Content uploaded by Alexander James Kent
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Alexander James Kent on Sep 24, 2015
Content may be subject to copyright.
Life
[…] we can be thankful that modern map-makers are not
only producing maps rapidly, cheaply and accurately, they
are also producing maps that are good to look at. […]
They do not forget that art rather than science was the
original keynote of their craft. Walter W. Jervis (1937)
Why map? For recording, planning, controlling,
possessing, or cherishing something of the world around
or within us, maps are the most effective tools for
communicating and expressing complex environments.
With maps we can explore or evade, empower or enslave,
exalt or expunge. Cartographic1language is articulate,
immediate and powerful, and its use is only limited by our
imagination.
Yet, maps never show the world as it is. For example,
even in Fra Mauro’s magnificent mappa mundi of c.1450
(Figure 1), which heralded the Renaissance by elevating
the scientific tenet of direct observation above
imagination, the sailors’ accounts are told through the
visual aesthetic of an illuminated manuscript. Five
centuries later, in what Walter Jervis (1937: 171) called
‘the supreme achievement of the modern age of
cartography’, the topographic map, the results of precise
survey are represented through a rich vocabulary of
cartographic symbols. Where the national landscape is the
subject of the map, its ‘faithful representation’ is no less a
selective representation which elevates and ennobles its
subject via certain aesthetic, societal and political ideals
that are supported by the state. Indeed, so protected have
these cartographic representations become, that the
preserved and conserved landscape of the topographic map
is almost transformed into a sacred landscape through its
cartography. It would seem that even the most accursed
landscapes find redemption through the cartographer’s
aesthetic.2
Cartographers are therefore aiming to produce more
than a mere symbol of their subject by pursuing this
tradition of idealism; they are aiming to create a ‘better’
world – one without the trappings of time and decay, of
dirt and sin. This may be especially true with maps that are
designed to express and communicate a landscape’s
natural beauty or to be ruthlessly fit for purpose, which
tend to attract admiration amongst cartographers and non-
cartographers alike. In creating a faithful representation of
a landscape, the cartographer’s vision and execution has to
remain true to the aesthetic of place, so for some
landscapes this can lead to the representation of an
untameable sublime with unnatural order.3
Some of these selective views can appear to be more
expressive by their distortion of perspective, but providing
an anchor of realism though their application of colour and
tone. Consider, for example, Heinrich C. Berann's first
map (Figure 2), which was created on the occasion of the
opening of the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse mountain
road in Austria (Troyer, n.d.). While Berann’s striking
representation is made more dramatic through, amongst
other devices, the impossible perspective, his mastery of
colour (which matches the landscape with remarkable
veracity, see Figure 3) lends a sense of realism to the map
and successfully evokes a sense of place that captivates the
user.
If the pre-war cartographer’s pursuit of constructing
an idealised representation of an imperfect world can be
summarized through what artist John Martin (1789–1854)
aspired to convey in The Plains of Heaven (Figure 4),
achieving clarity of expression and refining their sense of
the unity of form and function appear to have been their
goals. Indeed, dedication to these values lent to
cartographers and their maps real currency. Before the
Second World War, Jervis (1937: 152) had remarked,
‘Such is the high standing of the cartographers’ art that
anything put on a map now bears the stamp of authenticity
and genuineness; we trust a map’. However, the use of
propaganda maps seeking to ‘territorialize’ identity and
foster hegemony – notably in the cartography of
A PROFESSION LESS ORDINARY? REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE,
DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF CARTOGRAPHY
Alexander J. Kent
Abstract
Today, more people are making, sharing and using maps than ever before. While advances in technology
have, to some extent, always shaped how maps are made, shared and used, in this paper I suggest that
a series of three key innovations early in the new millennium not only transformed mapping practice,
but ‘rebooted’ cartography. Derived from a keynote address presented at the 50th Summer School of the
Society of Cartographers, this paper offers some brief reflections on the significance of these
innovations by setting them against the broader context of earlier developments in cartographic theory.
Organizing cartography’s transformational journey into three sections – Life, Death, and Resurrection
– it ultimately identifies some key challenges and opportunities for the cartographers of tomorrow.
