
The World's Newest, Most Gloriously Designed Maps - yaseen-rob
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/best-new-maps-2018
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fermienrico
These look more like infographics than something a cartographer would design.
I don't know much about maps, but I have an intuition of the difference.
Cartography in my view is a serious study of 2D space, using mathematics and
generally providing a solution to a precise problem (various projections
address different aspects such as equal areas, etc.). Infographic is an
elementary mapping of geographic data on a map which is more than often only
useful in marketing-type materials. Every time I see an infographic, I want to
skip to the next page.

Quoting the article, "Cartographers, rejoice". I also despise this kind of
writing style.

~~~
jessriedel
This was my first impression. I think your comment is constructive and wish
people who feel different would explain why.

~~~
snowwrestler
The article is about an atlas being released by the _North American
Cartographic Information Society_.

So I find it ridiculous for someone who says "I don't know much about maps,
but I have an intuition" to complain that it's somehow not real cartography or
something.

I mean, everyone is welcome to their opinion, but there's a big difference
between saying you don't like a map, vs attacking the professional legitimacy
of a map.

And a little bit of Internet research on the names in the article shows, for
example:

\- John Nelson has a masters in geoscience and works for Esri.

\- Tom Patterson holds an MA in geography and is a cartographer for the
National Park Service.

\- Daniel Coe is a GIS cartographer for the Washington Geological Survey.

That took me like 5 minutes to find out. Intuition is fine, but please follow
it up with some actual work. These people are as real as it gets for
cartographers.

~~~
jessriedel
That doesn't actually engage with the criticism, it just appeals to authority
(especially dubious since he's making an _aesthetic_ criticism). I personally
have no idea if there is a cartography authority that is worth listening to.
Likewise, if you told me that such-and-such comic was adored by some members
of the Manga Appreciation Society of North America, I have no idea if that's
meaningful.

Furthermore, the fact that they are _practitioners_ doesn't actually mean they
represent an expert consensus. Suppose I told you that there is a European
Cartographic Information Society and they think the North American
Cartographic Information Society has completely sold out to clickbaiting,
forsaking the intellectual rigor of traditional cartography to create
infotainment maps with mass appeal. (These kinds of disputes between
authorities occur all the time, even in academic fields, e.g., analytic vs.
continental philosophy.) Isn't that scenario completely compatible with the
evidence you've given?

~~~
fermienrico
I just checked out their website:
[http://atlasofdesign.org/three](http://atlasofdesign.org/three)

This is a link to version 3 and they are planning to publish version 4 of the
"Atlas for Design".

Despite of the credibility of "American Cartographic Information Society", the
product they've conceived belongs on a coffee table.

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OmIsMyShield
Not minimizing the horror - but the _What if it was your city_ maps drew
circles that were somehow quite a bit smaller than I imagined.

Maybe it's precisely because it's so horrific that it loomed larger than life
in my head, who knows.

~~~
ant6n
In cities, a lot of people live in small circles.

