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Mapping for a Sustainable World

About

Mapping for a Sustainable World is an open access cartography book teaching the principles of cartography through the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Formed in 2015 as an extension of the 2000 Millenial Goals, the United Nations identified 17 goals in an effort to address, collectively, the most pressing problems facing our world. Mapping for a Sustainable World includes four sections and 51 chapters on the SDGs and geospatial data, map design considerations, maps and diagrams, and map use environments. The book has an editorial team comprising writers from the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the Geospatial Information Section of the United Nations (UN). Editorial members include Menno-Jan Kraak (ICA), Robert E. Roth (ICA), Britta Ricker (ICA), Ayako Kagawa (UN), and Guillaume Le Sourd (UN).

Cite/Attribute as:

Kraak MJ, RE Roth, B Ricker, A Kagawa, and G Le Sourd. 2020. Mapping for a Sustainable World. United Nations: New York, NY.

The University of Wisconsin Cartography Lab supported creation of the book layout and all maps and graphics through National Science Foundation CAREER Grant #1555267. The book and all included maps and graphics are available as open access materials through a CC BY-NC license.

Download the Book for Free (74MB)

Figure Data & Design Archive

This repo archives UW Cart Lab data and design materials for the book as part of the open educational resource. Data were downloaded from the United Nations SDG Indicators Database, which is continuously updated and maintained. Archived datasets reflect the version used for figures in Mapping for a Sustainable World to enable their exact replication from the book.

The UW Cart Lab also provides the Mapping for a Sustainable World: QGIS Technical Supplement to walkthrough how to recreate these figures using the QGIS open source mapping software. All archived materials, including the QGIS Supplement and contents of the Mapping for a Sustainable World cartography book, are available for classroom or workshop use following a CC BY-NC license.

QGIS Tutorials

These tutorials pair with the open-source book Mapping for a Sustainable World. The book teaches principles of cartography through the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Mapping for a Sustainable World was developed as a collaboration between the United Nations and the International Cartographic Association with the University of Wisconsin Cartography Lab supporting creation of the book layout and all maps and graphics through National Science Foundation CAREER Grant #1555267.

All tutorials demonstrate map design using the open access mapping software QGIS. Thus, the objective of these tutorials is to enhance the cartographic design thinking described in Mapping for a Sustainable World with technical map software training, putting concepts into practice.

The tutorials were developed by Lily Houtman and Robert E. Roth of the University Wisconsin Cartography Lab under NSF #1555267 and are freely available for personal or classroom/workshop use following a CC BY-NC license.

Education