SoC BULLETIN Vol 48 7
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)l_SOC Bulletin 25/05/2015 11:36 Page 7
Haushofer and the German Geopolitik school – had to a
degree betrayed that trust, leading to a post-war narrowing
of the cartographic canon and the bolstering of a
‘technicist and instrument’ understanding of representation
(Pickles, 2004: 40). Although ruthlessly effective in
communicating their theme, here was cartography’s
objective of constructing a better world turned upside-
down (Figure 5).
Hence, the post-war realignment of cartography – as
a discipline – sought a surer footing. Writing in Elements
of Cartography in 1953, the first edition of what was to
become the principal textbook of Western cartographic
practice of the twentieth century, Arthur H. Robinson’s
vision for a new future of cartography after the Second
World War was optimistic:
The profession is again attaining a position
comparable to that which it held during the period of
Flemish and French dominance in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Its position is on somewhat
sounder ground now for it has a more universal
appeal. Several factors have combined to promote
this phenomenal growth. One of the most important
is the fact that two world wars have occurred.
(Robinson, 1953: 6)
This echoes the words of Erwin Raisz (1948: vi) that ‘a
new school of cartography is developing with great
promise for a renaissance of this art’, primarily motivated
by the Second World War, which ‘brought forth an interest
in cartography unparalleled since the time of Columbus
Figure 1 World map (c.1450) by Fra Mauro (c.1400–c.1464), Museo Correr, Venice, vellum, c.2.4 x c.2.4 m, oriented south
(Wikipedia, 2004)
8 SoC BULLETIN Vol 48
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)m_SOC Bulletin 28/05/2015 13:34 Page 8
and Magellan’. With the intensive utilization of maps
during two world wars and new methods of survey and
colour printing in photogrammetry and photolithography,
cartography could address ever-increasing demands and
acquire a more prominent role in a modern society.
The ensuing intention was thus to place the
profession on a trajectory where it could be assured of
evolving into a serious discipline. This aspiration is clearly
implied on the cover of the first edition (1953) of
Robinson’s Elements of Cartography, which ‘Presents
cartography as an intellectual art and science rather than as
a sterile system of drafting and drawing procedures’. In
order to succeed under the post-war hegemony of
modernism, cartography would come to rely on the values
Figure 2 Heinrich C. Berann (1915–1999) Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse (1934) (reproduced with permission)
Figure 3 Grossglockner from Franz-Josefs-Höhe, August 2014 (photograph by the author)
SoC BULLETIN Vol 48 9
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)l_SOC Bulletin 25/05/2015 11:36 Page 9
of scientific inquiry, such as objectivity and empirical
research, to provide its authority, purpose, and direction.
In a climate of scientific positivism, this implied the quest
to determine universal principles that would assist the
cartographer in the creation of the optimum map.
The resulting reduction of the map’s purpose to one
of information transfer and, hence, communication, gave
rise to proposals of numerous models of communication
between cartographer and user. As these models continued
to develop, they became more diverse in character and
shared little agreement on what actually constituted each
fundamental element of the communication process, such
as map interpretation. Until the late 1980s, the notion of
information transfer remained the dominant paradigm in
cartographic theory. The bulk of research continued in its
aim to understand how to create better maps by being more
effective at communicating the message of the map to the
user. John Keates (1996: 122) was later keen to point out
various deficiencies in this approach, stating that what a
map offers is a possibility, not a message; the wealth of
human experience and knowledge, and the infinite ways in
which a map’s array of symbols are interpreted, cannot be
limited to a closed system. If the user and their needs are
not adequately defined, how could cartographers ever be
expected to do more than design for themselves? A general
theory of cartography – at least for the practitioner – had
proved elusive.
Death
A great civilization is not conquered from without until it
has destroyed itself within.
Will Durant (1944)
As selective representations, the nature of maps means that
they are never only about technology or design. People
Figure 5 Rupert von Schumacher Ein Kleinstaat Bedroht
Deutschland (A Minor State Threatens Germany) in “Zur
Theorie der Raumsdarstellung” Zeitschrift für Geopolitik,
November, 1934.
