The 30 | Maps
May was all about maps, and I'm thrilled to share this month's newsletter. My family didn't take fancy vacations when I was growing up, but we traveled the Great Lakes region by car each summer. That meant impossible-to-refold paper maps from the wire racks at state welcome centers. I asked my friend Rosemary, a cartographer at National Geographic, about her early interactions with maps.
"The hallway leading to my bedroom was covered in USGS topo maps," she says. "I walked past that every single day of my life. It was imprinted on my brain really early on."
She and I talked about two particular map qualities.
First, maps cram multitudes of information into such small spaces -- layers and layers and layers -- and then they transform that information into a cohesive offering. Yet too many people end their cognitive associations of maps at the mundane function of a navigational tool.
Maps are merely models, and we can mold models to show a variety of human experiences and knowledge. Digital technologies allow this to be true to a delightfully interactive and engaging degree. Have you ever thought about what cities would look like if their light profiles were mountains? Or which person's name a particular town searches for most on Wikipedia?
We most often use maps to represent geographical spaces, but these instruments can also provide a visual vernacular for the physical world in other ways, such as tracing our garbage or showcasing Library of Congress collections.
However, as pointed out in an article about fictional worlds ((related: my favorite library exhibit ever)), any map has a some bias because a human created it.
Whether we talk about race or personal identity or socioeconomic circumstances, a cartographer, like a journalist or photographer, brings certain perceptions and beliefs that inform a worldview, even if they aim for the best truth possible. That was the second point Rosemary and I chatted about.
Who is allowed to tell the stories contained in a particular map? How are those authorities decided and how do they shape the narratives?
Rosemary mentioned some recent analyses of the volunteer-led OpenStreetMap.
"Women are adding in daycare places or health clinics. For a long time, that stuff was missing from the map."
Like memories, maps bend with our personal experiences. I'm excited about the new voices in cartography and meaning-making and the new ways we can communicate age-old information.
Check out my new poem published in the timely Maps issue of Lines+Stars literary journal.