oceanmapper

Within weeks of finishing matric I had left home, heading for Muizenberg in the Western Cape. A seaside town, Muizenberg lies at the start of the Cape Peninsula, it’s heart is tucked into the Eastern corner of bay that’s False.  Muizenberg was a close commute which allowed time at the beach in the morning and lunch-hour swimming in the summer. I found living in the Cape Peninsula to be inextricably linked to the sea and so formed an enduring love of our Southern Ocean. My entry into the ocean mapping community was as a marine cartographer in the Hydrographic Office which helped nurture a respect for our maritime spaces. Pivotal changes in the country were set in motion on 11 February 1990 which brought freedom, dignity and democracy to all South Africans and the inspirational leadership of Nelson Mandela. Sanctions ended and foreign investment returned and with it a change of career for me, in the engineering survey sector. I was now processing survey data acquired from vessels of all size and specification. Managing the survey information for infield infrastructure was best done with the efficiency and technology of Geographic Information Science. Years later I’m a GIS champion and advocate for using geospatial analysis to help understand the changes occurring in our communities, countries and at a global scale of our blue planet.

My words for the youthful generation of school-leavers who enjoy geography, science, maths, art and design, animation, technology, programming, AI – a career in mapping is a journey through a world full of fascinating places, unimagined perspectives and many varied horizons. There will be challenges along the way but that’s the character of it and you’ll not be bored.