Figure 4 John Martin (1789–1854) The Plains of Heaven (1851–1853), Tate Britain, oil on canvas, 198.8 x 306.7 cm
(Wikipedia, 2014)
10 SoC BULLETIN Vol 48
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)l_SOC Bulletin 25/05/2015 11:36 Page 10
react differently to the world according to the
representation that they see. Hence, selectivity in their
representation leads to bias, and the critical examination of
the values that construct this, started to emerge from at
least the late 1970s (e.g. Aziz, 1978) to the early 1990s
(e.g. Wood, 1992). The contributions of Brian Harley
(1932–1991), especially his 1989 paper, ‘Deconstructing
the map’, brought a much-needed re-appraisal of maps.
Although map-makers have long understood that their
craft involves the construction of a persuasive and useful
pictorial representation of spatial relations (Pickles, 2004:
35), Harley offered a postmodern critique where the map is
either a text to be deconstructed or a discourse in which
knowledge as power is to be revealed (Taylor, 1992: 127).
Hence, the cartographer’s truth was just one view of the
truth; it could be examined, scrutinized, and discarded like
any other.
Towards the end of the last millennium, some
cartographers also were calling into doubt the authenticity
of their traditional symbolized world, with Collinson
(1997: 121) asking ‘Why can’t the sea look like the sea and
have waves that sparkle in the sunlight?’. Others (e.g.
Clifford, n.d.) sought to encourage communities to create
maps which celebrated local distinctiveness, as opposed to
the familiar yet homogeneous style imposed on the
landscape by a national series of topographic maps
through a standardized (and, therefore, limited)
symbology.
Yet from the practising cartographer’s perspective –
especially for those employed in university drawing
offices (typically the core SoC membership), whose work
was relied upon to communicate the spatial dimensions of
research – the critical evaluation of maps and mapping
signalled a decline in demand. More crucially, perhaps,
society had begun to lose its appetite for the sort of maps
which cartographers had been producing for generations.
This is what Gary Brannon, a university cartographer,
wrote in 1998:
It did not require a carefully controlled scientific
study on my part to discover a simple home truth:
that maps are [a] largely unimportant factor in the
everyday lives of most ordinary people. In my own
circle of friends, family, and acquaintances […] one
or two individuals did admit rather sheepishly […] to
owning an atlas […]. Others admitted to having
highway maps in the glove compartments of their
cars, though the general opinion was that it was
much easier to ask directions from a stranger when
lost […]. Few persons that I asked had ever actually
consulted a map while on vacation, and fewer still
ever bothered to look at maps in newspapers or in
books or magazines (Brannon, 1998: 5).
To today’s eyes and minds, saturated by interactive
mapping on every device and screen, this woeful appraisal
seems almost incredible. But from its perspective of
looking forward, the first web map service (WMS),
MapQuest, had only been launched in 1996 (Figure 6) and
consumer-grade GPS (Global Positioning System)
technology was in its infancy (the typical accuracy for
such devices at the time, due to Selective Availability –
intentional signal degradation – was 50 m horizontally and
100 m vertically4).
The decline in maps within academic papers in
geography in particular was charted by Wheeler’s (1998)
editorial for Urban Geography entitled ‘Mapphobia in
Geography? 1980–1996’ and again highlighted by
Martin’s (2000) editorial for Transactions of the IBG
called ‘In Memory of Maps’. Sensing how this trend
characterized a growing ambivalence in academic
geographers towards maps and mapping, Dodge and
Perkins (2008: 1271) noted:
Physical geographers may map their results on
occasion, but most human geographers somehow
feel that mapping is a pursuit beneath them, or
somehow antithetical to progressive work.
This is somewhat ironic, given that such maps are no less
a product of the same value-based system than the research
they are designed to accompany and illustrate. Indeed,
Dodge and Perkins were prompted to write their paper
after observing that the official location map used for the
annual RGS/IBG5conference was a Google Map. For an
institution with such an esteemed history of supporting the
forefront of map-making, this choice seemed to echo a
wider view, that such ‘anonymous’ maps were somehow
‘value-free’. (A simple comparison of Google Maps of
Crimea from servers in the US and Russia demonstrates
the fallibility of this position, as illustrated in Figure 7). It
is therefore no surprise that Norheim’s (2012) later study
highlighted that most academic journals lack sufficient
cartographic guidelines for producing maps and that GIS
(Geographical Information System) practitioners without
cartographic training often design maps that do not
effectively communicate their research. Nevertheless, if
cartographers have, in practice, tended towards conformity
Figure 6 Screenshot of MapQuest, c.1996
(http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/the-
web/20/392/2345, accessed 01/09/2014)
SoC BULLETIN Vol 48 11
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)l_SOC Bulletin 25/05/2015 11:36 Page 11
12 SoC BULLETIN Vol 48
and conservatism, society’s desire for maps had outgrown
this attitude and was ready to embrace innovation and
change.
