2026 30 Day Map Challenge

Monday, November 2, 2026

November is for mapping. For the last few years, I have tried to complete the #30DayMapChallenge. The idea is simple: one map per day, each based on that day’s prompt. To date, I have never completed all 30.

Doing this in your off hours takes real effort, and that can be pretty intimidating. So I have some ideas to help me be more successful this time around.

The big one: pick a handful of datasets I can use for multiple maps. Learning a dataset and getting familiar with its quirks is a fair amount of work. I want that work to pay off more than once, rather than starting from zero every morning. The datasets I’m considering are listed below.

Potential Datasets

NYC 311 and NYC Open Data

Every 311 service request in New York City, each has a complaint type, a detail, a timestamp, and a location. It’s one of many datasets on the NYC Open Data portal.

Overture Maps

Open map data covering buildings, places, roads, and boundaries for the whole planet. It’s huge, but you can query just the area you need with DuckDB.

NASA and USGS Earth Data

Night lights from NASA’s Black Marble, elevation from USGS and Copernicus, and ocean depth from GEBCO.

A Few Backups

The EIA Energy Atlas and a few sports packages for R. wehoop (WNBA) and hoopR (NBA) include shot locations on the court, and hockeyR does the same for the NHL rink.

Follow Along

I’ll be posting each map on Bluesky at @mel-likes-maps.bsky.social in addition to this blog. Will this be the year I make it to 30? Check back and see.