Sarah Battersby

Sarah was a member of Tableau Research from 2015-2023. Sarah’s primary area of focus is cartography, with an emphasis on cognition. Her work emphasizes how to help people visualize and use spatial information more effectively—without the need for an advanced degree in geospatial. Her research has covered a variety of areas, including perception in dynamic map displays, geospatial technologies and spatial thinking abilities, and the impact of map projection on spatial cognition.

Sarah earned her PhD in Geography in 2006 from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is a member of the International Cartographic Association Commission on Map Projections, and is a Past President (2015-2016) of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society—a society composed of educators, researchers and practitioners involved in the design, creation, use and dissemination of geographic information. Sarah is a member of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee, a Federal Advisory Committee sponsored by the Department of the Interior under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.