What’s in a Map? The Agnostic Cartographer.
September 2, 2010 by Geo Hot Topics Editorial
Filed under World Regional Geography
What goes into making a map? And who gets to decide what is on the map? Writer John Gravois explores those questions in relation to Google’s mapping services – Google Earth ™ and Google Maps ™. For Geographers the making, manipulation, and interpretation of maps is not a new discussion. But does the popularity of Google mapping services change the discussion? And as students are prone to thinking that a map is the unalterable truth of reality, how do Google’s maps help or hurt trying to teach that the cartographer’s choices of map projection, simplification, map scale, data aggregation, and map type change our perceptions of what we see in the map? What do you think? What are your experiences using Google’s maps in lectures or for assignments?
Article Information
Source: Washington Monthly
Date last accessed: 9/02/10
Link: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.gravois.html
Below are two maps that are part of the Google Tools for Geographers that were highlighted at this year’s AAG meeting in Washington, DC. http://earth.google/com/outreach/aag.html
