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Title: Transforming Communities through Mapping: Harnessing the Potential of New Technologies

Citation Type: Book, Section

Publication Year: 2011

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Abstract: Maps are models that selectively feature abstract spatial patterns or literal geographic features. They can take the form of a simple drawing on a paper napkin or a sophisticated three-dimensional computer animation, but the principle is the same: they use symbols to help people find their way and make sense of the world. They can also be instrumental in the process of placemaking and understanding places. Printed maps can convey greater authority than their narrative counterparts, more effectively masking their subjectivity amid a precise scale bar, north arrow, labels, and colorful patterns. But maps can also be interpreted as propositions, putting forward the mapmaker’s view of the world—or a specific place—rather than an objective representation.1 As social constructions, they may reveal as much about the values of the mapmaker as the topic being mapped. Deciding what to map—elevation along a journey, competing coffee shops within a market, or disparities in health insurance coverage—is the most important decision, but choices about the title, variable definitions and classifications, and use of symbols can also greatly influence how people interpret a map.

Url: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230117204_11

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Authors: Hillier, Amy

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Pages: 187-203

Volume Title: The Paradox of Urban Space

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Publisher Location: New York

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Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Other

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