Resurrection
Reboots remove any non-essential elements associated
with a franchise by starting the franchise's continuity over
and distilling it down to the core elements and concepts.
For consumers, reboots allow easier entry for newcomers
unfamiliar with earlier titles in a series.
Wikipedia (2014)
A comparison of our society’s maps and mapping activity
with that of 20 years ago will reveal unprecedented
change. Unlike the conscious decision behind the
rebooting of a film franchise, however, there was no single
event that signalled the reboot of cartography. From the
1960s, GIS sought to release maps from the limitations
afforded by the dominant medium of the time – paper. The
transition from analogue to digital gradually brought
fluidity and freedom between scales and between areas
and extents, but also in the type and amount of data that
could be stored and presented simultaneously (if not
legibly). Building on these developments in mapping, a
series of distinct technical innovations in the first decade
of the new millennium certainly incorporated some
colossal changes in the ways that maps are made, shared,
and used. Although some (or all) of these have been
referred to as the ‘democratization of map-making’ (e.g.
McLaren, 2012), people have, however, seldom been
without the power to map.6The key difference, perhaps,
was that the new technology allowed people to make and
consume maps in new, easier ways, and at an acceptable
level of accuracy for the majority of their purposes. The
series of major innovations which together rebooted
cartography are therefore as follows: the removal of
Selective Availability in GPS; OpenStreetMap; and
Google Earth.
I The Removal of Selective Availability in GPS (2000)
In 1996, the President of the United States, Bill Clinton,
signed a policy directive which led to the removal of
Selective Availability, the signal degradation inherent to
the constellation of GPS satellites, on 1st May 2000. The
subsequent development of cheaper, lighter, and more
sophisticated hand-held GPS receivers allowed civilian
users to establish their locations to a greater level of
accuracy (e.g. to within 10 m). Together with
improvements in web map services and the acquisition of
multi-scale cartographic base data, satellite-navigation
systems (SatNavs) became practically feasible and
commercially viable.7Providers of location-based services
could reach more users than ever before, particularly after
the incorporation of GPS receivers in smartphones, and
amateur map-makers could generate, upload and edit base
data by recording their waypoints and traces.
II OpenStreetMap (2004)
Without the removal of Selective Availability, the
development of consumer-grade GPS devices as described
above would not have been as dramatic, and, arguably,
OpenStreetMap (OSM), a collaborative map of the world
created by a community of map-makers and free to use
under licence, would not have been created – or at least not
be as successful as it is today, with over 2 million
registered users.8Created by Steve Coast in 2004 and
using a model similar to Wikipedia, OSM allows anyone
with an Internet connection to produce and edit maps
(Coast, 2005). It is, however, worth considering whether
this particular innovation could only have happened in the
UK, where the national mapping organization, Ordnance
Survey, has addressed jointly the needs of civilian and
military users for over two hundred years. Through
gradual development of its topographic mapping to suit the
needs of recreational map users and with a complex
licensing structure in place at the time, there was certainly
an opportunity in waiting for a new way to create, share
and use accurate mapping easily and freely. The value of
OSM is demonstrated much more effectively in post-
Figure 7 Google Maps of Crimea in August, 2014 from servers based (a) in the US and (b) in Russia, with a different
cartographic treatment of its border with Ukraine (Google, 2014, after Chappell, 2014). This is just one example of a web
map server showing the world differently to align with the values of the country in which it operates.
(a) (b)
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)m_SOC Bulletin 27/05/2015 08:43 Page 12
disaster mapping initiatives, where geographical
information is critically important to ongoing relief efforts,
for example, after the Haitian earthquake of 2010 (Kent,
2010).
