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The Power of Maps
Maps, generally defined, probably first appeared over 18,000 years ago (see Wikipe-
dia), but it wasn’t really until the 1500s that maps (as we think of them today) were
produced in large numbers (Woods, Rethinking the Power of Maps, page 27). Around
that time, maps became significant navigational and military aids and powerful tools
for cities, states, and nations to help organize boundaries and administrative activities.
These maps started to outline and actually define states and other political boundaries.
Woods writes, “the map possessed an all but unique power to give the elusive idea of
the state concrete form, to those outside looking in, certainly, but also to those living
within.” This idea that maps have the power to literally define the world around us,
and not just represent it, still holds true today and is in your hands as a map maker.
It is important to keep in mind that while maps are driven by data that has been col-
lected, often from observed data, maps are not inherently objective artifacts. A common
perception of a map is that it is a neutral display of collected data, similar to a spread-
sheet. But there are many questions when looking at a spreadsheet or a map: How
accurate is the data? How was the data collected? What data is not presented? These
issues show the subjectivity of maps.
Maps are akin to statistics. This definition of statistics from Wikipedia could apply to
mapmaking: “Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and inter-
pretation of data.” In statistics, data gets collected, aggregated, and then put through
various mathematical algorithms to either prove or disprove a hypothesis, usually
around some preexisting idea about the world. Statistics can easily be misused by ap-
plying specific methodologies to ensure a certain analytical outcome. In the same way,
a mapmaker collects and combines a huge amount of data, simplifies and codifies it,
and then presents it on paper or a computer screen so as to assert some specific idea.
Depending on the decisions made throughout the process, that idea can be conveyed
in many ways.
Maps are art. “Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with
symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses,
emotions, and intellect” (Wikipedia). Once data has been collected for a map, there
are still many decisions to be made on how to visually communicate that data on a
map, such as symbols, colors, interactions, or annotations. How does one symbolize a
church? What color is a county road? Where will the legend be? With maps, as with
art, every decision, no matter how small, is often intentional, so to convey a very specific
vision to the viewer. In these decisions is the power to communicate with maps.
Story Telling
Maps tell a story. Users expect a map to communicate an idea to them. This could be
a story about how there are over a billion people that live on less than a dollar a day
(see Figure 1-1). Or the story could be more complex, describing the rise, climax, and
2 | Chapter 1: Why Map with Drupal