15 Years of Sparkgeo: Maps, Adventure, and Endurance

Sparkgeo Team September 13, 2025
Sparkgeo team standing on a ski lodge deck together in a group photo, celebrating 15 years

This year, Sparkgeo turned 15. To celebrate, our annual meet up was held in Prince George, British Columbia, the place where it all began in 2010. As a remote team, face-to-face time matters, and it’s especially important that the things we do together are fun. This year was a chance to reflect on our roots while also embracing new experiences together.

Roots in Wild Places

Our founder, Will Cadell, built a life in Prince George with his wife after they moved from Scotland to Canada. In this small northern city, it’s possible to ski, run, and bike in wild places right from your front door, while still staying connected to the global technology market. With Pacific time zone convenience, a small airport, and a short hop to Vancouver’s international connections, Prince George became the perfect launch point for Sparkgeo’s global reach.

Sparkgeo began with a simple idea: put maps on the internet. It was clear that the web would transform how mapping products were delivered. Google had just launched their Maps API, and the world was beginning to see the possibilities of location-driven technology. That was when Sparkgeo started building maps for the internet. To a large extent, that’s still what we do today.

Over 15 years, Sparkgeo has grown from a single person into a team of 38 employees. We have evolved from a handful of mappers into a company with deep specializations in geospatial technology and the capabilities to put it into action. What’s remained constant is our philosophy: services are an endurance sport, and geospatial will change everything.

That means we build for the long game. We look after ourselves and each other, and we hire people who want both the flexibility of remote work and the responsibility of delivering high-impact results. We deeply value adventure, curiosity, and the belief that great teams can figure out things that once seemed impossible.

“Building teams of excellent individuals to deliver meaningful, unexpected, and even groundbreaking work is the greatest honour of these past 15 years.” – Will

Culture in Color

Culture has always been the heartbeat of Sparkgeo. As a remote-first team, our annual meetup isn’t just about work; it’s a chance to come together, grow connections share experiences and embrace the curiosity and adventure that define us. This year, Prince George was no exception. We packed our week full of fun experiences.

We nerded out, testing our skills and teamwork with a Battle Snake competition.
We tried our hand at biathlon with professional coaches, discovering it’s harder than it looks, and even more fun than expected.
We explored nature on walks, hikes, and runs, spotting unique mushrooms and even crossing paths with a black bear.
We mixed in some play with indoor climbing, disc golf, laser tag, and zombie VR, balancing competition with plenty of laughter.
Evenings were just as memorable. We played board games, had great conversations, and closed out the meetup with spooky AI-generated campfire stories that had everyone in stitches. It was the kind of gathering that reminded us Sparkgeo isn’t just a workplace, it’s a team that genuinely enjoys being together.
Looping animation of the Sparkgeo custom emoji library in Slack.
The sense of connection runs deep in our everyday culture, too. Case in point: there are 514 custom emojis in our Slack workspace. They may seem small, but they capture the creativity, humour, and shared identity that fuel our remote team. It was summed up perfectly in our Sparkmoji presentation: “little graphics, big culture.”
Looping animation of the Sparkgeo custom emoji library in Slack.
The sense of connection runs deep in our everyday culture, too. Case in point: there are 514 custom emojis in our Slack workspace. They may seem small, but they capture the creativity, humour, and shared identity that fuel our remote team. It was summed up perfectly in our Sparkmoji presentation: “little graphics, big culture.”
Looping animation of the Sparkgeo custom emoji library in Slack.
The sense of connection runs deep in our everyday culture, too. Case in point: there are 514 custom emojis in our Slack workspace. They may seem small, but they capture the creativity, humour, and shared identity that fuel our remote team. It was summed up perfectly in our Sparkmoji presentation: “little graphics, big culture.”

Looking Ahead

From 2010 to today, Sparkgeo has always been driven by its mission to put maps on the internet. Along the way, we’ve built much more than a company. We’ve built a community rooted in connection, collaboration, and curiosity.

Fifteen years marks a proud milestone, but it’s also just a checkpoint. Geospatial technology keeps evolving and so will we. Together with the people who make Sparkgeo what it is, we’ll keep pushing boundaries and exploring new possibilities.

Here’s to the next 15 years maps, exploration and enjoying the journey together.