About Me - Why I love maps!
I was once having a conversation with an office mate while we were visiting the Cole Collection display Impressions of Place at Colorado State University. The collection has several antique maps, as well as pictures created by woodcut and engraving. He asked me why I prefer maps.
I thought about it and know why. It is the same reason I prefer crafts, especially traditional crafts, or illustration to fine art. Fine art is incredible to look at and takes a great deal of talent to create something unique and compelling. However, at the end of the day it is something to look at rather than use. Crafts are born out of a need for a useful object to perform some task or set of tasks. Likewise, illustration is created out of the need to communicate, whether a story or a catalog. It has utility in the same way as the alphabet or grammar.
So I like maps because, like crafts, they have an innate utility with their beauty. And like illustration they are a visually appealing method of communication. In this case, communicating the geography of place and spatial relationships.
Maps as my career
When I decided to get an advanced degree I entered the field of geographic information systems (GIS) because I have always loved maps. When young I could get lost in maps for hours on end. I drew maps, studied maps, planned vacations, played geographic-based games, and took imaginary trips... all through the power of maps.
My enjoyment of maps has continued to grow through the years.
My preferred maps
My favorite maps are decorative and pictorial maps that show more than just topography. My favorites show aspects of culture, history, economy, architecture, and other aspects of the mapped area that give the map a sense of the place they represent.
I've have also always amazed at the beauty of old maps.
I also seem to have a good eye for visual design. I seem to have a knack for breaking down the visual elements of paintings and maps so people understand what the artist is conveying and how he has accomplished it.
For example, I had the opportunity to view several maps from the 15th through 19th century at a display of the Impressions of Place at Colorado State University. Here is an example of my analyses at that exhibit...
- Jan Jansson's Map of the British Isles (1646) was particularly striking due to its balance of cartographic elements. The decorative ships filled in the space of the otherwise empty oceans. Each corner was filled with a cartouche, scale bar or other filler, forming a visual focus on the center containing England. For graphic design, this was important. England was filled with lots of place names and topographic elements to form a visually dense object. Empty space on the oceans would have drawn too much interest away from England because to eye would have gravitated to it for relief. By increasing the visual density the oceans, the eye can remain focused on the point of the map: England.
- In contrast, Merman Moll's Map of Italia Antiqua (1717) had a very poorly balanced bottom left side. The ocean title was curved going from Italy to the left bottom corner, causing the eye to wander down and off the map. The ocean titles were also visually weighted too heavy drawing attention away from Italy and into the empty space. The addition of compass rose with rhumb lines or graticule lines and straight ocean titles could have produced a visual stop to keep the eyes focused on Italy.
- Edward Drake's Map of Africa (1768) was very well balanced and weighted and was very striking. Islands, graticules, and titles made the ocean space visually equally weighted with the landmass of Africa. The only negative was that ocean titles (Atlantic Ocean, Eastern Ocean, Southern Ocean) were placed along curved lines of latitude (it was a conic projection). This cause ocean titles to have a lot of movement and excitement that drew attention away from Africa. This could have been alleviated with straight, visually static, ocean titles, after all, the ocean is not associated with a specific line of latitude, or ocean fillers that provide enough weight to prevent the eye from wandering off the map.
I hope you enjoy my website and will visit often to see what's new.
Philip Riggs, Ph.D.
Senior Instructor, Department of Geography
University of Colorado, Denver
P.S. Drop me a note about what you like and don't like about my site. I am always trying to improve it.