#30DayMapChallenge 2026

An annual mapping challenge by Topi Tjukanov happening every November. Create maps based on 30 different themes — one for each day of the month. Share your maps using the hashtag #30DayMapChallenge.

4 days to go Starts on 1 November 2026. Submissions open on 1 November.
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Themes What to make on each day of the month.
  • 01. Points A map challenge classic. Map with points.
  • 02. Lines A map challenge classic. Map with lines.
  • 03. Polygons A map challenge classic. Map with polygons.
  • 04. Clusters Clusters of something. Hotspots, groups, things that gather together.
  • 05. Senses: Sight How do you see something? Maybe map a viewshed?
  • 06. Vintage Spin up your time machine and do a map which looks like a historical map, or maybe the theme itself should be vintage.
  • 07. 10 minute map You have no more than 10 minutes to complete this map.
  • 08. Utopia A map of something which could be.
  • 09. Urban-rural Urban or rural. Cities and countryside.
  • 10. Prompting only For this map, make AI work for its money and produce something from start to finish in a chat window or on the command line.
  • 11. Senses: Sound How do you hear something? How do you map a soundscape? Noise pollution mapped?
  • 12. Power Power as in nuclear power? Or physical power or influence? Power grid on a map? Read this the way you want, like every other prompt.
  • 13. Interactions Interactions between things, or maybe the result would be an interactive map?
  • 14. Borgesian map A map so detailed it becomes the territory. Inspired by Borges' On Exactitude in Science.
  • 15. Inside out Inside out, upside down. Something on this map is not quite right.
  • 16. Collaborative map Do a map with a friend, colleague or a stranger. AI doesn't count as a friend :)
  • 17. Light & dark Play with visual effects. What can you map with just light and shadows?
  • 18. NULL
  • 19. Senses: Smell How do you map things which your nose can sense? What does a smelly map look like?
  • 20. Hexagons Hexagons, the good old bestagons.
  • 21. OpenStreetMap The awesome data source for mapping. You can also use this day to edit OSM.
  • 22. Projections The different ways of representing a globe on a flat surface. What does your favourite map projection say about you?
  • 23. Senses: Taste Food, drink or something else which you can taste.
  • 24. Network Route network, transit network, human network or something completely different.
  • 25. Is this a map? Stretch the limits of maps and blend your map with an artwork or some creative data visualization. When does something become a map and when does it stop being one?
  • 26. Water About 71% of the Earth's surface. That wet thing, you know?
  • 27. New tool The challenge has always been about learning things. Try out a new tool in your mapmaking workflow.
  • 28. Senses: Feeling The most abstract of the senses series. How would you map a feeling?
  • 29. Raster Do something cool with pixels.
  • 30. Pen & paper Time to wrap up the challenge by closing your laptop for a while and going back to basics. Do an analogue map with pen and paper.

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