Scientist sees the stars in New Zealand’s small towns so maps them
Data scientist was reminded of looking up at the stars when looking down from a plane
Gazing at the faint lights of small New Zealand towns from an aeroplane, data scientist Aaron Schiff was inspired to map them to educate himself and others.
As an Aucklander Schiff had spent most of his life in cities and readily admits he didn’t know much about the geography of the country outside the largest urban centres before undertaking the project.
Using data sets from Statistics New Zealand’s 2017 digital boundaries and Land Information New Zealand’s primary parcels he was able to bring his vision to life, and learn a little about some of New Zealand’s tiny towns.
Small Towns of Aotearoa was the result, he said.
It took him about a week of work in January to complete the project.