III Google Earth (2005)
In 1998, US Vice-President Al Gore delivered a speech at
the California Science Center, Los Angeles, California, in
which he described his vision of a ‘Digital Earth’; a multi-
resolution, three-dimensional representation of the planet,
into which vast quantities of georeferenced data could be
embedded.9The creation of the virtual globe EarthViewer
3D, developed by Keyhole in 2004 and subsequently re-
launched as Google Earth in 2005 after the acquisition of
Keyhole by Google, saw Al Gore’s vision at least partially
realized. The year 1999 had seen the launch of IKONOS,
the first commercial satellite to deliver 1 m resolution
images, but satellite imagery remained the preserve of the
professional. The fluid navigation and free accessibility
gave those with an Internet connection the potential to
explore the globe as never before, while delivering a user
experience that made the most of digital data – freedom
from fixed scales, extents, and datasets. Hence, a new
means of exploring the world (albeit via imagery as
opposed to symbols) had penetrated the home computer.
Furthermore, it was possible to overlay imagery and other
data, using Google Earth as a georeferenced hub. Google
Maps, which also emerged in 2005 after the acquisition of
Where 2 Technologies, and offered a more traditional
cartographic format, was released as an API (Application
Programming Interface) in June that year, allowing its
integration into third-party websites and the overlay of
information. The rise in websites allowing such user-
generated content, especially the hybridization of
geospatial data or ‘mash-up’, is characteristic of what has
been termed ‘Web 2.0’ (Black and Coast, 2005).
New Opportunities and Challenges
If these three innovations together constitute a ‘reboot’ of
cartography, they also bring new opportunities:
• to make cartography more accessible to a wider map-
making community;
• to strip away the non-essential elements and re-focus
on the core principles of cartography; and
• to apply cartography through new technologies.
At the very least, the innovations outlined above have had
a dramatic impact on what users expect from maps as well
as the way they use and share information. Practising
cartographers therefore need to ensure that they are
inclusive, user-centric, and keen to learn new map-making
skills if their insights are to stay relevant. Some challenges
lie ahead, as follows:
SoC BULLETIN Vol 48 13
Figure 8 Map to accompany the article ‘Another Game of Thrones’, published in The Economist, 1st December, 2012
(Available at: http://www.economist.com/news/21567361-google-apple-facebook-and-amazon-are-each-others-throats-all-sorts-
ways-another-game and accessed 01/09/2014) (© The Economist, 2014)
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)l_SOC Bulletin 25/05/2015 11:37 Page 13
1) Acknowledge the centrality of aesthetics within
cartography and wield the breadth of its language.
Bottom line – maps don’t have to be pretty to be
successful.
If cartography has been rebooted, the aesthetics of its
language has also been rebooted and the future – or at least
the present – was brighter than Brannon (1991: 8) had
predicted:
Cartography in the 21st century seems certain to
follow the well-trodden path laid down in the last five
decades of technological change. As more and more
maps are produced digitally, design skills will
inevitably continue to diminish and aesthetics will no
longer be in the vocabulary of the map-maker. At that
point, I fear, map design will become a lost art.
Indeed, we are witnessing an exciting stage in cartography
where the traditional aesthetic language used to represent
place is being challenged by multiple cartographies that
use different aesthetic approaches (Kent, 2012: 41). Maps
should express, as well as communicate, their themes. For
example, is it likely that the map in Figure 8 would have
been created (for many reasons) without the reboot having
taken place? It is again appealing to read stories through
maps.
2) Acknowledge that users are all different and strive to
meet their essential needs where possible.
Bottom line – it’s not about us.
One of the problems with the communication models and
their attempts to improve the acuity of information transfer
was a narrowing of the user and their needs – in some
cases, the user simply became anonymous and faceless,
representing no-one. Everyone interprets and uses maps
differently, depending on their perception and experience
of graphic and cartographic language and of the world. If
one intellectual aspect of cartographic education serves to
separate trained from untrained map-makers, it should be
their consideration for the user. We cannot afford to
pretend that their needs do not exist. With new methods of
making and sharing maps, one size does not need to fit all
– listen to the user.
14 SoC BULLETIN Vol 48
Figure 9 Initial results of a Google Image search performed on the word ‘cartographer’ (accessed 01/09/2014)
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)l_SOC Bulletin 25/05/2015 11:37 Page 14
3) Acknowledge that maps are never value-free
representations.
