'I just love doing it': Meet the B.C. man winning international awards for his maps
CBC
Jeff Clark spends hundreds of hours pouring over the minute details of B.C.'s geography to produce a single map.
He describes himself as an "accidental" cartographer after stumbling into the industry back in 2008. But almost two decades later, he's become renowned in the international map-mapping world for his creations.
“I just love doing it, so whether I'm good at it doesn't really matter to me,” Clark said.
He’s made maps of Garibaldi Park, the Salish Sea, the Sea-to-Sky region and Vancouver Island, all out of the basement of his North Vancouver home.
A few weekends ago, his Vancouver Island map won first place in the reference category at the CaGIS Map Design Competition, an international contest. In 2024, his Sea-to-Sky map won the same award as well as "best of show."
“I like the process more than I really worry about winning the, you know, the prize,” Clark said.
The maps are formed by him pulling in satellite images and public domain data.
“I've selectively provided you with information that's meaningful to the story, I'm trying to tell you about the beauty of the landscape and how it's connected,” Clark said.
He spends hundreds of hours picking just the essentials to put on the map, such as the 100 largest trees or First Nations territory.
“This is describing the landscape, it’s describing the patterns between the cities and the mountains,” Clark said.
Through his artwork, he hopes people will learn more about where they live.
“I think people tend to forget sometimes how beautiful it is around here."
When he first started map-making, he made a folding backcountry hiking map.
“I ended up making a map of Garibaldi for the park, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is, this is pretty cool,” Clark said.
WARNING: This story discusses child sexual abuse material and contains graphic details of alleged sexual assault
Jeff Clark spends hundreds of hours pouring over the minute details of B.C.'s geography to produce a single map.
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