International Map Day is celebrated on March 5. That’s just a month away.
That raised questions about map makers and how people would be lost without maps. It turns out the map-making community isn’t that large!
Tom Patterson is a retired senior cartographer for the U.S. National Park Service who recently wrote about the art and science of map-making.
Patterson has created maps for both Hawaiʻi Volcanoes and Haleakalā national parks. He got his start under University of Hawaiʻi geography professor Everett Wingert.
The Conversation spoke with Patterson about this niche art form, beginning with his “aha” moment with a map-making technique called shaded relief.
View Patterson’s maps of Kalaupapa and spots worldwide here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Feb. 5, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
