Changing Cartograhies
Changing Cartographies
Introduction According to Silver and Balmori (2003 48) “Cartography, a term derived from the word for chart (charte) or drawing, has in recent years undergone a radical transformation.” This was identified earlier as Anson (1988 ix) noted “Today the art and science of map making is caught in the throes of a technological revolution which shows no signs of slowing down.” However, advancements in mapping have been associated with scientific developments in mainly the computer and internet technologies. Prior to this, mapping had been quite primitive in a sense as Wikipedia (2012) states that cartograms were created by hand before Waldo Tobler produced one of the first cartograms aided by computer visualization. During this time, cartograms were apparently biased as Muehrcke (1974 14) observed that cartographers had “strongly emphasised the visible, the tangible, the static, the physical and the historical values over the invisible, intangible, dynamic, human and futurist aspects of the world”. These strongly emphasised aspects according to Kirkpatrick (2005) were the “easiest to map” which might be the reason behind this biasness. I agree with Muehrcke but nevertheless, cartograms were in existence prior to his claim. Silver and Balmori (2003 48) confirm this: “The widespread accessibility of internet, rapid proliferation of new data-acquisition devices and fast computers have redefined the map-maker’s art in terms from those rooted in history of paper.” This reinforces Anson’s statement that the development of cartography had really accelerated since the technological revolution and that there were generally less cartograms before computers were introduced. These sources therefore, suggest that technological deficiency was the main reason for the biasness of cartographers. The invisible, intangible, dynamic, human and futurist aspects of the world might have been difficult to map without computers and on the other hand, the other aspects were
Introduction According to Silver and Balmori (2003 48) “Cartography, a term derived from the word for chart (charte) or drawing, has in recent years undergone a radical transformation.” This was identified earlier as Anson (1988 ix) noted “Today the art and science of map making is caught in the throes of a technological revolution which shows no signs of slowing down.” However, advancements in mapping have been associated with scientific developments in mainly the computer and internet technologies. Prior to this, mapping had been quite primitive in a sense as Wikipedia (2012) states that cartograms were created by hand before Waldo Tobler produced one of the first cartograms aided by computer visualization. During this time, cartograms were apparently biased as Muehrcke (1974 14) observed that cartographers had “strongly emphasised the visible, the tangible, the static, the physical and the historical values over the invisible, intangible, dynamic, human and futurist aspects of the world”. These strongly emphasised aspects according to Kirkpatrick (2005) were the “easiest to map” which might be the reason behind this biasness. I agree with Muehrcke but nevertheless, cartograms were in existence prior to his claim. Silver and Balmori (2003 48) confirm this: “The widespread accessibility of internet, rapid proliferation of new data-acquisition devices and fast computers have redefined the map-maker’s art in terms from those rooted in history of paper.” This reinforces Anson’s statement that the development of cartography had really accelerated since the technological revolution and that there were generally less cartograms before computers were introduced. These sources therefore, suggest that technological deficiency was the main reason for the biasness of cartographers. The invisible, intangible, dynamic, human and futurist aspects of the world might have been difficult to map without computers and on the other hand, the other aspects were
References: Muehrcke, P C (1974) Map reading and abuse, Journal of Geography, Vol. 73, Issue 5, 11-23. · Muehrcke, P C and Muehrcke J O (1974) Maps in literature, Geographical Review , Vol · Peterson, I (2004) A better distorted view, Science News, Vol 166, No · Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia (2012) Cartogram, retrieved 29 April 2012 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartogram · · Wilford, J N (2000) The mapmakers, New York, A