THE MAP NERD

About The Map Nerd

Eric “The Original Map Nerd” Broughton entered Bowling Green State University in 2003 with every intention of obtaining a degree in History… where he very quickly learned that, outside of a lifetime of academia, he couldn’t build much of a career studying obsolete battlefield tactics. Fortunately, a professor instead sold him on pursuing a degree in Geography: “the study of the intersection of physical space and history.”

This change in focus introduced Broughton to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), an innovative technology that, with selective availability on civilian GPS and the launch of Google Earth in the early 2000s, was just beginning to get national attention. Seeing the potential power and versatility of GIS from the start, Broughton earned his degree in Geography in 2007.

After the traditional three-month job search in which all recent college graduates reach full maturity in their mother’s basement, Broughton bust out of his academic cocoon fully matured and ready to take a job with Cabela’s Inc. statistics department: a dream come true for an Eagle Scout and burgeoning Map Nerd. While most of Broughton’s classmates pursued jobs in sectors that had used GIS for years, Eric found himself in direct mail and retail sales. And while this may sound like a let-down to the uninitiated — as you likely know if you’re reading this — direct mail and retail sales were scratching the surface in 2007 of just how much GIS would revolutionize the industry through targeted advertising.

This blank slate for Broughton’s GIS expertise, for a company that desperately needed his services and had no real precedent of how best to use them, enabled Broughton to explore and develop custom techniques to analyze and communicate their wealth of data to maximize Cabela’s outreach and marketing spend. Indeed, it was at Cabela’s that, owing to one of his managers calling him a “cardiologist” instead of a cartographer, Broughton’s anointment as the Map Nerd came to pass. At the end of the day, it cut down on considerable confusion.

Tiring of fast-paced life in the bustling metropolis of Sidney, Neb. (Pop. 6,000), Broughton moved to the Western New York area in 2010 to bring his unique skill set to the real estate appraisal and market study industries — another chance to serve companies and organizations with a high need and extreme shortage of GIS specialists. Creating custom maps and analytics for beer distributors, real estate appraisers, and his own nerdy pursuits, Broughton found his true calling growing into the one and only Map Nerd, immersing himself in the data and demographics of the real estate industry and helping countless clients maximize their marketing strategies.

Recognizing his unique skill set as a map and data consultant, Broughton struck out on his own in 2019. Fully embracing his inner Map Nerd, he brings the science of geography to the retail and real estate industries to help existing small and medium businesses grow their client bases, entrepreneurs determine their optimum target location, and real estate agents find the perfect homes for their clients. Doesn’t matter if you need real estate mapping, demographic mapping, comp mapping or customer mapping — even geneology mapping and maps for gifts — the Map Nerd is your one-stop map expert extraordinaire.

Disclaimer: while The Map Nerd possesses superhuman analytical skills, he does not look all that different from you or I at first glance. After all, not all heroes wear capes.