Dr Kenneth Field CGeog (GIS)
Employer Name
Esri Global Inc.
Biography
Ken makes maps, collects maps, writes about maps, has a tattoo of his favourite map and is devoted to encouraging others to see the value in quality cartography and helping them make better maps. After 20 years in UK academia he lives and works in California, since 2011, at Esri where he attempts to push the boundaries of what is possible in cartography. He has received numerous awards for his maps, writing, pedagogy, and kitchen tile designs. In 2025 he was honoured by the Data Visualization Society with an ‘Impressive Individual’ Information is Beautiful award for services to education in the realm of dataviz and mapping. In the same year he was also voted as one of 100 professionals who have shaped the UK geo-industry. He’s in demand as a panellist and keynote speaker and has curated and judged numerous map galleries and cartography competitions. He is author of the best-selling, and award-winning books Cartography and Thematic Mapping which provide deep and wide-ranging design advice for mapmakers. He also developed a Massive Open Online Course on Cartography which has seen around 250,000 participants globally over the last 8 years. He also routinely presents at Esri industry events globally to several thousand people on making better maps. Despite evidence to the contrary, life’s not all about maps, and Ken can also be found on a snowboard, behind a drum kit, building Lego, or supporting his hometown football team, Nottingham Forest. He maintains a scrapbook of his talks, writings, maps and thoughts at https://links.esri.com/mappyhour. Put simply, Ken has had a wide-ranging positive impact on the geospatial industry, he has innovated through his maps, writing and teaching, and continues to contribute in multiple ways to share the benefits of high-quality mapping and how people can develop mapping skills in support of their own work.