Cartographic Perspectives

SNCC Cartoons as Counter-Mapping Black Futures

Joshua Inwood, Reagan Yessler, Derek Alderman — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In the mid-1960s, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) created a series of educational comics. We argue these comics represent the melding of artistic geographies with an early form of GIScience, and thus push geography to include an expanded set of activities within its understanding of what constitutes GIScience. We argue these comics are a form of radical placemaking and represent how Black geographies are at the center of broad struggles for justice. By incorporating the knowledge of Black geographies within GIScience, we can extend our understanding of geography more broadly. This impacts our understanding of how political geography can center and be responsive to Black liberation struggles.

Designing Maps in News Stories

Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Here, we report on a longitudinal visual content analysis on mapping praxis in popular US news media outlets over the past decade. Maps are integral to data journalism, yet professional practice in storytelling with maps continues to outpace research and education. To fill this gap, we analyzed 119 online news stories containing maps published over two periods in 2014 and 2021 from the New York Times and Washington Post. We coded the sampled news maps according to three considerations: (1) conventional cartographic design (e.g., scale, projection, basemap, time, color depth, thematic map type, layout, map elements); (2) new digital technology (e.g., animation, interaction, real-time updates); and (3) visual storytelling techniques (e.g., story theme, genres, and tropes). The longitudinal visual content analysis provided a benchmark study for digital news mapping and yielded a number of insights into design trends, including: a decrease in the number and complexity of maps used in news stories; a shift away from mapping international stories towards domestic stories; a decrease in interactivity and an increase in animation due to a move towards mobile-first design and scrollytelling; an increase in mapping topics related to health, environment, and science; a decrease in the mapping of conflict, cultural affairs, and society; and, a decrease in the focusing attention trope, but an increase in metaphor and designer voice. Based on these findings, we argue for continued critical analysis of news maps within data journalism, and visual storytelling more broadly, because of their pervasiveness in new digital media and associated outsized influence on map audiences.

Counter-mapping as Action Research

Jennifer Mapes, Noelle Spence — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Single-occupancy restrooms benefit families and caregivers as well as trans and non-binary people. Recent US state laws restricting the use of gendered restrooms based on a person’s sex assigned at birth highlight the importance of improving access to these places. Part of our university’s response to a state law restricting restroom access was to share a map (layer) that identified the location of all-gender restrooms on campus. After identifying mistakes and learning these locations were not ground-truthed, we re-mapped these locations by visiting every public building on campus. Our work illustrates the nuances of restroom access on college campuses, identifies opportunities for advocacy, and provides a product that helps students and staff who do not conform to a binary definition of gender.

Review of Drink Maps in Victorian Britain

Mia Nighgroh — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Review of Around the World in 200 Globes: Stories of the Twentieth Century

Hans van der Maarel — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Review of The Spice Ports: Mapping the Origins of the Global Sea Trade

Mir Rodríguez Lombardo — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Review of Pittsburgh in 50 Maps

Quinn E. Cowing — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Review of Shelter: An Atlas

Lucy Haggard — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Review of Maps on Vinyl: An Atlas of Album Cover Maps, Volume № 1

Glenn O. Humphress — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Knowing About Place: The Importance of “Where” in Ethical Geospatial Education

Mairéad de Róiste — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

About the Cover

Antonio Antoine — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Masthead

About CP — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Letter from the Editor

Jim Thatcher — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Instructions to Authors

Author Instructions — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000