The new Ambassadors are here, and they have something to tell you

Last year the Ambassadors Program started as an experiment with select CartoDB users receiving slight upgrades to their accounts. Since then we have been watching our program grow and find ourselves constantly amazed at the level of talent and passion of our Ambassadors. We like to think that the upgraded Ambassadors accounts (more storage more layers sync tables etc.) have played a part in this. ;)

Because we love what we've seen thus far we are now expanding the Ambassadors Program!

More community support

Beyond offering supercharged accounts to fuel great mapping projects we want to help our Ambassadors stay in the center of the community (both locally and globally). In practice we will support your presence as an Ambassador at workshops meetups and conferences. We will help you attend and initiate events in your local communities and beyond. So go to that conference you missed last year talk about your projects we'll support you! Our support also includes exposure on our social networks blog and events.

We believe this is a great career boost and an amazing opportunity to showcase your work. This will not only help you become a key player in the CartoDB community but also in the GIS data journalism and open data communities at large.

Better Ambassador accounts

We'll also be progressively adding more features to the Ambassadors accounts. For instance we just added Isolines to new Ambassadors accounts (50 free isolines/month)!

And on a case-by-case basis a feature may also be added to an account if a project requires it.

All of the benefits of the program are recapped in the [new Ambassadors page].

Here's the deal

What do we ask for in return? Just do amazing maps with CartoDB and share them with the world! The new Ambassador program also requires a bit more commitment than in the past -- membership will be reviewed on a periodic basis and will take into account community involvement and current projects.

Furthermore the application process got a bit more comprehensive as we are asking candidates to present themselves and their work in short video clips. We have selected our first four Ambassadors for the quality of their work and their impact on the community.

"CartoDB and me"

Lauren Gawne research linguist (SOAS University of London)

More at laurengawne.com and @superlinguo.

Rebecca Lavoie digital director (New Hampshire Public Radio)

More at @reblavoie.

James Leon-Dufour architect (UNHCR)

More at @jamesleondufour.

We are very proud to have Lauren Rebecca and James as our new Ambassadors truly making them community partners and collaborators. In the following weeks we'll be presenting more Ambassadors with very different stories to tell and experiences to share. Stay tuned!

Up to you!

Do you want to become a part of our Ambassadors Program? [Apply to be an Ambassador now!]

The Ambassadors Program is built for the community and also by the community: please share with us any feedback you have at community@cartodb.com!

Happy data mapping!