Andrew Douglas-Clifford

Cartographer, Map Maker, Geospatial Analyst

Hey, thanks for stopping by!

I’m someone who loves to look at maps a lot, so naturally I love making them as well! GIS and cartography sit at the intersection of two areas I am passionate about: technology and geography. There’s nothing more satisfying than producing a great looking map that really gets across the spatial concepts that you are trying to communicate.

This is reflected in the attention to detail that I pay to my maps, and the enjoyment that I gain from projects that I’ve worked on in my own time. Some of these projects have provided me with the opportunity to share my work on a much wider scale, something that I am enormously grateful for.

I take pride in my work, and even greater pride in seeing the positive impact that it has on the world, no matter how great or small!

Biography

I started my career studying a Batchelor of Science in Geography, then a Masters in Geographic Information Science at the University of Canterbury. I undertook my research thesis into crowdsourced smartphone passenger feedback systems for public transport, which I completed in April 2017. For a while now I’ve enjoyed looking at and creating maps as a hobby (sometimes productively, sometimes as procrastination!).

I now work full-time as a Geospatial Consultant and professional, which takes the majority of my time. However, I continue to share my works on my website blog, Facebook page, and Twitter, and also sell my designs on my web store The Map Kiwi.

Recognition and Awards

Some of my more well-known work includes the New Zealand State Highway Metro Maps, which received wide national attention in May 2016 online and in the media. It won the New Zealand Cartographic Society’s People’s Choice Map Award, which was held at the biannual GeoCart Cartography conference located in Wellington at the end of August 2016. I was also a finalist in the 2016 Spatial Excellence Awards in the Undergraduate Category, and a recipient of the New Zealand ESRI User Group Postgraduate Scholarship 2016.

In 2018, I was nominated (again!) for the Student of the Year award, but was honoured to instead come away with the NZ Cartographic Society Award for Best Map Design at the New Zealand Spatial Excellence Awards.

I’ve had a number of other maps go viral on social media, including Nobody Lives Here (showing areas in New Zealand that are not inhabited), and my series of Te Reo Māori place name maps of Aotearoa New Zealand and the world.

In 2022, I was selected for inclusion in the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) book Atlas of Design, Volume 6, which showcases the best of cartography from around the world, with my map Murky Waters: Unmapped Areas of Seafloor.

In my capacity as a Geospatial Consultant at Tonkin + Taylor, I’ve had the privilege of working on projects with others such as Nelson Climate Adaptation, a story map for Nelson City Council’s public consultation on future coastal flooding risk. This project has been featured in the media and has won multiple awards, including Most Innovative use of Data for Storytelling in the 2022 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition, and a Highly Commended Award in the Community Impact Category at the Spatial Excellence Awards. It also won Best Digital Map at the GeoCart 2022 National Map Exhibition and was a finalist in the Eagle NZ StoryMaps competition.