Daniel Huffman Leads Mapping Workshop in Alaska

UW Cartography Lab’s Cartographer in Residence Daniel Huffman

While cartographers usually experience the world through their computer screens, sometimes they are lucky enough to have their work take them outside the office. In June, Daniel P. Huffman, the UW Cartography Lab’s Cartographer in Residence, traveled to Anchorage to conduct a three-day mapping workshop for the team at Audubon Alaska.

Condensing down some of the main themes he teaches in GEOG370: Introduction to Cartography, Daniel provided a crash course in both mapping theory (such as typography and color) and practice (producing maps with Adobe Illustrator). Audubon Alaska employees were joined by colleagues from the Alaska office of The Nature Conservancy. By the end of the course everyone had produced a basic reference map in Illustrator, and they were eager to put their skills to work on their own projects. These organizations create and use maps constantly for public outreach and science communication, and everyone in attendance recognized that growing their cartographic skills meant that their work would have a bigger impact.

Daniel hopes to return again to Alaska to conduct more workshops, and to keep helping scientists develop better and better cartographic skills.

Author: Geography Staff

Leave a Reply