Bottom line – be open and honest.
Critical cartography brought a fresh approach to the
interpretation of maps which means that their authority
cannot be taken for granted. Even if users are surprisingly
uncritical of data (consider, for example, the trust users
place in SatNavs), cartographers can help by being clearer
and more transparent about the limitations of their data and
the choices behind their representations. For instance, the
new Times Atlas includes a section entitled ‘The Power of
Maps’ (Vujakovic, 2014) which aims to educate the reader
in how maps are selective representations, and, ultimately,
products of society that serve certain interests.
4) Acknowledge that the world doesn’t stand still.
Bottom line – keep learning new ways to make maps!
Society’s appetite for maps cannot be overlooked and the
way in which maps are made is reliant on developments in
technology. Practising cartographers have tended to prefer
conformity over innovation, but radical innovations in
map design also need to come from cartographers. A
Google Image search (Figure 9) still suggests an antique
pen-and-ink craft that urgently needs updating. Even in
cinema, cartographers are sometimes portrayed
negatively,10 and we need to replace these unhelpful
connotations. As recently proclaimed by ICA President
Georg Gartner at the Opening Ceremony of the 26th
International Cartographic Conference in Dresden on 25th
August, 2013, ‘It’s OK to be a cartographer.’ To which I
would respond, ‘It’s best to be a cartographer!’.
Conclusion
This paper has suggested that a series of key innovations in
the first decade of the new millennium effectively led to a
reboot of cartography, extending to how maps are made,
shared, and used. If the reboot presents some opportunities
and challenges for the practising cartographer, society’s
appetite for new ways of understanding how we represent
the world – both within and without – should never be
underestimated.
References
Aziz, B.N. (1978) “Maps and the Mind” Human Nature 1
(8) pp.50–59.
Black, N. and Coast, S. (2007) “Geodata Collection in the
21st Century” The Bulletin of the Society of
Cartographers 41 (1,2) pp.3–8.
Brannon, G. (1991) “Is Map Design a Lost Art?” The
Bulletin of the Society of Cartographers 25 (2) pp.7–8.
Brannon, G. (1998) “Living in a World Without Maps:
Some Thoughts About Cartography in a Spatially
Dysfunctional World” The Bulletin of the Society of
Cartographers 32 (2) pp.5–8.
Brotton, J. (2014) Great Maps: The World’s Masterpieces
Explored and Explained London: Dorling Kindersley.
Chappell, B. (2014) “Google Maps Displays Crimean
Border Differently In Russia, U.S.” Available at:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/04/
12/302337754/google-maps-displays-crimean-border-
differently-in-russia-u-s (accessed 01/09/2014).
Clifford, S. (n.d.) “Parish Maps: Places, People and
Parish Maps” Available at:
http://commonground.org.uk/projects/essays/places-
people-and-parish-maps/ (accessed 01/09/14).
Coast, S. (2005) “OpenStreetMap” The Bulletin of the
Society of Cartographers 39 (1,2) p.62.
Collinson, A. (1997) “Virtual Worlds” The Cartographic
Journal 34 (2) pp.117–124.
Dodge, M. and Perkins, C. (2008) “Reclaiming the Map:
British Geography and Ambivalent Cartographic
Practice” Environment and Planning A 40
pp.1271–1276.
Durant, W. (1944) The Story of Civilization Volume 3:
Caesar and Christ New York: Simon & Schuster.
Grewal, M.S., Weill, L.R. and Andrews, A.P. (2001)
Global Positioning Systems, Inertial Navigation, and
Integration New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Harley, J.B. (1989) “Deconstructing the Map”
Cartographica 26 (2) pp.1–20.
Jervis, W.W. (1937) The World in Maps: A Study in Map
Evolution New York: Oxford University Press.
Keates, J. (1996) Understanding Maps (2nd ed.) Harlow:
Longman.
Kent, A.J. (2010) “Helping Haiti: Some Reflections on
Contributing to a Global Disaster Relief Effort” The
Bulletin of the Society of Cartographers 44 (1,2)
pp.39–45.
