Author: Ricky Holzer
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This Popular Donut Chain has the Most Locations
Turns out there is truth in advertising and America does in fact run on Dunkin. Dunkin Donuts dominates other donut chains and has more locations in nearly every state. Both New York and Massachusetts have over 1,000 Dunkin Donuts locations. Krispy Kreme is more popular on the west coast. Of the states with more Krispy…
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7 Amazing Map Creators You Need to Check Out
With AI taking over the internet, it’s a struggle to find serious human creativity. Luckily, I’ve created this list to help you out in the map department. Some of these blogs I’ve followed for a long time, while some are recent discoveries. Whether you’re trying to improve your mapmaking skills or just enjoy looking at…
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Mapping Washington State Representative Districts
Election season is upon us! And if you’re like me, you might be wondering what district you live in and what area your representative covers. I made a series of maps in QGIS to answer that question for Washington and Seattle residents. Check out the maps below: If you enjoyed these maps, follow me on…
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Recreating a Historic Railroad Map of Washington in QGIS
One bar I frequent has old maps under the glass tabletops in each of the booths. I’ve spent quite a lot of time staring at the map pictured below, and decided I wanted to try to recreate its old-timey style. Despite its beauty and charm, however, I do not think this is a well designed…
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Visualizing the Barrier Effect of Roads in Seattle Using BlenderGIS
I was inspired by Mapbox designer Topi Tjukanov’s 3D map called “Barrier Effect” that tries to illustrate the dividing effect roads can have on cities. Pedestrian accessibility is something I am passionate about, so I wanted to see what his concept would look like in my own city of Seattle. To get started, I downloaded…
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Mapping Trekking Routes in Nepal’s Langtang National Park Using QGIS
This past January I had the pleasure of visiting Nepal and trekking through the Langtang Valley, a wonderfully scenic place tucked away in a remote corner of the Himalayas. As is now required by law, I hired a guide to navigate the backcountry trails. After a bumpy ride in a packed SUV over some of…
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Elevation Profile of Parcel for New Home
A client wanted to quickly know elevation details for a parcel to build a custom home. He was unable to visit the site himself and did not want to spend the money for a survey crew. Within a few hours, I was able to show him the site had many steep slopes and was not…
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Due Diligence for Car Wash Locations
A client had identified several cities where he wanted to expand his car wash franchise. He needed maps and data to present to investors to demonstrate the viability of the sites he selected. In addition to standard demographic information, I provided extra information related to vehicle ownership and traffic given the business’s focus on cars.…
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Site Selection for New Seattle Business
A client approached me wanting to know the best location for his new business. He hoped to be able to present a map and data to investors to justify his site selection and potential revenue. His goal was to identify areas within Seattle city limits that 1) had sufficiently high household income to support his…
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How to Map Your Phone Contacts by Area Code
I was looking for map inspiration when I stumbled across an atlas of projects on Daniel Huffman’s blog, somethingaboutmaps. His map of his contacts by area code seemed like a fun and easy exercise to repeat. Data Acquisition The hardest part of this map (like most GIS projects) was finding and preparing the necessary data.…