Steve Isaac •

50 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts for Geospatial, Data Science, and Visualization

Location Intelligence is a young field, forming at the intersection of new technologies and existing branches of knowledge. Twitter, a global sounding board for experts, is a natural fit for this growing sector and the perfect place to bring together collective expertise for greater development and collaboration.

To that end, we wanted to create a list of some of our favorite experts and organizations from several different categories:

Subscribe to the full list here!

Please note, this list is by no means exhaustive, rather it is a diverse sample of particularly active accounts that we love! In fact, most of the people and organizations listed below are fervent retweeters, and by following this list or the members of it, you will find not only their expertise and work, but also be quickly exposed to the wider community.

Additionally, while all of the below accounts are categorized, many of them transcend and blur these categorizations every day. We worked to fit these accounts in the section that we felt most matched their regular output.

Map Makers & Sharers

  • Amazing Maps - @Amazing_Maps - While they don't constantly tweet, Amazing Maps fulfills the promise of its name, sharing maps with their over 300,000 followers.
  • Dan Cookson - @danc00ks0n - Dan uses twitter to share (among other things) his expertise on housing policy and the absolutely stunning maps that he creates.
  • Caitlin Dempsey - @dmgeo - The Editor of GIS Lounge, Caitlin's personal feed mixes in some of her favorite maps from around the web.
  • Simon Kuestenmacher - @simongerman600 - Working in Melbourne as the Director of Research for a demographic insights consulting firm, Simon uses twitter to share some of his favorite maps.
  • Maps Mania - @gmapsmania - Sharing powerful maps and the tools that are used to make them from across the internet.
  • Lauren Tierney - @tierneyl - Unsurprisingly, this Washington Post graphics designer's feed is filled with beautiful maps that tell a story.
  • MapPorn - @MapPornTweet - The official twitter account of Reddit's "MapPorn" Community, providing an unending stream of interesting and beautiful maps.
  • Maptime HQ - @MaptimeHQ - Check out some of the amazing results from Maptime events around the world.
  • Max Roser - @MaxCRoser - With a massive following, this Oxford economist and researcher shares insights via his twitter and online publication, Our World in Data.
  • The Map Room - @maproomblog - A great follow for keeping up with some awesome map-related blog content, as well as other visualizations from around the web.
  • Joshua Stevens - @jscarto - As the cartography lead for NASA Earth, Joshua shares incredible maps and satellite imagery.
  • CARTOgraphy - @CARTOgraphy_ - CARTO's own Head of Cartography, @MamataAkella uses this new account to share tips and tricks for making beautiful maps.
  • Elena Torró - @eletorro - A Multimedia Developer at CARTO, Elena shares her favorite maps alongside development and design insights.

Leaders & Visionaries

  • Gretchen Peterson - @petersonGIS - Great insights and commentary from a geospatial expert and author. Check out her books and blog as well!
  • Javier De La Torre - @jatorre - As CARTO's CEO, JaTorre's twitter is filled with updates, intriguing talks, and events, as well thoughts from a long career at the cutting edge of spatial analysis.
  • Kenneth Field - @kennethfield - Equal parts funny and interesting, Kenneth shares his takes on geospatial news.
  • Eric Gunderson - @ericg - The Mapbox CEO uses twitter to share company and product updates, as well as unique maps and visualizations.
  • Nathaniel V. Kelso - @kelsosCorner - A self-proclaimed map geek, Nathaniel keeps his followers updated on the latest developments in geospatial mapping.
  • Jorge Sanz - @xurxosanz - A customer support manager at CARTO, Jorge is a reliable resource for challenging geospatial questions.
  • Dawn Wright - @deepseadawn - Esri's Chief Scientist, Dawn's feed mixes her passion for geospatial technology, oceanography, and fighting global climate change.

