California Oil Wells: A Curiosity Map Built in QGIS

Personal Project – 2024

Summary: Mapped over 249,000 oil and gas wells across California (1977–2022) using public data and QGIS. The project gave me early, hands-on experience with large geospatial datasets before taking a formal GIS course.

Tools: QGIS, CalGEM public data

Skills: Data visualization, symbology, spatial filtering, handling large datasets

Outcome: Visualized active and inactive wells across California; developed foundational GIS skills through independent exploration

Project Overview: This project started with a simple question: How many oil wells are in California? I downloaded public well data from CalGEM and used QGIS to filter, symbolize, and map more than 249,000 well locations from 1977 to 2022. It was a self-driven way to explore spatial data before I had any formal training in GIS.

Key Skills Gained:

• Imported, filtered, and symbolized large spatial datasets in QGIS
• Used symbology to distinguish feature types (e.g., active vs. inactive wells)
• Explored the potential of public GIS data for independent analysis
• Built technical skills by following personal curiosity

Published: 2025-04-30 11:30:00