Cartography III

Abstract

In this third report, I focus on cognitive cartography in order to examine how the historical division between empiricist and critical approaches in cartography has shifted recently. I do so by building on Kitchin and Dodge’s argument (2007) that parts of the apparent disjuncture within cartography might be resolved through a greater focus on emergent approaches to mapping as a process, which is the core idea of post-representational cartography. By looking at cognitive cartography from a post-representational perspective I emphasize two major trends. On the one hand, the processual positioning of post-representational cartography simply shifts the historical line of divide, since it inherently disqualifies any cognitive studies that artificially dissociate the map from its context of use and production. On the other hand, by enabling the combination of critical positioning with empiricist practices, post-representational cartography offers opportunities to revisit in practical terms the tensions between these two approaches. It provides an original framework to envision our mental, emotional and embodied relationships with maps and with places through maps, and has the potential to bring cartography into a new arena in which the empiricist/critical divide could be transcended.

Mapping ice in the Norwegian Arctic – on the edge between science and policy

“…According to Asdal (2015), documents and illustrations contribute to modifying and transforming reality, referred to as modifying work. In the map creation process, subjective decisions are made about what to include, how the map should look, what it should communicate, and so on (Caquard, 2015). In other words, maps not only represent and reveal the world, they also help create that view of the world into being.…”

Perform the Map: Using Map-Score Experiences to Write and Reenact Places

“…Although participants' cartographic traces were a product of this experiment, the mapping process itself was just as important, situating our project within a post-representational cartographic framework (Kitchin 2010;Rossetto 2015;Caquard 2014). Our "map-score" experiments focus not on maps as end products, but on the immediate experience of places, emphasizing the importance of the body in exploring, mapping, and gaining a sensorial understanding of a place.…”

Using the Spatial Knowledge of Map Users to Personalize City Maps: A Case Study with Tourists in Madrid, Spain

“…Roth et al [33] emphasized the opportunities for research in cartography, as "the possibility of digital interactivity requires us to re-envision map readers as the map users, and to address perceptual, cognitive, cultural and practical considerations that influence users' experience with interactive maps". Caquard [34] suggested that research on empirical cognitive maps could help to enhance the mental relationship between users and maps, as well as with places through maps. Hirtle and Raubal [35] point out that users perceive their environment differently, and that these differences should be reflected on their maps.…”