Robert is an artist who makes maps with a twist. He uses his skills as a geographer and a GIS analyst to create colourful and artistic watershed maps that show how water flows on the planet.
He runs his own mappy business called Grasshopper Geography, and he has a passion for environmental causes. He recently finished his most ambitious project yet: a global ocean drainage basin map that shows all water flows on the planet. He also made maps of continents, countries and states, revealing some surprising facts about their watersheds. For example, he found out that half of Minnesota’s rivers end up in the Arctic Ocean. He was amazed by this discovery, as he was a geographer himself.
More: Grasshopper Geography h/t: boredpanda
He started his mappy business in 2016, after his river basin maps became a hit online. He decided to leave his nine-to-five job behind and pursue his new passion. Since then, his maps have been featured on the pages of more than a hundred newspapers and news sites. He was very humbled by this experience, as he was an introvert who never expected anyone to be interested in his projects.
He regularly works with NGOs from all around the world who fight for important environmental causes. He hopes that his new maps will help convey their messages, whether it is about river pollution or just a visual reminder of our interconnectedness.
He knows from experience that maps can be great conversation starters, and he aims to make maps that are visually striking and can effectively deliver a message. He says that the most important part of his ocean drainage basin maps was to make them easily understandable, so that anyone who sees one can easily interpret the others.