Community Advocates & Open Source Evangelists

  • The Open Source Geospatial Foundation - @OSGeo - A central hub for the open source geospatial community, this 12 year old nonprofit is especially known for organizing the annual FOSS4G event. Follow OSGeo to keep your thumb on the pulse.
  • CartONG - @assocCartONG - Established in 2006, this French organization works with humanitarian and development agencies around the world, teaching them how to harness the power of geographic data. Their Twitter account highlights some of their amazing projects.
  • Todd Barr - @Spatial_Punk - Follow Spatial Punk for tweets combining a well-honed snark with open source evangelism. Also check out his brand new podcast, The Mappyist Hour with @loki_president.
  • Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team - @hotosm - Working with partners and communities all over the globe, this organization creates and provides free, up-to-date maps which are absolutely critical for disaster and crisis response and humanitarian efforts. Check out and support their important work!
  • Regina Obe - @reginaobe - With a bio that identifies her as a "Connoisseur of all things #PostGIS," Regina is a key follow for anyone working with the open source database.
  • Open Street Map - @openstreetmap - Stay up to date with news and updates on the global, open-source mapping project with over a million contributors.
  • Anita Graser - @underdarkGIS - On her twitter feed, Anita a.k.a. Underdark shares best practices and techniques for using QGIS alongside frequent retweets highlighting talks and events around Open Source.
  • Sara Safavi - @sarasomewhere - Keep up with this geospatial focused Python Developer's adventures and ideas.
  • Jeff Ferzoco - @zingbot - With an eye on cities using spatial analysis, Jeff's substantial design and development experience comes through in his twitter feed.
  • PostGIS - @postgis - Regular updates and information on PostGIS, the open source spatial database.

Visualizers & Storytellers

  • Alberto Cairo - @albertocairo - A data visualization professor at the University of Miami, Cairo's twitter bounces between sleek visualizations, maps, current events, data journalism, and the intersection between them all.
  • Chiqui Esteban - @chiquiesteban - Graphics Director at The Washington Post, Chiqui's feed features data stories, often with a current events or political bent.
  • Information is Beautiful - @infobeautiful - Featuring the infographics and visualizations of David McCandless, who also founded the Information is Beautiful Awards, this twitter feed is a steady stream of positively stunning visualization work.
  • Cole Knaflic - @StoryWithData - Pair this twitter feed featuring data visualization best practices with Cole's podcast on the topic, Storytelling With Data. Pro tip: keep any exploding 3D pie charts to yourself.
  • Nadieh Bremer - @NadiehBremer - Keep an eye on Nadieh's feed where you can find her award-winning freelance visualization work.
  • Maarten Lambrechts - @maartenzam - A freelance data journalist and visualization consultant, Lambrechts frequently posts and comments on some of the web's best data stories.
  • Lisa Charlotte Rost - @lisacrost - This Berlin based designer for @Datawrapper is constantly churning out interesting and easy to understand content on different visualization types and methods.
  • Moritz Stefaner - @moritz_stefaner - A perennial winner of Information is Beautiful Awards, check out his Data Stories Podcast, diving deep on complex visualization concepts.
  • Nathan Yau - @flowingdata - Yau's ~70,000 followers enjoy a steady stream of insights from the expert visualizer and statistician.

Data Scientists

  • Hilary Mason - @hmason - A frequent speaker on Machine Learning and Data science, Hilary's expertise and connection with the wider tech community are evident in her feed.
  • Randy Olson - @Drandal_olson - Randy writes about AI, Machine Learning, Programming, and Data Science. He is also a community leader for the Data is Beautiful subreddit.
  • Mara Averick - @DataandMe - An R evangelist and tidyverse developer advocate, @DataandMe shares insights, resources and a passion for FX's Archer.
  • Julia Silge - @juliasilge - Valuable insights and commentary from a Data Scientist at Stack Overflow
  • Dave Smith - @DruidSmith - A technologist with the EPA, Dave shares insights at the intersection of Geospatial and Data Science.

News Sources

  • Laura Bliss - @mslaurabliss - As a Staff Writer at CityLab, and the writer of their MapLab newsletter, Laura shares stories of new technology’s impact on urban systems.
  • Geoawesomeness - @geoawesomeness - With a globe-spanning team and a passion for all things geo, Geoawesomeness is a must follow news source.
  • Geospatial World - @geoworldmedia - Based in India, global in scope, Geospatial World is an excellent source of video content, industry interviews, deep-dive webinars, and more.
  • Ramiro Aznar - @ramiroaznar - Following Ramiro will provide both helpful mapping tips and info on exciting geospatial events and meetups in Spain and beyond.
  • Women In GIS - @womeningis - Highlighting the incredible work of Women across the Geospatial industry.

Follow CARTO too!

Also, don’t forget to follow us @CARTO for updates, events (including CARTO Locations 2018), amazing maps, and geospatial insights!

About the author

Content Marketing Manager at CARTO.

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