Maps are everywhere these days. The ubiquity of global positioning systems (GPS) and mobile directional devices, interactive mapping tools and social networks is feeding a mapping boom. Maps are a universal medium for communication, easily understood and appreciated by most people, regardless of language or culture.

Mapping is not a format; it is a way of thinking. It is the up front analysis and organization of the information being presented that make mapped documents so effective. Mapping is the visual representation of data by geography or location, the linking of information to place.

There are so many kinds of maps these days and I find them all fascinating.  I remember the first personal map I saw, made by my cousin.  She did a map of all the cousins, showing where we were born, and where we were currently living, where we had gone to college, and some of our favorite domestic vacation destinations and year those trips were taken.  I was surprised to see that more than half of the lower 48 had some kind of notation about one of us nine cousins.

I have been enjoying seeing all the various themed maps that are cropping up.  I love the golf history maps, showing the development of pro golf courses and tournaments and who won them and when.  I love all historical maps, but when you add history to a favorite sport, hobby, or past time, you seem to get a map that is more than the sum of its parts.

I am a great fan of coffee and chocolate, as are most of my friends.  I made a fantastic history of coffee and cocoa map recently and included the history of some of my favorite manufacturers and processors for these two necessities of modern, civilized life.

Cultural mapping might be considered racial profiling on a community level to its critics, but I read that it is used to support social and economic change at the community level. Communities can use cultural mapping as a tool for self-awareness to promote understanding of the diversity within a community and to protect and conserve traditions, customs, and resources.

I once saw a map of every Native American tribe in existence in North America prior to our systematically eliminating most of them from the face of the continent.  Every school teacher in Canada and the United States should be showing this map to all students, and then show a map of how many tribes survived the massacres and how little land they live on now.

Maps can change lives.

All About Maps - In Praise of Maps

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