I'm making a map of Cleveland, Ohio, and I thought I had bad data because of a long wobbly border between Cleveland and Shaker Heights. Turns out, Cleveland just has a very jagged boundary.

Good morning from Seattle, where the vibe has a dose of joy today 💙💚

I have a serious shoulder injury & see a renowned specialist tomorrow at 7:30am. Rather than brave Seattle morning rush hour, I drove down tonight and am watching the Super Bowl alone in a hotel. 💙💚 Go HAWKS 💚💙 (And good vibes to the shoulder so I can climb again!)

Yesss! I changed symbolization from opacity to hue & built a palette that leans into moody sunset tones. Opacity wasn't delivering the drama of solstice extremes. Hue gives the emotional weight it deserves. I’m enjoying how this prototype is coming together. Daylight Hours over span of 1 year.

My eagerness for mapmaking surpasses my patience. Here's an early look at my proof-of-concept animation showing daylight hours per each 5-deg latitude band over the span of one year. Built with ArcGIS Pro, python, Maps for Adobe, Illustrator, After Effects, JavaScript/TS. 1/

Happy Winter Solstice Eve! Cheers to brighter days ahead ❄️ Photo: Liberty Bell Mountain group, North Cascades.

#30DayMapChallenge Day 28: Black. Finalized in After Effects, the planet in dark tones with the world's tectonic plate boundaries slightly animating. Started w/ ArcGIS Pro and Illustrator. My video was too large for Bluesky, so here's the instagram version. 🌎 www.instagram.com/reel/DRncTuB...

i’m not crying you’re crying xkcd: Fifteen Years

#30DayMapChallenge Day 22: Natural Earth data. Made in Pro & Illustrator. Lighting drawn in vector artwork in Illustrator.

#30DayMapChallenge Day 19: Projections Equal Earth and web Mercator, both aligned at 0, 0.

#30daymapchallenge Day 16: Cell 🗺️

I see deer almost every morning walk, but this beautiful buck was extraordinary today. Gorgeous.

#30daymapchallenge Day 4. My Data One year ago today we said goodbye to Jasperdog. I drew this hillshade of Goat Mtn in memory of a special hike w/my pup. I plan to complete the map soon. The other photo is the actual hike. One year and still missing him so much 🐾

#30DayMapChallenge Day 3: Polygons Not a lot of time for this one today. Mexico and surrounding geography with an early mid-century modern twist. 🌎

Serendipitously, I flew from east coast time zone to the pacific on the eve of setting our clocks back. I landed at 3:00am body clock time. That extra hour of sleep was wonderful. Kentucky was fantastic! Cartography conference, climbing, hanging w friends & working. Glad to be back in the PNW 🌲

#30DayMapChallenge “Points” I chose to map this pene-exclave using a modified antique style. Point Roberts is a small community only accessible via the water or by driving through Canada (twice if you’re coming from the US!) I enjoy that our little exclave is nestled by our 🇨🇦 neighbors.

I’m considering a blog post that nobody will read: A list of reasons that cartograms for US Elections are not my thing. I understand why some folks like them, but nevertheless, I intentionally avoid them.

Portland, Oregon is beautiful.

Tonight’s sunset over Bellingham Bay from the front porch. It’s setting so far south now as the days get increasingly shorter.

It sounds cliche, but it is true. Every time I mentor a budding geo-spatial person, I walk away inspired and hopeful for our future.

I’m dog sitting Pip this week, and it would be rude not to share this cute face 🥹

Went rock climbing in the North Cascades National Park this weekend and caught this shot 📸 of Joe on a beautiful 5.13a that I’m quite happy with.

This time, rock climbing brings me to Utah. Momentary WiFi allows me to share this stunning sunset. Back into the wilderness again tomorrow where I’m grateful for the lack of cell service. 🧗

Sturgeon Moon tonight. Spectacular.

My BellTopo Sans font in the wild (Reuters). I love that it’s for a piece on public lands protections. Thanks for the heads-up @moriartymaps.com This is a stunning scrollymap. You can download the font for free at sarahbellmaps.com

In my world, map is a verb.

