Twentieth-Century Themes for the Progressive Map Collection

Volume Six of the History of Cartography, which focuses on the twentieth century, was released in May 2015 as part of a massive, multi-volume reference work that covers cartography in all its forms across all eras, from prehistory through the end of the last century. At seventeen pounds, it’s a big book—two books, actually—consisting of 1,954 large, double-column pages, with 529 encyclopedia entries written by over three hundred contributors and co-contributors, and including 1,153 illustrations, 5,115 bibliographic references, and 61 tables. In addition to serving scholars and interested lay users, it can help librarians organize a map collection to reflect the major revolutions that made the twentieth century arguably the most significant era in map history. Moreover, any one of the six themes that frame Volume Six could provide a coherent focus for an enlightening exhibition.

The first of these themes is the Diverse Impacts of Mapping on Society. Whether driven by technology, state formation, imperialism, or other forces, mapping assumed new or greatly enhanced roles in the twentieth century, notably in entertainment, environmental protection, growth management, weather prediction, hazard mitigation, and other arenas with clear social impact. Moreover, the century witnessed not only a relative “democratization” of map use and associated improvements in cartographic literacy, but also an increased awareness of ethical considerations in both the design and the use of maps.

Figure 1. Map promoting scientific racism in the 1916 Geographical Review.

By century’s end maps and mapping were subject to unprecedented questioning; what came to be called counter-maps were challenging the authority of official delineations, and participatory mapping was a recurrent theme at academic conferences. Indeed, as mapping practices pervaded all parts of the globe and all levels of society, and as mapping became more important for coping with complexity, for organizing knowledge, and for influencing public opinion, scholars recognized the need (belatedly perhaps) for a critical appraisal of the use, misuse, and effectiveness of maps for exploration, regulation, management, planning, and persuasion.

Understanding the importance of maps as tools also demanded a conscientious effort to disentangle significant, demonstrable impacts like those described in Volume 6 from assumptions based largely on theory or conjecture. During the twentieth century simplistic notions of the map as an objective representation of reality gave way to a broader grasp of how the map’s respectability as a scientific tool makes it a target of political manipulation, particularly apparent in the geopolitics of Nazi Germany and the Cold War. The century also witnessed a broader and deeper appreciation of the diverse ways in which maps can be read and understood, a trend encouraged by the often-contentious intersection of cartographic scholarship and what’s been called social theory. Also apparent was a broader, more nuanced understanding of the role of cartographic visualization in the packaging of ideas, explored under the interchangeable rubrics “propaganda maps” and “persuasive cartography,” which mean pretty much the same thing.

The changing boundaries between cartography and other endeavors were also apparent in the growing participation of humanists, literary scholars, and art historians at academic conferences on map use and map history as well as in the adoption of geographic information systems as an analytical tool in archaeology, environmental biology, and public administration, among other fields.

The second key theme is Overhead Imaging. Technologies for imaging Earth from aircraft, satellites, balloons, and rockets not only enhanced the efficiency of mapping and surveillance but also had diverse scientific, social, military, and political impacts, exemplified in the early twenty-first century by an increased use of unmanned aerial vehicles as tools of surveillance and weapons of attack.

Figure 2. Excerpt from a color-infrared image captured in 1988 by Landsat 5.

Improved technologies for capturing image data and extracting cartographic features spearheaded a proliferation of geospatial databases, which in turn fostered a revitalized use of maps in older, more traditional fields of application such as energy exploration, transportation, and urban planning. During the twentieth century, aerial mapping and photogrammetry extended the reach of large- and intermediate-scale topographic mapping so effectively that the term terrae incognitae no longer meant the absence of any modern maps but rather a relative dearth of the censuses, detailed land use surveys, and environmental assessments essential to the Western World’s managed spaces. In addition, remote imaging of other heavenly bodies helped redefine exploration.

The third key theme of cartography in the twentieth century is the Electronic Transition, whereby the dramatic and far-reaching conversion of geographic information to electronic media allowed the creation of interactive and dynamic maps. Although the products of this technology were not necessarily less expensive or more reliable, GIS and the Internet radically altered cartographic institutions and lowered the skill required to be a map author, and satellite positioning and mobile telecommunications revolutionized map-based wayfinding. Moreover, web-based technology not only undermined the traditional role of the state in topographic mapping but also made zooming in and out a widely pervasive and intrinsically interactive means of changing map scale—an extension to everyday use of the elegant but static bird’s-eye views that had begun to proliferate in the nineteenth century.

