About the challenge

Here at Felt, we really love Halloween! That’s why we’re happy to announce the winners of our first-ever Halloween mapping challenge — everyone mentioned in this post wins a limited-edition Felt bucket hat and a set of stickers!

About the judges:

Mamata Akella (she/her) is a web cartographer with over 13 years of experience. Her expertise includes cartographic systems, cartographic design, and working on cross-functional teams to seamlessly integrate cartographic thinking into tools and products used by both technical and non-technical users. Currently, she is an in-house cartographer at Felt.

Vanessa Knoppke-Wetzel (she/her) has worked in the federal government, non-profits, tech industry, and higher education. She currently is a Director at Large for the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS), where she chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee; an Alumni Mentor for UW-Madison's SuccessWorks; and is the 2022 DC Meet Director for Pull for Pride. She also is the founder of #creativeCarto, and one half of the 2021 URhere podcast. She is obsessed with all things Halloween!

Most Creative Use of Felt Element: Crowning the PumKING by Angelica Rodriguez-Arriaga‍

Mamata Akella: "The use of elements on this map to tell the story of giant pumpkins and genetics over time is out of this world! As a map reader, I learned so much more about pumpkins through the creatively placed stories. This map demonstrates the power of storytelling with maps and how Felt elements can be mixed and matched in so many ways to do it. Also, a very nice use of Layers — I love how only the cities relevant to the pumpkin story are the ones that display on the map."

Vanessa Knoppke-Wetzel: "Instant "uuuuuu" the second the map loaded: I am curious to know how they made this in Felt. The "fog" feeling alongside the dark and desaturated colors is really cool."

‍Most Intriguing Dataset: ‍Most Popular Candies by State by David Tingle

Mamata Akella: "There are so many times when we read articles with “geographic data” buried in the text, an image or a table. This is such a creative way to bring that kind of information to life on an interactive map that sparks conversation and wonder. I didn't know that Colorado consumed so many Hershey's Kisses!"

Vanessa Knoppke-Wetzel: "This is a great map to highlight the ability to add other data visualizations on Felt (and choose where to put them) alongside the map to support the overall story. Definitely a fun dataset and hey, (I'm from Wisconsin) and I also love Butterfinger!"‍

Best Overall Design: Fictional SanMateo, CA Halloween Crawl by Erdag Kucukdemirci‍

Mamata Akella: "The creativity in mixing and matching elements around different parts of the map and the limited color palette creates such a welcoming and Halloween-y aesthetic. I love the creative use of emojis, pins with notes for POI’s, and how the map looks like a pamphlet with the stacked polygons. this is a great example of visual hierarchy where the most important information (the crawl route and the do not drink and drive notice) pop out into the foreground with highlight colors."

Vanessa Knoppke-Wetzel: "Such a big fan of the man Halloween pins here! The color choices and the icons really reinforce this is a HALLOWEEN bar crawl."

Best Collaborative Use Case: U.S. Cemeteries by Alberto Romeu Carrasco

Mamata Akella: "Not only did the author share how they made the map on Twitch, they also used cemetery data from OpenStreetMap the most collaborated on map out there! This map is all about sharing knowledge, finding the right dataset while also being very subject appropriate and aesthetically the spookiest side of Halloween."

Vanessa Knoppke-Wetzel: "I have seen this map on Twitter! Again, enjoy the cloud/fog and choice of colors, and the title font is perfect for Halloween. I also like the "glow" effect the cemetery points are giving via the styling in Felt."

Spookiest Subject Matter: Spooky Edinburgh by Hayley Moir

Mamata Akella: "When I open this map it is one that i immediately want to look around and explore. the placement of text emojis and pins bring such a spooky, lively and special look and feel to this map. I especially love how the different spooky facts around the mapped area are designed to look like tombstones with the black text boxes and links without previews — very clever! I now know where (or maybe where not!) to go to experience some sites in Edinburgh."

Vanessa Knoppke-Wetzel: "Another fun use of elements. I appreciate the creator removing some of them as you zoom in, to allow you to see the map underneath for context. Highlighting these areas definitely made me want to visit."

Want to share your map and get featured?

We recently launched our new Slack group where you can connect with other folks using Felt, join community events, and win some fun swag! Post your favorite Felt maps in #showoff-your-map channel and we will feature the best maps at the end of November!