30 April 2012
Rounding up our favourite tweets from last week:
Click the image above to view a larger map
Tomorrow is “Buddha Poornima” or “Vaishakh Poornima” – or as we’d like to say, Happy Birthday Buddha!
In the Buddhist calendar, today is also the Day of Enlightenment, and Mahaparinirvana, which makes sense, since one interpretation of the word Buddha means enlightened!
Buddhism was founded around the 6th and 4th centuries BCE and is largely attributed by the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama*, making it one of the oldest religions in the world, and one of the widest practiced. Buddhists have very specific beliefs that leave them impartial, embracing all living beings without discrimination.
To celebrate Buddha’s birthday, we’ve mapped Buddhist populations around the world!
Our map (above) shows that the religion is still most prevalent in East Asia, where it was founded over 2,500 years ago. Countries like as China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Burma have the largest number of Buddhists, with over 48,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 practitioners.
As the map indicates however, Buddhism is widely practiced and is extensively spread wide across the globe. In the 1800s, intellectuals brought Buddhism to Europe, and in the 1900s it became more commonly adopted, which is indicated on the map**. Europe has an approximate average of 1 million Buddhists per country – a high figure when we consider the overall total populations numbers of the countries in these regions.
Interested in creating your own “enlightening” maps using your own data?
Sign up for a 14-day free trial of our mapping software (no credit card required!) and see how easy it is!
Different variations and and degrees of affiliation exist around the world, making it difficult to accurately record the exact number of Buddhist worldwide. Our sources are listed below.
*Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism/
**Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0512/feature4/map.html
Ian, Darragh Quinn (our Marketo Account Exec), Colm
We were delighted to be asked to speak at Marketo‘s Revenue Rockstar Unplugged Tour when it rolled up to Dublin earlier this week!
We implemented their software last year when we became overwhelmed with enquiries about eSpatial OnDemand GIS™.
At the event, Colm (our Chief Sales & Marketing Officer) and Ian (our Online Marketing Manager) talked about why we needed Marketo, and the results that it helped us to achieve.
What kind of results? Great ones – like handling 980% more leads, and achieving positive ROI within 6 months!
As software providers ourselves, we have high standards and expectations when it comes to functionality, availability, and customer service.
At the end of the day, we believe that technology is all about empowering and enabling employees to get their work done – better, more quickly, (cost-)effectively, and efficiently.
Marketo has done that for us – allowing us to focus on our core business drivers: our software and our customers. We’re so delighted with the results, we’re happy to share our experience with you!
View the full presentation from Marketo’s Dublin Revenue Rockstar Unplugged Tour
Click the image above to view the larger map
Last Wednesday, Time‘s 9th annual “100 most influential people” list was released to the world – ruffling a few feathers, and flattering some others!
Described by Time as the people who “inspire us, entertain us, challenge us and change our world” – this year’s list toppers saw a generous mix of music figures, aristocracy, and presidential icons, to name but a few.
Looking at the list just wasn’t telling enough for us though – so we went ahead and mapped the country of origin of those on the list to see which countries have the biggest pool of influencers.
Let’s meet the 99 list toppers (we’re 1 short since number 36 is the “Anonymous” hacktivist internet group!*) who are donned the breakouts, the pioneers, moguls, the rogues, leaders, and the icons.
Our first map (above) shows all of the countries where one of the 100 most influential originates from. The map shows a nice concentration of Influencers spread across the globe, beyond just the US.
Click the image above to view a larger map
Want to create your own maps?
Sign up for a 14-day free trial of our mapping software (no credit card required!) and see how easy it is!
* Source: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/time-magazine-readers-name-anonymous-most-influential-person/11603
23 April 2012
We know you’re busy – so in case you haven’t been able to keep up with all eSpatial or industry news in the past week, we’ve made it easy for you with our best picks in a snappy weekly roundup!
There was lots trending on Twitter last week – here’s a small selection of our favourites!
If you’re not already following us on Twitter – catch us here: @espatial
23 April 2012
We’re delighted to announce that we’ll be participating in Marketo’s Revenue Rockstar Unplugged Tour in Dublin on 24 April!
We’ve already blogged about being huge Marketo fans – so we’re really excited to be speaking at the event.
At the event, you’ll hear from eSpatial’s in-house Revenue Rockstars – Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Colm Mulcahy, and Online Marketing Manager Ian Stanley.
Colm and Ian will be sharing eSpatial’s story: where we’ve come from, and how we’ve used Marketo to successfully handle the overwhelming demand for SaaS-based mapping software.
We hope to see you there!
(We’ll be sure to update you on how we got on – don’t forget to check back in!)
23 April 2012
We’ve said it before – and now it’s been validated by experts: presenting information visually is better!
A recent experiment found that both individuals and groups of office workers work more efficiently and retain more information when they represent it visually, as opposed to using traditional methods and software.
These findings suggest that when it comes to representing and analysing data, you’re far better off using tools that provide visually-oriented output – like mapping software!
Don’t just take the researchers’ word for it – why not test their findings yourself?
Sign up for a free trial of our mapping software and see how analysing your data on a map is quicker, easier, and more efficient than using traditional methods like spreadsheets.
20 April 2012
You don’t tend to think of Africa as a continent with a lot of water – but according to a new report, Africa sits on a huge reservoir!
It’s great news for the inhabitants of the continent – if the water is extracted and managed in the right way.
Want to know more? Read the full story – and see the map! – on the BBC’s website
Click the image above to view a larger map
Did you know that Sunday is Earth Day?
Environmental activists we’re not – but mapping enthusiasts we are! So upon hearing that it was coming up, we decided that a set of earth-related maps would work best in our attempt to inspire some awareness!
Earth Day is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment – and consider how things like our energy consumption and burning of fuels (such as oil, natural gas, diesel, and petrol) all have an effect on our planet. This is because when these emissions are released into the atmosphere it remains there for 100 to 200 years – leading to a rise in the earth’s temperature, causing global warming and climate change.**
CO2 emissions are one of the biggest detriments to our earth’s future and one of the biggest contributors to climate change. It’s a topical issue that countries worldwide are attempting to curb. The proof of this is in the pudding – just look at the maps!
Our first map (above) shows global CO2 emissions (measured in metric tonnes (MT) per capita) in 1998. The map illustrates much of what we might have expected to see – the big industrial players of the world such as the US, Germany, Norway, Russia and Saudi Arabia are all amongst the highest regions with CO2 emissions exceeding more than 10 MTs per capita.
Click the image above to view a larger map
In this map you’ll see China has moved up in their CO2 emissions per capita, while the big players who dominated our 1998 map (Germany, and other Western European countries) have either stagnated in the same position or reduced their CO2 emissions.
Want to create your own maps?
Sign up for a 14-day free trial of our mapping software (no credit card required!) and see how easy it is!
*Data sourced from the World Bank
**Source: http://timeforchange.org/CO2-cause-of-global-warming
19 April 2012
eSpatial is looking to expand its SQA (Software Quality Assurance) team!
We’re hiring a software tester, with the position available immediately. You’ll need to be team focused, quick learning, and have great interpersonal skills – but that’s just to begin with!
Read the Software Tester (QA) job spec for all the technical bits!
Agencies and third parties: Thanks for offering, but we’re only interested in dealing directly with candidates at this time. If we need additional assistance, you’ll hear about it first here on our blog!
