Nathaniel Vaughn Kelso

About Nathaniel Vaughn Kelso

I am an award-winning map geek and cartographer based in San Francisco. I recently led engineering teams building the map at Snapchat. Prior to Snap, I built maps in the open at Mapzen, launched Transit for Apple Maps plus vector maps in China and for the Watch, and was production manager and design technologist at Stamen Design in San Francisco where I facilitated spatial understanding of complex systems by designing simple yet powerful location data and map solutions all while managing the talent that makes it happen. The map is never done – it is our job to keep building it. I bring unique insights and a blend of technical GIS, analytical, information management, interaction design, and artistic cartographic skills to every project. I work hard to achieve timely, accurate results that satisfy client needs. Prior to Stamen, I created interactive graphics, maps, and data visualizations for the Washington Post. In addition, I apprenticed in classical print cartography at National Geographic.I am probably best known as co-creator of Natural Earth the free, public domain GIS world base map. I broadcast geo memes via my web log at kelso.it/blog, tweets @kelsosCorner, and events like WhereCampDC. I open source at github.com/nvkelso.I am Past President of NACIS, the professional association for cartographers in North America and was Program Chair for our Greenville 2013 conference. My experience has allowed me to speak and present at a wide range of conferences including Where 2.0, WhereCamp, FOSS4G, State of the Map (OpenStreetMap), ICA Mountain Cartography Workshop, and NACIS.Specialties- Map design, research, and production cartography- Web, mobile, print, and database mapping- Time-space continuum slicing and dicing- Geospatial location-based technologies, GIS (geographic information systems)- Geocoding (and inverse), place identification and disambiguation- Programming, scripting, and source version control- Production and workflow management; requirements management

Experience

1. Engineering Manager

   Applied Intuition

   Aug 2024 — Present · Mountain View, CA, US

Education

• Cal Poly Humboldt

  Certificate of Study (2 year), GIS and Remote Sensing

  1997 — 2002

• Cal Poly Humboldt

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Geography

  1997 — 2002

Skills

• Open Source
• Adobe Freehand
• Database Admin
• Gis
• Data Mapping
• Gis Analysis
• Arcview
• Arcmap
• Information Architecture
• Maps
• Lidar
• Databases
• Geomatics
• Javascript
• Data Management
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Information Design
• Arcinfo
• Google Earth
• Vectorworks
• Production
• Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Graphics
• Aerial Photography
• Data Visualization
• Python
• Google Maps
• Freehand
• Interaction Design
• Data Collection
• Geography
• Natural Resources
• Actionscript
• Geocoding
• Esri
• Arcgis
• Gps
• Web Mapping
• Location Based Services