At CartoDB we do our very best to spread the word on how anyone around the globe can leverage data and visualizations to make better, faster decisions. When great mappers make and discover insights through location intelligence we like to reward them.
We are proud of our carefully selected and very talented CartoDB Ambassadors. CartoDB Ambassadors are deeply involved in the mapping community and are inspirational educators that use CartoDB technology to empower future mappers. Ambassadors play an essential role to our mission of democratizing location intelligence by producing amazing maps using open data and educating others about the power of CartoDB.
Our Ambassadors Program identifies exceptional individuals who are engaged with their local community as well as mappers across the globe, harnessing the power of data to create positive change. These mappers gain recognition for their influential visualizations and achieve increased visibility as their projects are promoted by our team.
We would like to celebrate our newest Ambassador, Chris Woods, and congratulate him on the impact his visualizations have had in the UK, as well as his contributions to the global data mapping community.
Chris comes from a strong IT background and was inspired to map because he wanted to see how the power of emerging geographical visualization platforms could be used to bring new insights into the wave of public data being published by the British government and others.
One of his most notable CartoDB mapping projects is the Campaign For Better Transport. The interactive visualizations show how rail usage in the UK has evolved over nearly two decades. The data-driven maps allow the viewer to assimilate large amounts of data to instantly grasp the picture nationally, and zoom in on the area in which they live and work.
“The fact that the map shows 45,000 data points in a way that can be quickly understood is astonishing,” says Chris. “When these abilities are combined with a map that is animated, attractive, and recognizable you can see why it’s
been popular.”
The map was published by BBC News, Scotlands National Newspaper, The Scotsman, and has received over 75,000 views to date!
Why use CartoDB and participate in the Ambassadors Program?
Like other Ambassadors, Chris was drawn by the ability to create attractive, engaging, and easily understood visualizations of detailed data that would be otherwise dry and difficult to understand.
“I was drawn to the Ambassador’s Program for two reasons: first, I wanted to be more visible in the geo visualisation world; second, to be able to use more advanced features such as the Twitter Firehose and linking dynamically to data outside of CartoDB.”
We can expect more insightful visualizationss from Chris as he engages in talks with the Campaign For Better Transport about further mapping projects.
If you would like to learn more about the program or if you are interested in applying, please visit our Ambassadors Program page.
Also, be sure to check out our gallery of amazing maps created using CartoDB!
Happy data mapping!