consulting

Strategic Geospatial

Making a map may be a daily activity for many, but thinking about why we do something and whether that activity is fit for purpose differentiates those who are thinking strategically about what impact they are having.

Styling Lines with CartoCSS

A short example of CartoCSS class-based line rendering. CartoCSS is everywhere it seems. Well, it’s in Mapbox Studio and CartoDB, as well as whatever hand rolled option you choose. (However it is not geoserver CSS, though it looks somewhat similar). I used CartoCSS to render the below image. It’s a nordic ski map and has a […]

Technology is Great, but Invest in Data

I love technology. I get wowed by amazing new computing platforms, new technology experiences, new ideas about how to interact with machines and computers. I get thoroughly dazzled by how clever people are and how the right group of people can create the most amazing things. But technology is like the weather in Scotland; wait a […]

Scale in a Time of Web Maps

Scale has taken on a completely new meaning for me. In my training and early career, scale referred to a conversion measurement indicating a comparison between a measurement on a paper map and a measurement in the real world. The big ‘thing’ about GIS was that it was scale-less; you could zoom in as much […]

Better Web Maps with Map Analytics

Analytics are a great tool for monitoring and reporting on website traffic and user interactions. It is reasonablely expected that, as a web developer I will use analytics to better understand my users and deliver them with incrementally improving services and experiences. At Sparkgeo we build web maps. We have been doing this for half a […]

Just Listen

In consulting you really have only one thing: the ability to identify problems. Sure, you may be a UI rockstar or have some mad statistics skills, and perhaps thats why you think your clients call you. Without being able to tease out the real problem, however you will likely not satisfy your clients demands […]