Figure 3. Line-printer and pen-plotter maps in The Professional Geographer, 1965 and 1968.

Connections with earlier periods of map history are also apparent in the increased role of government in collecting, mapping, and using scientific data; the heightened concern for data quality; the rise and decline of truly mass production in the twentieth century; and the conflation of geographical, thematic, and topographic mapping whereby users could toggle between different layers or “coverages” while interactively manipulating map scale. Astute implementation of digital technologies, though never straightforward and far from complete by century’s end, had moved cartography further beyond description and delineation and closer to the more ambitious goals of seeing and knowing.

The fourth key theme is Maps and Warfare, noteworthy because the longstanding relationship between cartography and warfare became evermore prominent in the twentieth century. Along with the greater efficacy of precisely targeted cruise missiles and the trickle-down of military technology into civilian applications, this development brought impulsive aggression, the diversion of funds from beneficial public investment, and a reduced reliance on diplomacy. Accompanying this technology-inspired reconfiguration of military mapping were new notions of territory that a nation-state might claim as well as new prohibitive cartographies to protect these claims.

Chief among these prohibitive genres is aeronautical charting, which arose during the twentieth century to produce, reproduce, and regulate navigable airspace and later became a defensive strategy through the declaration of no-fly zones, actively enforced in some cases but largely rhetorical in others. Radar, a new mapping tool adept at tracking aircraft, became a strategy for enforcing other kinds of no-fly zones, including airspace restrictions above coastal waters and dynamic temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) that could emerge or expand suddenly in accord with the movements of top officials.

Figure 4. Online map of a “temporary flight restriction,” identified by a red circle, over Vice President Biden’s home, ca. 2009.

The growth of prohibitive cartography during the twentieth century is also apparent in increased maritime restrictions, including the widening of most territorial seas from three to twelve nautical miles and the delineation of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), which gave coastal nations new authority over fishing and subsurface mining within two hundred nautical miles of their shoreline. The advent of offshore drilling and submarine warfare led to a broader, more intensive mapping of the sea floor as well as the discovery of a multitude of seamounts (submarine volcanoes), which triggered a round of aggressive naming reminiscent of the seventeenth century. Mapping had an inevitable if not indispensable role in dividing the seas and shrinking international waters.

New mapping technologies strengthened the bond between national defense and cartography and underscored the unintended consequences of technological innovation. Cold War fears of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles inspired the development of artificial satellites useful not only for monitoring weapons development and launch sites but also for mapping terrain and monitoring weather systems.

More exact representations of the planet’s shape and gravity anomalies, originally intended to guide intercontinental ballistic missiles toward precisely pinpointed targets, provided a more accurate geodetic framework for geographic information of all types, civilian as well as military. In addition, the prospect of low-altitude unmanned bombers guided by the automated comparison of altimeter readings with onboard electronic terrain maps led to digital elevation models, which by century’s end were supporting civilian applications as diverse as geographical mapping, landscape architecture, and commercial forestry. Moreover, the global network of seismographs sensitive to underground explosions—essential for ensuring compliance with nuclear test-ban treaties—proved useful in studying continental drift and modeling seismic risk.

And finally, the global positioning system, or GPS, intended as a more reliable way to route cruise missiles, became a commonplace tool for navigation, field measurement, land survey, and location tracking.

A fifth key theme is the Paradox of Globalized Practices and Customized Content. While the globalization of mapping technology and cartographic practice diminished international differences among cartographic products, fuller customization of map design and content fostered a broader range of cartographic applications, an unprecedented diversity of map types, significant changes in the form and appearance of maps, and the increased prominence of maps in the mass media. The globalization imperative was already apparent in commercial and institutional arenas at the end of the nineteenth century.

Perhaps the quintessential example of these is the “International Map of the World,” proposed in 1891 by Albrecht Penck, at the Fifth International Geographical Conference in Bern. The movement toward global standardization intensified after World War II, and new cartographic genres emerged when distinct consumer communities adopted standardized aesthetics that ran from the highly formal designs of marine charts and orienteering maps to the aggressively informal look of advertising maps and political cartoons.

Figure 5. Excerpt from Boston sheet (1912) of the “International Map of the World.”

Prominent examples of international standardization include soils maps and the “World Aeronautical Chart,” which outlived the comparatively purposeless “International Map of the World.” The coexistence of global standardization and increased customization is epitomized by infectiously innovative designs instantly recognizable to map collectors and cartophiles worldwide.