I'm off to #Canada 🍁 and I'm looking for #jobs! I'm looking for roles in BC/AB in or around #Vancouver / #Calgary / Canadian #Rockies / remote. Open to anything #GIS & #cartography. 11+ years experience across ArcGIS, QGIS, FME, Adobe, Blender… Please get in touch if you have any leads! #gischat

I rarely do animated maps in phases, because I let the flow state consume me (it’s quite enjoyable). This time however, I’m executing a phased vision for an animated map. This is a small section of the base of phase one.

More wildlife updates. Cougar track on top of another cougar track, both from the same cat. This creature walked all around the muddy trail we hiked yesterday. It’s a joy knowing the local ecosystem sustains these beautiful megafauna 🐱 it also left a territorial remnant (not pictured)

Bear sightings are the best. Came across this healthy gorgeous black bear in Skagit County, Washington state.

Fine but it’s still a word to me

New on the blog: "Planetfall," in which I go into great detail about making a fun map based upon a 1999 computer game. One of the most technically demanding projects of my career, for a very niche audience. somethingaboutmaps.wordpress.com/2025/05/20/p... #SMAC

Gosh dataviz is fun! Definitely my favorite bar chart I've gotten to make in a while. I'll certainly be reusing these colors. Each state ranked by voter turnout & change (+/-) in turnout from 2024-2024. sarahbellmaps.com/2025/2024-vo... #datavisualization

Obviously an honor to have Daniel Huffman use my font, but seriously excited to see the finished map 😍

As @vickyjohnsondahl.bsky.social says, pick the window seat. Especially when flying into SeaTac. Mount Rainier peaking above low clouds on my flight home.

I’m heading home after an eventful and rewarding week at Esri headquarters with my fantastic team. 🛫 🌎

I'm pretty excited about the new font identification tool called "Retype" that is now a part of Adobe Illustrator. It identified the Elephant font correctly, but alas not my BellTopo Sans font.

In honor of International Crow & Raven Appreciation Day, I’ll share a story from my park ranger days. I was stationed at the North Cascades National Park visitor center in Newhalem, WA. My mom let me borrow her car for the summer. /1

Not fun: I had to get my comprehensive blood panel test today. Fun: The phlebotomist had a whiteboard that said, “Your Vampire Today is: Ed.”

Birds, flowers, & longer days make springtime the best! Here's a map I made a little while ago celebrating two tiny-but-mighty birds, the rufous and ruby throated hummingbirds. These beauties migrate between 2,000-4,000 miles every year. www.behance.net/gallery/1693...

A modern satellite view of Sebastopol & Heracles Peninsula, site of the most significant battles of the Crimean War, compared to a contemporary map. #30DayChartChallenge Day 6: Florence Nightingale

At first I read this to mean living in Seattle is hard, and I was like “yeah it’s pretty expensive, but it’s cool.”

If you open a file that originated in a non-Adobe Illustrator program, sometimes Illustrator does funny things to your label and text font tracking. Don't fret! Here's a handy simple workaround to get your text tracking back in a flash. bit.ly/4hSpKt2 #cartography

A week never felt so long - in the best way! Refreshed and ready to work after a week climbing Utah’s limestone (and a little sandstone too!) 🧗

Attn. Plant people of Utah, Arizona, Nevada: What is this beautiful plant called? I’m wrapping up a wonderful week of climbing around St. George. This particular plant is so lovely. We only found it growing on the walls we were climbing. Never on the ground. #plantbluesky

Happy #InternationalDayofForests My home in the PNW has forests ranging from dry ponderosa to temperate rainforests. I’m grateful for the public land that protects them. Do you have a favorite forest in your *neck of the woods*?

Maps are artistic scientific expressions, which is why I chose a career studying and making them. Here are some lemon-yellow Tissot's indicatrix brighten your day. Since all maps involve distortion, exploring these distortions can deepen your understanding of the map's subject. #datavisualization

Banana affirmation

Pie chart for Pi day. National parks include urban sites like the National Mall & wilderness parks like Yosemite. The wilderness parks play a vital role for in-tact ecosystems. 65.8% of NPS land is protected for biodiversity, allowing for us & future generations to to experience wild spaces.

My latest blog post focuses on two of my favorite things: Mapmaking & National Parks! Here's my preferred workflow for seamless collaboration between GIS & graphic design teams. www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/...