Cartographic Perspectives (E-Journal - North American Cartographic Information Society, NACIS)
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Counter-GIS Experiments in Distance Interpolation with the Relational Reprojection Platform
No full textIn this paper, we discuss the cartographic genealogy and prospective uses of the Relational Reprojection Platform (RRP), an interactive tool that we built to create custom azimuthal reprojections of spatial datasets with non-linear distance transformations. Building on prior examples of analytically rescaled azimuthal projections in the history of cartography and quantitative geography (from mid-twentieth-century efforts by Torsten Hägerstrand, Waldo Tobler, and William Bunge to more recent digital experiments), we show how our tool brings what were formerly custom artisanal projects into the reach of non-specialist cartographers. In order to illustrate the utility of this method, we highlight recent use cases for the RRP across multiple disciplines and subject areas. These use cases show the myriad ways in which a counter-GIS tool can enable new kinds of cartographic thinking, from visualizing relational spaces within a single context to other kinds of provocation, like presenting changes over time and bringing different relational spaces into dialogue with each other. We conclude with a rallying cry to digital geographers to create more experimental tools to challenge our established notions of visual spatial vernacular while still remaining committed to rigorous, reproducible data analysis
The Harm Mapping Project: Navigating Ethics and Collaboration in Map Design
No full textThis article details the ethical challenges we encountered while designing maps for The Harm Mapping Project. Led by Dana Cuomo, Susan Hannan, and three undergraduate student research assistants (Madison Dennehy, Meredith Forman, and Abigail Zea), The Harm Mapping Project examines the geography of gender-based violence occurring at Lafayette College, a small (approx. 2,700 undergraduate students) residential liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Data collection entailed a participatory mapping exercise in which individual students were instructed to use stickers to mark locations on a blank campus map where they had experienced gender-based violence. Different color stickers indicated different types of harm (e.g., sexual assault, verbal harassment, unwanted touching, stalking, physical abuse, and feeling vulnerable to experience gender-based violence). In addition to better understanding where on campus the student body has experienced gender-based violence, a secondary objective of the project includes providing recommendations to Lafayette College administrators regarding ways to modify the built environment to help prevent future harm from occurring. To support these objectives, the research team began working with Lily Houtman, a trained cartographer, to incorporate feminist design principles into the mapping of the project’s data for public-facing audiences. Here, we describe our design process and share takeaways for cartographers working on similar projects
Situating Trust in Cartography: Why do People Trust Maps and What does Trust in Maps Mean?
No full textA longstanding assertion among cartographers is that people place a great deal of trust in maps. Despite this claim and the growing importance of understanding trust in a post-truth society, research on trust in cartography is scarce. It remains unclear why, how, and if maps are inherently trustworthy. Moreover, the existing research on trust in maps fails to define trust, or uses inconsistent definitions that muddy whether trust is actually being studied or not. This paper sets out to situate trust in cartography by examining the arguments as to why people may trust maps more than other kinds of information and by exploring how trust has been defined. I propose five reasons as to why maps may be inherently trustworthy, owing to their authoritative, objective, realistic, ubiquitous, and useful nature. I buttress each of these reasons with psychological theory and I discuss variable-specific characteristics of maps that may affect trust. Additionally, I generate a theoretical definition of trust in maps by extracting key components from existing definitions and conceptualizations. This definition emphasizes that trust in maps revolves around relying on the visual geospatial information interpreted from a map and on believing the map is accurate
Using Interactive Maps to Reveal the Content of Second-Order Climate Change Beliefs
No full textAlthough there is extensive research on first order climate change beliefs, second-order beliefs (perceptions about what others believe) are an understudied and potentially highly influential factor tied to a lack of climate policy action. This map reading study employs a pre- and post-map observational design to investigate how interactive maps can reveal and update second-order climate change beliefs. Participants first completed a pre-map survey detailing their climate change beliefs and estimating public support for climate policies. Participants then completed map reading tasks on an interactive web map that visualized county-level climate change opinions in North Carolina, while their eye movements were recorded with an eye tracker. A post-map survey gauged participants’ reactions to the actual climate opinions, accompanied by map usability questions. The results showed a widespread underestimation of actual climate policy support among participants. Participants commonly used a set of environmental and humanistic concerns to justify the content of their own beliefs, but when asked to rationalize others’ beliefs using the map, they used conspiratorial or ideological explanations to describe others who were more skeptical of climate policy. Additionally, participants exhibited egocentric bias, focusing more on their home counties and those with extreme climate change opinions when exploring the web map. The research underscores the potential of interactive maps to improve the understanding of second-order climate change beliefs and emphasizes opportunities for enhancing their ability to communicate the broad public support that exists for many climate policies
A Response to Denil (2024)
No full textClarity of concepts and an honest respect for ideas and evidence are the hallmarks, in an ideal world, of meaningful and productive intellectual debate. In practice, however, rhetoric becomes heated and standards slip. At times, argumentation can cross into unethical distortion and fabrication. This is, unfortunately, the case with Mark Denil’s (2024) response to my critique (Edney 2022) of his essay seeking to define the map/non-map boundary (Denil 2022)
Interview with an Anonymous Graphics Reporter
No full textA conversation with a graphics reporter for a widely circulated American newspaper revealed the unique nature of the role, work, and ethics of graphics reporting. Operating under intense deadlines, graphics reporters must carefully balance the newsroom’s need for speed and pressure for performance with the cartographer’s meticulous attention to detail and iterative mapmaking process. Collaboration between the news reporter, graphics reporter, graphics editor, and, ultimately, the reader, can both facilitate and hinder the graphics report’s work. Knowing that many people, some with the power to make decisions with serious consequences, will read their maps, graphics reporters operate under pressures that, while not unknown to other mapmakers, do not affect them as frequently. Guiding their decisions and actions in this high-stakes, high-pressure environment are the ethics of both journalism and cartography, which don’t always converge
Objectivity in Storytelling, Spatial Narratives, and Data Journalism
No full textA growing number of geographers, cartographers, and mapmakers are embracing visual storytelling, and integrating maps with diverse elements including text, images, graphs, and anecdotes to create rich and engaging spatial narratives (Caquard 2013; Caquard and Cartwright 2014; Denil 2016; Song et al. 2022). Roth (2021) summarized this movement and outlined four tenets of ethical visual storytelling: “show your work,” “show yourself,” “speak to power,” and “speak to each other.” These principles emphasize the importance of transparency about methodology and personal biases, while encouraging cartographers to engage critically with power structures and foster dialogue within their community. Buckley et al. (2022) observed a decline in public trust in news and other information sources, and in response authored “The Mapmaker’s Mantra” to emphasize the importance of ethical practices in mapmaking, part of a long history of such considerations in the discipline (e.g., McHaffie et al. 1990; Harley 1991; Kent 2017). The Mantra addresses maps broadly, with its guiding principles—”be honest and accurate,” “be transparent and accountable,” “minimize harm and seek to provide value,” and “be humble and courageous”—speaking to overarching ethical concerns in mapmaking. While both frameworks emphasize transparency and honesty, they diverge in their orientations, reflecting the distinct ethical priorities of mapmaking and storytelling. I’d like to further examine the ethical implications of an orientation toward story and narrative in the presentation of information, asking what this orientation entails, what it leaves behind, and what ethical dangers might be attached to a commitment to storytelling. Given the strong association between visual storytelling, spatial narratives, and data journalism, I will to a large extent connect my arguments to similar threads within journalism, where debates about narrative, objectivity, and ethical responsibility are central to the field