Every so often things just seem to coincide and pop up into my inbox and life. Recently things related to maps and mapmaking have been coming up.
This week I saw some of my students working on an assignment for another class. They were creating a Google map about a place they have not been to, but wish that they could. One student shared what she was working on, and it was a map of the Yukon. She was creating a journey and trail and added images of moose, an overhead view of the Yukon, and other photos for a trip she has not taken.
The other day I read and checked out a book called You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination by Katherine Harmon. The book shows images of various maps that are not about reality – but about the imagination. There are maps to heaven and hell, happiness and despair, moods and mythological places. One section of the book is about the mental geography of Appalachian Trail hikers, and has examples of inventive maps that show this trail and experience through mapping and design.
And the third mapping event happened today when I randomly chose an episode to play of This American Life radio show while I painted our porch. The show I had picked was called “Mapping,” and had 5 stories about people making maps.
One interesting thing I learned in the opening of the show is that the majority of maps have been created in the last century. Previously, people did not really use maps that much unless they were an explorer of some kind. Today we see maps every day which includes weather maps, directional maps, and other visualizations. Some of the stories were about a cartographer who maps things in his neighborhood (like who ha pumpkins on their porch at Halloween), someone who maps different kinds of sounds, and people that map smell and taste. The show focused on how the world could be redrawn by the five senses.
So far I have looked at one weather map today, and will use a directional map later.
Images:
You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination – book
Links:
You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination – book