Map Portfolio

Dynamic Maps

These maps are ones that I have produced either professionally or as a hobbyist using ESRI's ArcGIS Online platform with Dashbaords or the Experience Builder tools.

The Tennessee Comb Grave Tradition


I put this Experience together for Ric Finch, who researches comb graves. A "comb grave" is a burial that features a grave cover made, normally, of two rectangular slabs of stone leaned together to form a gable roof over the grave. The term "comb" signifies "the crest or ridge of a roof". It includes my photographs, a Survey123 form for submitting new comb graves, as well as an interactive map.

Tennessee Cave Survey 2023
This is my attempt to create an interesting dashboard for the Tennessee Cave Survey that provides detailed statistical information about described caves in the state without sharing location information.

Static Maps

All of these maps were produced using ArcMap 10.x, ArcGIS Pro, and/or Photoshop over the span of the last 15 years, or so. Some I am quite proud of, and others I have just used to benchmark my progress by. Like my interests, their subject matter is diverse.

Cave Maps
With the ultimate goal of having a cave density map of the USA I started producing these maps for state cave surveys back around 2007. While each state is working on its own data, and year by year improving it, I like to update these as resources for the caving community and the general public who may be interested in caves.

COVID-19 Maps
When COVID-19 happened, every data nerd and geospatial analyst was crunching the numbers that we could find. This is what I did for fun for the first few weeks of lockdown.

Drone Maps
A few photos of natural features with a scale bar and a north arrow.

Declared Disaster Maps
This is another COVID lockdown project. I mapped the modal disaster type for each county in the contiguous United States. A few versions of the map are here.

Graphical Maps
More graphic design than map. These are just artsy projects which I thought would be fun to include.

Historic Maps
Imaging of historic maps (that I didn't make), and layovers of historic maps with modern data.

Marketing Maps
Maps made for clients.

Public Land Maps
Maps of public lands.

Tennessee Maps
Maps of Tennessee.

Thematic Maps
Maps with thematic elements (that's all of them, right?).

Trail Maps
Maps of trails that I've hiked.

USA Maps
Maps of the USA.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Missing People Map

Image
Sometime around middle to late November of 2019, I started getting tagged in posts on Reddit and Facebook where a map purported to show a correlation between missing person cases and caves. The two maps in question were of terrible quality in both content and image quality (so very much JPG compression). Somehow these maps managed to capture the public's attention for several weeks. In fact, more than two months later I am still being asked questions about the map. What follows is a critical analysis of the maps from both a cartographer's perspective, as well as a caver's. Origin Where did each image come from that comprised the map? The top image is titled " North America Cluster Map " and is produced by the Canam Missing Project / Missing 411. I cannot comment on the methods used to produce the map since they aren't stated. For this reason I am immediately suspect that this is conveying real information. I'll touch on why the form of this ma...
Read more

Sandstone Boxwork

Image
Photo credit: Brian Solomon / @waterfall_hillbilly Photo credit: Bryan Melton Sandstone boxwork is a unusual phenomenon that we see on the margins of the Cumberland Plateau. There are three things that must happen first to produce boxwork. Jointing Mineralization Weathering Jointing Produced in a parent rock of sandstone, this type of boxwork originates as small joints which run in a box shape. The origins of these joints could be from frost wedging - where water in the rock freezes and cracks the rock, or it could unloading pressure from the rock de-watering, or it could be from some other physical process. The origins of the boxwork joints are still a bit of a mystery. If the following steps occur without previous jointing then one gets Liesegang Rings. Mineralization The joints become a place of preferential mineralization. Groundwater loaded with iron minerals moves through the pores of the sandstone. Where it finds a void, like...
Read more

Jungle Book Film (1994) and the Upper Cumberland

Image
Table of Contents The Story David Starnes's Photos April Moore's Photos Watch Guide for Locals THE STORY BEHIND WALT DISNEY'S DECISION TO FILM RUDYARD KIPLING'S JUNGLE BOOK MOVIE AT LOST CREEK CAVE AND WATERFALL A PERSONAL RECOLLECTION BY DAVID STARNES RETIRED PRINCIPAL PLANNER LOCAL PLANNING ASSISTANCE OFFICE TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT I was employed by the State of Tennessee as a community planner from October 1990 to August 2011. The Local Planning Assistance Office of the Upper Cumberland region was based in Cookeville. Our agency was in the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, which also included the Tennessee Film Commission. Occasionally, different agencies would meet to explain their role in fostering economic growth in the state, and this was how my love for caving became entwined in the 1994 Walt Disney live-actio...
Read more