Hic sunt dracones.

Diving into the blogosphere, chasing ArcGIS hacks and tips producing clean, unique, and innovative maps for figures and presentations, I'm stunned by the creativity and imagination of other cartographers.  As a cartographer of sorts, a sometime-geomorphologist who makes maps for a university research unit, I feel like a novice in both disciples on most days. That's a dismal statement, isn't it?

Sadly, fresh out of grad school, the limits of my cartographic world stood very close; beyond that border, hic sunt dracones: here be dragons.  There are still a few sea monsters out there (uh... python, stats, spectral ratios... ugh), but I'm pleased that the me of 10 years ago would think the me of today a superhuman genius.

Is this little personal paragraph as uncomfortable to read as it is for me to write?  Great.  From here on out it's just cartographic tips and ArcGIS hacks and happy accidents.  May you take a few tips away from here to help slay your own cartographic seacows.