Aaron Koelker
LightNews LightNews
banner
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
Aaron Koelker
@aaronkoelker.bsky.social
1.2K followers 170 following 47 posts
I'm here for the maps.

Map projects: https://aaronkoelker.com/
Posts Replies Media Videos
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
Shockingly, nobody took me up on running the #BostonMarathon with this thing strapped to their wrist
April 21, 2025 at 2:10 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
Currently obsessing over this 12 ft wide, 1921 strip #map of Palisades Interstate Park in NJ/NY. An amazingly detailed birds-eye view paired with a profile sketch of the park's cliffs, as seen from the Hudson River. collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/coll...
Close-up of Palisades Interstate Park sketch map by Robert. L. Dickinson Close-up of Palisades Interstate Park sketch map by Robert. L. Dickinson Close-up of Palisades Interstate Park sketch map by Robert. L. Dickinson Close-up of Palisades Interstate Park sketch map by Robert. L. Dickinson
April 8, 2025 at 9:35 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
A quick and dirty map I made of the federal lease cancellations announced by DOGE so far. Data from DOGE's website on 3/14/25.
A blue and grey map of the United States and territories showing the number and location of federal lease cancellations, using proportional circles and number labels.
March 17, 2025 at 2:09 AM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
A particularly tricky round of Cartographer's Tetris
A map of Long Island NY with green labels and markers over orange land. The labels are dense and often curved to fit.
February 17, 2025 at 8:03 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
Recently updated this map for a watershed non-profit group to be vertical instead of horizontal. The original use-case was for tabling events, so we'd made it wide to get more of the map closer to the reader and save them from having to lean forward. The new layout is for signboards at boat ramps.
This map covers the Guana, Tolomato, Matanzas estuary and watershed around the city of St Augustine, on the east coast of Florida. It is a tall, narrow image with the ocean in light blue to the right and white land to the left. Conservation areas are shown in light green, while wetlands are a faded olive color. In the top left corner is a abstract water diagram showing the major rivers within the watershed and the tributaries that flow into them. A logo for the Matanzas Riverkeeper and a mission statement sits in the bottom left corner. The logo is the stylized outline of a great blue heron in blue and orange colors.
December 20, 2024 at 10:17 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
This animation I made for a recent project shows the changes in ice extent over North America since the last glacial maximum (roughly 18k years). Each frame was hand drawn using Procreate.
December 11, 2024 at 9:28 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
Happy Halloween. Here's a map I did several years ago of cemeteries and graveyards within Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Fun fact: the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard is that the latter is typically associated with a church.
October 31, 2024 at 11:21 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
This is a #map (?) I drew of Taughannock Gorge in upstate NY. I designed it specifically with a #risograph machine in mind, and printed it out at a community print space here in town. Excited to try out some other ideas there.
October 18, 2024 at 4:30 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
Working out another receipt map project idea
June 23, 2024 at 4:11 AM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
Experimenting with a hand-drawn approach
A post-card sized map of the Great Lakes. Water is in blue with green outlines around the shore. Urban areas are shown in orange, and cities are shown with black circles and labels. The style mimics a rough risograph print, with some printing misalignment and imperfections.
May 30, 2024 at 7:36 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
I recently moved to Ithaca, NY—so I made this #map of waterfalls to help get familiar with the area. I look forward to finding a typo immediately after posting.
A map of about 50 waterfalls around Ithaca New York. The colors are primarily blue and green. The background features hand drawn rivers, lakes, and streams, and the terrain has a painterly style. Closeup of a map of about 50 waterfalls around Ithaca New York. The colors are primarily blue and green. The background features hand drawn rivers, lakes, and streams, and the terrain has a painterly style. The image is centered on southwest Ithaca. A closeup of the locator map, with a simplified shape of New York state and the Finger Lakes visible. An arrow and circle shows the extent of the map, with a north arrow pointing up. Closeup of a map of about 50 waterfalls around Ithaca New York. The colors are primarily blue and green. The background features hand drawn rivers, lakes, and streams, and the terrain has a painterly style. The image is centered on northwest Ithaca, on the west shore of Cayuga Lake.
May 23, 2024 at 9:02 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
Here's another ribbon map of a river; this time designed specifically for a receipt printer. Perhaps the most unnecessary thing I've ever made.
December 21, 2023 at 12:22 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
For the multiple people that suggested using a receipt printer. Not perfect, but readable! Will be a fun challenge designing a new map that works within the limitations.
Part of a river map being printed from the top of an Epson receipt printer: black plastic cube with roughly 7 inch sides. The visible part of the map says Pinhook Swamp on the right while the river can be seen as a thick black line to its left.
November 7, 2023 at 1:28 PM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
More reposts, this 12ft long ribbon map of the Suwannee River with a 3D printed wind-up container. I'm now looking into buying a receipt printer... for reasons.
A black 3D printed capsule with the end of a ribbon map extending out from it on to a table, the end of which is against a ruler showing it is 2.5 inches wide. Rolled up draft copies of the ribbon map are upright on the table as well, adjacent to the container. A close up of the ribbon map showing the overview area of the river across Florida dn Georgia, as well as the legend and a list of distances between towns on the river. The colors are mostly bright greens and blues. Two copies of the ribbon map pinned to a board at the NACIS 2023 map gallery. One copy is the 12ft long version and is pinned up into long folds with a paper clamp. The other copy is a 12 inch wide by 36 inch tall version with the map arranged in 4 side-by-side sections.
October 24, 2023 at 3:01 AM
aaronkoelker.bsky.social
I'm going to repost some things from that old bird app for some semblance of continuity here, starting with this experimental Blender map of the St Kilda Archipelago I made a few months back.
An isometric view of the St Kilda Archipelago, with cyan water and green, cell-shaded land. Labels in white and pale lime color, some floating above and below the islands while other curved labels lay at an isometric angle on the water's surface.
October 23, 2023 at 1:16 PM