Goals of Cartography and GI: Representation and Communication - A Primer of GIS: Fundamental Geographic and Cartographic Concepts - page 9

tral concept for all geographic information because of the ways it allows and
restricts representation, the communication of relationships between things,
and the interpretation of geographic associations.
The Power of Maps
Successful answers to these questions and attention to the decisions made in
representing geography are what gives geographic information power and
makes maps powerful, to borrow from Denis Wood's thoughtful writing
about maps. A map or geographic information application is selective and
greatly limited, but it remains a key means of understanding and analyzing
the world. This power is very attractive and lucrative; its misuse and abuse
lend support to many ill-conceived projects.
Maps are powerful for a number of reasons. But perhaps the most ele-
mentary reason is that they offer an authoritative representation of things
and events in the world that we cannot otherwise experience in a single
moment. Most maps, even the most mundane kind of map—for example,
one showing temperatures across North America—show us things, events,
and relationships that you could never experience yourself in a similar com-
plete but quickly grasped form. You can read a topic, look at a photograph,
watch a film, check things out on the Web, but a successful map easily and
quietly combines much detail into a synoptic whole.
The power of maps depends on the currency of the map. In 1844, when this map
was prepared for the U.S. State Department, it played an important role in helping people under-
stand the Texas conflict.
From www.davidrumsey.com . Reprinted by permission of David Rumsey.