5 ms·

The World's Newest, Most Gloriously Designed Maps

68 points by yaseen-rob 8y ago

fermienrico 8y ago
These look more like infographics than something a cartographer would design. I don't know much about maps, but I have an intuition of the difference. Cartography in my view is a serious study of 2D space, using mathematics and generally providing a solution to a precise problem (various projections address different aspects such as equal areas, etc.). Infographic is an elementary mapping of geographic data on a map which is more than often only useful in marketing-type materials. Every time I see an infographic, I want to skip to the next page. Quoting the article, "Cartographers, rejoice". I also despise this kind of writing style.
- s0rce 8y ago
  I'm not sure about the specific definition of maps vs. infographics and if something can be both. However, regarding the National Park maps do seem to be mostly the latter, while aesthetically pleasing, the lack of topographic information renders them largely useless when actually exploring the park.
  - jacobolus 8y ago
    These maps are designed to be informational for casual tourists driving between landmarks and taking short hikes on accessible and well marked trails, not for serious hikers going off trail into the forest or whatever. The parks should also have more serious topo maps available. For example, for the park whose map was shown in the article, USGS offers: https://store.usgs.gov/product/518738 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518738 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518520 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518520 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518727 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518727 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518422 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518422 etc.
- jessriedel 8y ago
  This was my first impression. I think your comment is constructive and wish people who feel different would explain why.
  - snowwrestler 8y ago
    The article is about an atlas being released by the North American Cartographic Information Society. So I find it ridiculous for someone who says "I don't know much about maps, but I have an intuition" to complain that it's somehow not real cartography or something. I mean, everyone is welcome to their opinion, but there's a big difference between saying you don't like a map, vs attacking the professional legitimacy of a map. And a little bit of Internet research on the names in the article shows, for example: - John Nelson has a masters in geoscience and works for Esri. - Tom Patterson holds an MA in geography and is a cartographer for the National Park Service. - Daniel Coe is a GIS cartographer for the Washington Geological Survey. That took me like 5 minutes to find out. Intuition is fine, but please follow it up with some actual work. These people are as real as it gets for cartographers.
    - jessriedel 8y ago
      That doesn't actually engage with the criticism, it just appeals to authority (especially dubious since he's making an aesthetic criticism). I personally have no idea if there is a cartography authority that is worth listening to. Likewise, if you told me that such-and-such comic was adored by some members of the Manga Appreciation Society of North America, I have no idea if that's meaningful. Furthermore, the fact that they are practitioners doesn't actually mean they represent an expert consensus. Suppose I told you that there is a European Cartographic Information Society and they think the North American Cartographic Information Society has completely sold out to clickbaiting, forsaking the intellectual rigor of traditional cartography to create infotainment maps with mass appeal. (These kinds of disputes between authorities occur all the time, even in academic fields, e.g., analytic vs. continental philosophy.) Isn't that scenario completely compatible with the evidence you've given?
      - fermienrico 8y ago
- objectivetruth 8y ago
  I do know a lot about maps and I think many cartographers and "neogeographers" would agree that your characterization of "cartography" vs. "making infographics" is incorrect. An infographic is simply a visualization of information. A simple bar chart -- with keys and labels -- is an infographic. Every map IS an infographic. If you are mentally separating them, I'd be curious what your criteria are. Cartography is "making maps" -- that's essentially it. And of course, for most professional map-makers working beyond a local scale, you DO need to have a basic understanding of projections and both 2D and 3D space. "Mercator's the worst, your source data is frequently in some weird state-specific projection, etc." But the software draws all the maps from data now, at least the base layers. Nobody is using a slide rule and pages of handwritten trigonometry calculations to draw maps with pen and paper. So I think the number of people working on "the serious study of mathematics... projections of different aspects," etc. is pretty small, just the programmers working on GIS implementations, or maybe figuring out new LIDAR scan precision algorithms, or publishing in geographic journals with new algorithms for storing geodata. I'm certain that almost all of the cartographers I've met at GIS conferences -- the Google Earth/Maps team employees, even municipal GIS analysts who simply create purely informative and very plain maps of properties -- would agree that the maps in question are all aesthetically pleasing, informative, and successful examples of high-quality modern cartography. (Check out Dr. John Snow's "infographic" -- interesting history! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outbreak#/media/File:Snow-cholera-map-1.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outb... )
OmIsMyShield 8y ago
Not minimizing the horror - but the _What if it was your city_ maps drew circles that were somehow quite a bit smaller than I imagined. Maybe it's precisely because it's so horrific that it loomed larger than life in my head, who knows.
- ant6n 8y ago
  In cities, a lot of people live in small circles.
- objectivetruth 8y ago
  The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a fission bomb, 15-16 kilotons (of TNT equivalent). The biggest bomb the US has currently (not even close to the biggest developed by the US or USSR) is 1.2 MEGAtons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B83_nuclear_bomb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B83_nuclear_bomb

