Chuck Norris died this past year. At first, I figured this day was some prankster nod to that actor’s stellar performance in Walker, Texas Ranger. Alas, it is more sensible than that; and sensible international days are quite rare in my estimation.

No, it’s not for my favorite character type in Dungeons & Dragons either – I always played a human ranger for some reason. Nor the Power Rangers…

Today we honor those park rangers around the world who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. Often, they die from occupational hazards. Many times – check out India! – they are killed by animals. Other times, they are killed by poachers. Well, I don’t have to explain it to you, because I created this map with a single prompt using a style guide and saying it should ignore the suggested theme background color and go with green. The style I used wasn’t even a mash-up. It was straight from the Prompt Cartography Map Design Lab – the city dashboard one or whatever.

And there it is… a very interactive dashboard that literally allows you to explore the dataset. I used the Web Mapper Spatial Dataset Make tool to compile the dataset for me from a bunch of disparate and hard to track PDFs online. Then uploaded it with the style and a single prompt and watched the Tigers lose in 12 innings to the Orioles before checking b ack and uploading this straight to the website.

Sure, an expert could quibble a little longer, but that’s not the point of a Map-a-Day competition. What I learned: not only do I never need to visit a data portal again;  I’ll never need to learn how to create a dashboard with GUI software again. And I use all the time gained to play card games and watch television.

Speaking of which… I should go hang out with my family. Enjoy International Ranger Day! Chuck Norris, RIP. 😉

View the Map Here

Web Mapper GPT Prompt

I am interested in creating a map to celebrate International Ranger Day – a day recognizing the sacrifices of park rangers that have died in the line of duty.

Can you please design a map – mobile first – showing the total number of ranger deaths per country, as well as year-by-year deaths as the user would like, and interactive charts that allow the maps to be filtered and re-symbolized based on cause of death, etc.

An interactive data exploration that pays respect to the deceased, sits above the fold in landscape mode, is designed to work with mobile first but is also designed to look good on desktop, and follows the attached style template – though colors can vary to match the theme of conservation rangers and national parks.

Please don’t waste a ton of space on a header, etc. Also, make sure that the mobile interfaces are easily accessible via a hamburger icon or slide-up, slide-out panel, not via large buttons on the maps, etc. Thanks!