Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Ada Lovelace & the Neo-Geographers

"Geography amuses me very much.
- from the childhood journal of Ada Lovelace

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, which provides us with the perfect opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions of women to the world of online interactive cartography.

From the very early pioneering work of Pamela Fox with the Google Maps API and Di-Ann Eisnor (Platial and Waze) women have played an essential role in the development of what some call neo-geography.


In the last month Google Maps Mania has featured a number of brilliant maps developed by women. Last week the official Geo Developers Blog picked up on one of these maps when it featured Abby Putinski's map of her own illustrations of San Francisco as its Map of the Week.

One of my favorite maps of just last week was Katy Decorah's Static Map Maker, a great wizard for creating static maps using the the Google Static Maps API. Recently Google Maps Mania has also featured Emily Bennet's Portsmouth History Picture Map and her excellent series of tutorials on how to create a map with the Google Maps API.

Barbara J. Ryan is Secretariat Director of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO). GEO's Global Earth Observation System of Systems is linking together existing and planned observing systems around the world in order to provide a single access point for users seeking data, imagery and analytical software packages relevant to all parts of the globe. Karla Baker is leading the Bartholowmew Archive's ten year project to digitise and bring on-line the printed maps of map engravers, printers and publishers, John Bartholomew & Son Ltd.

Ada Lovelace Day is a rare opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. If you want to take part in the celebrations you can find events taking place near you today on Finding Ada's list of Worldwide Events. There is even a Google Map of websites and blogs that have posted articles for Ada Lovelace Day.

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