Making Maps

Define your own criteria while meeting three required criteria:

1 They should be maps that can be enhanced throughout the course of the project. That is, they are conceptual and physical constructions that help you build your project and convey those understandings to others. You must be able to ÎenhanceÌ them over time through various meansÛadditive, subtractive, or mutable, or whatever means you devise. Unlike other interpretive mappings or expressions that you may have done or may complete during the course of the semester, they directly help you (literally) build your design. In other words, they will reach clear stages of completion but will not be considered ÎfinishedÌ until the end of the semester

2 They must accurately orient users spatially. That is, things, processes, events, and conditions should directly correspond to their actual geographic location. Otherwise your maps need you for interpretation and are therefore within the realm of expression.

3 They should convey a critical point of view. They are not repositories of various pieces of knowledge. They should make relationships between various pieces of knowledge. In the end they should be synthetic, taking information and making it into something new and unique that changes the way people view the landscape.

Part of having a critical point of view is determining a purpose. Your maps will, indeed, function as data storage for future retrieval (a legitimate purpose for a map) but should be more. They will also function to some degree as decorative maps (also a legitimate purpose for a map) because they will be beautiful but should be more. They can guide people from one place to another (like a travel map). They can be a comparative study to analyze potential courses of action (like earthquake predicting maps or demographic maps). They can be simulation maps that mimic real world experience (like fly-through animations). They can serve as propaganda to convince users of a particular position (usually associated with power). (For more on the purposes of maps, see Michael and Susan SouthworthÌs book Maps.)