My 5 Favorite Maps: Stamen Design's Eric Rodenbeck

Stamen Design, the San Francisco-based digital studio, is not strictly in the business of making maps. But in their efforts to make visual sense of data and information, they make some of the most engaging, incisive, and beautiful maps around. The studio’s commitment to empowering and connecting budding map-makers and civic-hackers has earned them a prominent place in the world of cartography.

In 2012, Stamen released three beautiful, open-source base maps, which quickly became default tile-sets for anyone tinkering with interactive map-making. Their watercolor tiles, in particular, are stunning to behold: zoomable and infinitely reusable, the maps render the entire world in algorithm-generated (but charmingly nuanced) watercolor strokes. Once you notice them, the tiles show up everywhere, from the San Francisco Chronicle to the lining of iPad cases.