’s Rainbow Community in the 2018 census – meaning that it is difficult to find data to help target much-needed healthcare and support services to this often underlooked part of society.
Data: LINZ (CC-BY-4.0)