Kent, A.J. (2012) “From a Dry Statement of Facts to a
Thing of Beauty: Understanding Aesthetics in the
Mapping and Counter Mapping of Place”
Cartographic Perspectives 73 pp.39–60.
Martin, R. (2000) “In Memory of Maps” (Editorial)
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
(New Series) 25 pp.3–6.
McLaren, C. (2012) “The Democratization of
Mapmaking: The Result of a Potent Digital
Revolution” Engaging Cities Available at:
http://engagingcities.com/article/democratization-
mapmaking-result-potent-digital-revolution (accessed
01/09/14).
Norheim, R.A. (2012) “Cartographic Standards and
Practice in Academic Journals” Paper presented at the
2012 Esri International User Conference, San Diego,
21st–25th July Available at: http://proceedings.esri.com/
library/userconf/proc12/papers/307_26.pdf (accessed
01/09/2014).
Pickles, J. (2004) Cartographic Reason: Mapping and the
Geo-Coded World London: Routledge.
SoC BULLETIN Vol 48 15
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)l_SOC Bulletin 25/05/2015 11:37 Page 15
Raisz, E. (1948) General Cartography New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Robinson, A.H. (1953) Elements of Cartography New
York: John Wiley & Sons.
Taylor, P.J. (1992) “Politics in Maps, Maps in Politics: A
Tribute to Brian Harley” Political Geography 11 (2)
pp.127–129.
Troyer, M. (n.d.) “The World of H.C. Berann” Available
at: http://www.berann.com/ (accessed 01/09/2014).
Vujakovic, P. (2014) “The Power of Maps” in The Times
Comprehensive Atlas of the World (14th edition)
London: Times Books, pp.42–43.
Wheeler, J.O. (1998) “Mapphobia in Geography?
1980–1996” Urban Geography 19 (1) pp.1–5.
Wood, D. (1992) The Power of Maps New York: Guilford
Press.
Notes
1. My definition of cartography incorporates the
intellectual art, science, design and technology of
map-making as well as the practical process of
creating maps. I understand the relationship between
cartography and map-making to be somewhat
analogous to that between architecture and building.
2. For example, consider how Auschwitz is rendered at
http://panorama.auschwitz.org/. Surely, the
symbolization of such landscapes presents a crisis of
representation in terms of cartographic aesthetics.
3. There is not scope here to explore the cartographic
treatment of the sublime, but this paradox should
itself be examined in some detail.
4. Without the improvements afforded by differential
GPS, which was a technique employed for more
precise surveying by GPS at the time. See Grewal et
al. (2001: 103) for more details.
5. Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of
British Geographers. ‘Founded in 1830, the Royal
Geographical Society (with IBG) is dedicated to the
development and promotion of geographical
knowledge, together with its application to the
challenges facing society and the environment’ (see
http://www.rgs.org/HomePage.htm).
6. There are, of course, different climates (and cultures)
of map use, which largely depend upon the
relationship between state, landscape and people.
Nevertheless, mapping belongs to the human
condition.
7. For example, in 2002, TomTom released its first
navigation product, the TomTom Navigator, for
PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant), supplied with an
in-car cradle and a GPS receiver.
8. As of September, 2014. See
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Stats for an
update.
9. See http://www.isde5.org/al_gore_speech.htm#.
10. Consider, for example, Spy Game (directed by Tony
Scott, 2001). Despite the significant role of satellite
imagery in the film’s plot, the cartographer – and
provider of geospatial intelligence – is portrayed as a
socially and professionally isolated individual.
Biography
Alex shares his life-long passion for maps and enthusiasm
for cartography with students at Canterbury Christ Church
University, where he is Senior Lecturer in Geography and
GIS. He also lectures in map design for the International
Masters on Management and Applied Techniques in
Cartography at the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de
Catalunya. Formerly Head of Southampton University’s
Cartographic Unit, Alex is keen to support practising
cartographers through his roles as Vice Chair of the ICA's
Map Design Commission, Vice President of the British
Cartographic Society, by representing ‘Education’ on the
UK Cartography Committee, and as the newly appointed
Editor of The Cartographic Journal.
16 SoC BULLETIN Vol 48
SOC Bulletin (Vol 48)l_SOC Bulletin 25/05/2015 11:37 Page 16
