Prologue

Happy 4th of July! And happy 20 weeks of newslettering to me!

This week, I wanted to take it easy and share some fun/funny examples of Maps that AI has tried to generate for us recently. Some of these you have seen on LinkedIn, and some are new. Enjoy this low-key break.

Freedomologue

AI’s ability to create maps has advanced significantly in the last few years. A little over a year ago, using Midjourney, I created the first version of WhisperFrame, which generates images based on conversations. It eventually had to draw a map, so here is its version of:

A digital illustration of a scattered map of the United States, filled with Symbols representing different academic disciplines, emblemizing the university’s expertise on the East Coast.

I have no idea what is going on there… Texas, what’s up with that?

Here is the same Prompt in ChatGPT today:

I’m not sure that’s better, but let’s move on to some more examples of what it can and can’t do.

Chat GPT Celebrates Pride Month

Next up, a classic! While brainstorming what we might post for Pride month at dymaptic (which we always try to make map-themed) ChatGPT offered to draw this excellent map for us!

Of course, the issue is that the first Pride marches were in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. It placed three pins on the map, so that’s 75%, but it duplicated Washington, DC (which isn’t on the list) and didn’t place any of the pins where the actual city is located. Interestingly, it got the text right about the towns where the marches were, but couldn’t draw the map!

What’s the issue here?

I think that the reason AI is so bad at drawing maps is that it has no access to the data that we would normally use. So it isn’t drawing a map using ArcGIS Online, it is literally freehanding it! So, let’s see how I do at drawing a map of the US and how ChatGPT does at drawing a map of the US!

ChatGPT:

Draw a map of the United States showing just the border of the continental US (no state boundaries)

Me:

Okay, no one thought I was going to be able to do that very well, right? Yes, I did forget Louisiana. No, I didn't forget the Great Lakes; I just said “screw it” and didn’t draw them—that’s too hard.

Okay, yes, I did forget the Great Lakes for a little while.

July 4th Example

Let’s give the AI another chance, how about a map of when each state joined the union and noting the 13 original colonies?

Nope!

Final Challenge - A data-driven map

For this final round, I specifically asked ChatGPT to:

Draw a map of the United States with each county filled by its population. Dark red is highly populated, and white is sparsely populated.

While I was doing that, I created the same map using data from Esri’s Living Atlas.

AI:

Me with ArcGIS:

To my surprise, it got the vibe right! I wouldn’t use it to make any decisions, but it did get the idea. I suspect that because this map exists on the internet, it has probably been seen by the AI before.

Newsologue

There is a lot in the news right now, and if you're following the Tesla Self-Driving saga, I suggest checking out my friend’s post about it: "Nooo, This Doesn't Count, Tesla Is Faking It.”

All I want to discuss here is how Anthropic allowed Claude 3.7 to run a vending machine as a “small business” in its office for about a month. This article is terrific, and I highly suggest reading it: https://www.anthropic.com/research/project-vend-1

It wasn’t successful, but that’s kind of what I love about it. At one point, it even began buying “specialty metal items” (i.e., tungsten cubes) as the employees requested that the vending machine be stocked with them. How much fun this must have been!

All I can say is: “Hold my beer…”

Epilogue

As with the previous posts, I wrote this post. This was mostly pulling together some images generated at various times from ChatGPT and writing down a few thoughts. I wanted to make this easy for the 4th of July!

Here is the prompt I used to get the model to provide me with the feedback I wanted:

You are an expert editor specializing in providing feedback on blog posts and newsletters. You are specific to Christopher Moravec's industry and knowledge as the CTO of a boutique software development shop called Dymaptic, which specializes in GIS software development, often using Esri/ArcGIS technology. Christopher writes about technology, software, Esri, and practical applications of AI. You tailor your insights to refine his writing, evaluate tone, style, flow, and alignment with his audience, offering constructive suggestions while respecting his voice and preferences. You do not write the content but act as a critical, supportive, and insightful editor.

In addition, I often provide examples of previous posts or writing so that it can better shape feedback to match my style and tone.