68 points by yaseen-rob 8y ago

These look more like infographics than something a cartographer would design. I don't know much about maps, but I have an intuition of the difference. Cartography in my view is a serious study of 2D space, using mathematics and generally providing a solution to a precise problem (various projections address different aspects such as equal areas, etc.). Infographic is an elementary mapping of geographic data on a map which is more than often only useful in marketing-type materials. Every time I see an infographic, I want to skip to the next page. Quoting the article, "Cartographers, rejoice". I also despise this kind of writing style.

s0rce 8y ago
I'm not sure about the specific definition of maps vs. infographics and if something can be both. However, regarding the National Park maps do seem to be mostly the latter, while aesthetically pleasing, the lack of topographic information renders them largely useless when actually exploring the park.
- jacobolus 8y ago
  These maps are designed to be informational for casual tourists driving between landmarks and taking short hikes on accessible and well marked trails, not for serious hikers going off trail into the forest or whatever. The parks should also have more serious topo maps available. For example, for the park whose map was shown in the article, USGS offers: https://store.usgs.gov/product/518738 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518738 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518520 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518520 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518727 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518727 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518422 https://store.usgs.gov/product/518422 etc.
jessriedel 8y ago
This was my first impression. I think your comment is constructive and wish people who feel different would explain why.
- snowwrestler 8y ago
  The article is about an atlas being released by the North American Cartographic Information Society. So I find it ridiculous for someone who says "I don't know much about maps, but I have an intuition" to complain that it's somehow not real cartography or something. I mean, everyone is welcome to their opinion, but there's a big difference between saying you don't like a map, vs attacking the professional legitimacy of a map. And a little bit of Internet research on the names in the article shows, for example: - John Nelson has a masters in geoscience and works for Esri. - Tom Patterson holds an MA in geography and is a cartographer for the National Park Service. - Daniel Coe is a GIS cartographer for the Washington Geological Survey. That took me like 5 minutes to find out. Intuition is fine, but please follow it up with some actual work. These people are as real as it gets for cartographers.
  - jessriedel 8y ago
    That doesn't actually engage with the criticism, it just appeals to authority (especially dubious since he's making an aesthetic criticism). I personally have no idea if there is a cartography authority that is worth listening to. Likewise, if you told me that such-and-such comic was adored by some members of the Manga Appreciation Society of North America, I have no idea if that's meaningful. Furthermore, the fact that they are practitioners doesn't actually mean they represent an expert consensus. Suppose I told you that there is a European Cartographic Information Society and they think the North American Cartographic Information Society has completely sold out to clickbaiting, forsaking the intellectual rigor of traditional cartography to create infotainment maps with mass appeal. (These kinds of disputes between authorities occur all the time, even in academic fields, e.g., analytic vs. continental philosophy.) Isn't that scenario completely compatible with the evidence you've given?
    - fermienrico 8y ago
objectivetruth 8y ago
I do know a lot about maps and I think many cartographers and "neogeographers" would agree that your characterization of "cartography" vs. "making infographics" is incorrect. An infographic is simply a visualization of information. A simple bar chart -- with keys and labels -- is an infographic. Every map IS an infographic. If you are mentally separating them, I'd be curious what your criteria are. Cartography is "making maps" -- that's essentially it. And of course, for most professional map-makers working beyond a local scale, you DO need to have a basic understanding of projections and both 2D and 3D space. "Mercator's the worst, your source data is frequently in some weird state-specific projection, etc." But the software draws all the maps from data now, at least the base layers. Nobody is using a slide rule and pages of handwritten trigonometry calculations to draw maps with pen and paper. So I think the number of people working on "the serious study of mathematics... projections of different aspects," etc. is pretty small, just the programmers working on GIS implementations, or maybe figuring out new LIDAR scan precision algorithms, or publishing in geographic journals with new algorithms for storing geodata. I'm certain that almost all of the cartographers I've met at GIS conferences -- the Google Earth/Maps team employees, even municipal GIS analysts who simply create purely informative and very plain maps of properties -- would agree that the maps in question are all aesthetically pleasing, informative, and successful examples of high-quality modern cartography. (Check out Dr. John Snow's "infographic" -- interesting history! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outbreak#/media/File:Snow-cholera-map-1.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outb... )

OmIsMyShield 8y ago

Not minimizing the horror - but the _What if it was your city_ maps drew circles that were somehow quite a bit smaller than I imagined. Maybe it's precisely because it's so horrific that it loomed larger than life in my head, who knows.

ant6n 8y ago
In cities, a lot of people live in small circles.
objectivetruth 8y ago
The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a fission bomb, 15-16 kilotons (of TNT equivalent). The biggest bomb the US has currently (not even close to the biggest developed by the US or USSR) is 1.2 MEGAtons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B83_nuclear_bomb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B83_nuclear_bomb