About - Jess Loves Maps

Hi, I’m Jess Bonsell and the creator behind Jess Loves Maps. I have been a GIS professional for almost 15 years and live in Adelaide, Australia.

Ever since I can remember, I have loved maps. I recall gazing lovingly at atlases as a child, and I owned a globe that I coveted. Yes, I still have one (albeit not the same one!). As I got older, I started reading the street directory, and this led me to guiding my dad to new locations from the backseat of the car. Dad never gave the directory to my mum in the front seat, oh no! The task always went straight to me. It’s hard to imagine a world without Google Maps these days, but it certainly existed and we survived (somehow).

Aged 12, I created little town/suburb maps based on the style of the street directory. I still own the folder they sit in, and I look back at them and laugh sometimes. I was certainly creative, even if they made little sense geographically, or demographically.

A hand-drawn map, street directory-style, of a fictional place called Sandy Beach — I love that, for such a tiny place, there’s a big shopping centre, library, hall, primary AND a high school! Also, spot the telephone symbol. Very few Telstra phone boxes exist these days, a relic of the past.

At the end of 2003, aged 15, my parents took my sister and I to Leicestershire, England, where my dad’s family are from. In January 2004 we took a day trip to London, and I remember navigating the Underground with ease. I led my family down escalators and towards the correct platforms with confidence. I didn’t know that the term ‘spatial awareness’ existed back then, but upon reflection I had it in spades.

I began my third year of high school that year, and we were to undertake work experience. My dad had made me aware of a career option called ‘cartography’, as he thought I’d be good at it. I have no idea where he knew of the term, but I am very glad he did. As a result, for my work experience module I went to the GIS Mapping Unit of the then Department of Primary Industries and Resources (PIRSA). I used a digitiser screen to create geological polygons for a map, and edited the map using ESRI ArcEdit. Strangely enough, nine years later I would work alongside some people I met during my experience. (A way to make those people feel old, I think.)

At university, I ended up studying a newly created undergraduate degree entitled Bachelor of Sustainable Environments: Geographical and Earth Systems. I got to learn about GIS, in theory and practical applications, but I was able to learn about environmental and earth sciences too, and they enriched my love for the natural world. After university I started in a temporary position

Who doesn’t enjoy a sneaky selfie in the office?

Current role
Senior Publications Analyst – GIS
Geological Survey of South Australia
Department for Energy and Mining

Education
Bachelor of Sustainable Environments (Geographical and Earth Systems)
University of South Australia
Awarded Arthur J Smith Prize

Member of
Women in Geospatial Science Network