Commander Chris Hadfield is the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station. (Photo: NASA)
Over the past five months, Commander Chris Hadfield has stolen the hearts of millions as he zooms around the Earth’s orbit, sending tweets to internet users far below. These correspondences, like thousands of digital message-in-a-bottles, spanned multiple mediums and ranged from the playful to the poetic. But together, they formed Hadfield’s invitation to the public to join him in his fascination and love of science.
The Canadian Cartographic Association sums the answer up in two points: formal training at a university or college and a suitable personality.
Though the personalities most suited to careers in cartography depend on the type of cartographer you want to be, it's safe to say you'll need to truly love maps. The organization says it also helps to be imaginative, embrace changing technology and a commitment to accuracy.
Learn about mapmaking from cartographer Chris Brackley by watching the videos below.
At Canadian Geographic, maps play an integral role in our stories. At times, maps situate readers who may be unfamiliar with a region mentioned in an article. Other times, the maps themselves tell the story.
We asked cartographer Chris Brackley to break down the process of making a map.
How do you go about making a map?
How do the foreground and the background work together in a map?
What are the challenges in creating a map?
This is part of a series of short video interviews ...
Canadian Geographic has featured detailed maps of Canada and the world for more than 80 years. Since 2011, Chris Brackley has been the cartographer behind Canadian Geographic's maps.
Brackley has been making maps for more than two decades and is the lead cartographer and owner of As the Crow Flies cARTography. "I've always aspired to connect people with place," Brackley says. "I feel like a map has succeeded if it has given a mental image of a place to people that they didn't have before."
Congratulations to the winners of the Whatever the Weather photo contest!
Photographer J. David Andrews, the Weather Network's John Gallant and Canadian Geographic photo editor Laura Stanley had the difficult job of selecting the winning photos from more than 14,600 submissions.
The judges chose the winning weather shots based on composition, content/originality, technical quality and visual impact. Watch the video above to hear why the winning photos stood out for them.