Distinctively functional examples include the “London Underground Map” and Erwin Raisz’s physiographic diagrams. Preeminently ideological examples include the Earth-from-space perspective of Richard Edes Harrison, whose dramatic illustration of the proximity of the United States and the Soviet Union fostered the notion of “Air-Age Globalism,” and the “Peters Map of the World,” which triggered a media scrum between Third World advocates and professional cartographers.

Digital technologies intensified these trends, but globalization often superseded customization. Although illustration and map projection software encouraged map authors to customize their designs for specific audiences, GIS software and web-based mapping typically constrained graphic style while simultaneously supporting flexibility in content and geographic scope. Maps produced using ArcInfo and other products of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (now known as Esri) had a distinctive look epitomized by line symbols in the key that resembled an italic letter N. No less distinctive was MapQuest.com, which introduced millions of do-it-yourself online mapmakers to the interactive, zoom-in / zoom-out graphic scale.

The growing ascendancy of digital technologies hastened the standardization of the data structures and the adoption of exchange formats required for efficient communication among data providers, software developers, and mapmakers. Stylistic homogeneity increased when new organizations emerged to promote data sharing both internationally and within governments. By century’s end online mapping applications with a rich toolbox of standardized symbols and layers promised unprecedented customization in content and relevance.

My sixth key theme is Maps as Tools of Public Administration. Although maps were used in urban governance during the nineteenth century, they assumed greater importance during the twentieth century in local and national public administration, regional planning, and the representation of national identity. Key roles at the municipal level include land-use planning and code enforcement; emergency response; the delineation and publication of election district boundaries; the delivery of regionalized municipal services; the assessment, taxation, and sale of real property; the design, management, and promotion of public transit networks; the analysis and control of crime; the management of networked infrastructure for electronic communication, energy distribution, water supply, and sewage; and the delineation of historic districts established to preserve a city’s architectural heritage. Effective municipal administration came to depend heavily on reliable large-scale maps. At regional and national levels, mapping activities evolved during the twentieth century to include map-intensive systems for monitoring weather and water quality, for predicting environmental disasters, and for planning and orchestrating evacuations.

Figure 6. Excerpt from New York City “Use District Map” (1916). Solid, dashed, and blank street symbols represent business, “unrestricted,” and residential uses, respectively.

The twentieth century themes presented here run counter to the practice of most map collections, where acquisition strategies range from the systematic ingestion of topographic series maps through a government document depository program to the more eclectic accumulation of older, rarer maps purchased from dealers or donated by wealthy supporters seeking a tax advantage. Without a concerted effort, neither strategy is likely to yield a representative sampling of media maps and facility maps related to the city or the region, a representative sampling fundamental to a twenty-first century map collection. Of course, scanning and electronic media can fill many gaps, particularly with the assistance of a map society or knowledgeable and energetic volunteers, who need not be local. And networked catalogs can be avoid needless duplication as well as give distant users access to a rich diversity of materials, assuming support is available to refresh the electronic storage as needed, to avoid the ravages of disk rot.

Interactive and dynamic maps pose the greatest challenge for progressive map collections, particularly if the chosen strategy requires the concurrent preservation of working software and hardware, easily undermined by ephemeral operating systems. A more reliable and less costly approach to conserving dynamic cartographic artifacts might be to record interactive map use sessions with a variety of users and to maintain these recordings with whatever technology proves effective in conserving the cultural heritage of film, television, and artistic performances in general. This strategy has the added advantage of focusing on map use rather than graphic or physical objects. A still broader approach, designed to focus on impact, not mere objects, might employ documentary films to acknowledge the growing awareness among scholars of the map’s value as an instrument of persuasion, empowerment, and resistance.

MAP CITATIONS

Figure 1. Present Distribution of European Races, plate iv accompanying Grant, M. 1916. “The Passing of the Great Race.” Geographical Review 2: 354–60. doi: 10.2307/207903.

Figure 3 (top). Line-printer map from Monmonier, M. 1965. “The Production of Shaded Maps on the Digital Computer.” The Professional Geographer 17(5): 13–14. doi: 10.1111/j.0033-0124.1965.013_r.x.

Figure 3 (bottom). Pen-plotter map from Monmonier, M. 1968. “Computer Mapping with the Digital Increment Plotter.” The Professional Geographer 20(6): 408–9. doi: 10.1111/j.0033-0124.1968.00408.x.

Figure 4. Map of temporary flight restriction over Vice President Biden’s home, Greenville/Wilmington, DE, first issued 27 January 2009, by the Federal Aviation Administration. http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_9_3124.html.