The Nature of MapsINTRODUCTION• Anecdote: tempted to the Seward Peninsula by maps(interwoven maps and photos)in support of this point, consider the power of visual images(altered digital photographs)or how advertising plays to the images that maps convey(New Zealand, Holiday Inn, Navigator, and icon-composite advertisements)• Images of landscape drawn from maps not always so accurate(cartoon of communication model )• Maps may nearly supplant reality , e.g. my experience mapping Orwell(suitability map and photograph of Orwell village)Yet inextricable relation between maps and the reality they portrayas map users, maps shape our perception of landscapebut as map makers, maps also reflect our perceptions and values — subjectivitynote here map makers extends beyond individuals to societies and governmentslargest mapping organization in the U.S. is the Bureau of the CensusThat maps both shape and mirror or perceptions, beliefs, and values establishes acircularity in which maps become both cause and effectand that circularity is one of the factors that makes maps such a fascinating andproductive window through which to explore the human conditionPurpose here then is to explore relations between maps and landscapes they representnot so much as squiggly blue lines, contours, and coordinatesbut as rich insights into people, their activities, their history, and their cultureCOGNITIVE MAPSSome, like Carrol may find humor in our inability to understand mapsrecent studies suggest over one-half of the adults in the U.S. are map illiterateThe Nature of Maps Page 2Others like Steinbeck express open contempt for maps and use them begrudginglybut everyone uses maps of some sortwithout maps, could not find our way from bed to breakfast tablealthough not formal maps that the term may bring to mind, thesecognitive images — mental maps — are maps nonetheless . . .Recall definition issue: models, abstractions of spatial relationshipsmental maps from different regions often humorized(New York, Boston, Florida, Texas, Iowa, and Vermont)when compared with real mental maps, these are not such exaggerations(student maps of the world)What influences mental maps — our images and perceptions of the world landscape?• where we live — and closely related . . .• experienceat larger scale, for example, consider Los Angeles neighborhoodsor subway maps (can mold misperceptions of space)• the maps we are used to seeingMercator projection (Which is larger: Mexico or Greenland?)same view contributes to strange sense of direction we have(KAL007 shoot down)MAPS AND THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPEHow Nome got its name(map and photograph)Names on maps often nearly this serendipitous but not so humorousconsider Mt. McKinley(photograph and map)Frobisher Bay (and Canadian north in general)(photograph)Wonowon lack of respect reflected on maps in other, seemingly innocuous waysThe Nature of Maps Page 3gender: political correctness versus heritage(slide with examples from Monmonier’s Drawing the Line)in the best case, we have unwittingly if not irreverently weakened cultural identityin the worst case, maps have been used in deliberate subjugation of people(lest this idea be dismissed to quickly, consider the way in which the formerSoviet Union manipulated names and much more for political endsbut, in any event, maps are power! (tapestry of Jao and Catherine, cartoon of Napoleon and Pitt)That maps influence our perceptions of cultural landscapes to the degree I suggest is difficult to accept because there is a professional claim and a public view that modern maps are more objective, more scientific than ever beforehistorically, there was little concern over such detached objectivityeven in the Renaissance, maps were deliberately falsified (Ortelius and Saxton Atlases frontispieces)maps played an important role of World War Two (spheres of influence and South America)ironically, this claim of objectivity was part of legitimization of cartography as a field of study in World War TwoMAPS, ART, AND “REALITY”That maps – like words, numbers, and other forms of information – can be used todeliberately mislead and deceive is not surprisingWhat may be surprising, however, is that maps mislead, distort, and deceive in waysthat are most often inadvertent, subtle, and undetectableAs Monmonier notes, all maps liePicasso said, “Art is a lie which makes us realize the truth.”Do maps make us realize the truth?The question begs the definition of truthIn Landscapes and Memory, Schama contends that landscape does not exist independent of memory – cognition, experience, perceptionIf landscape – that which we map – is relative, how can maps be objective, free ofhuman color and texture in all its rich