Hello, and welcome back to another week of my blog! This week, I will be researching a few different aspects of making a map. Furthermore, I will be using this knowledge when I begin the making of my map. If you read my blog post from last week, you would know that I am currently taking a class on SkillShare where I will be learning how to make a map. Moreover, I want to have a broader understanding of maps before beginning the map-making process myself. Thus, I will be researching different parts of maps. I will be researching is the different elements in a map. I am doing this in order to know that I have all of the necessary features needed to communicate with the reader. Consequently, my map will look like an actual map that gives a good amount of information. I used the GIS Lounge to research this topic. Furthermore, while researching, I found that there are eight different main elements to a map that I will be explaining in this post.
This week, I learned a lot of essential information to making a map. As a result, I feel more ready to make my own map. Since my map is going to be a fantasy map, I might not use each of these elements, but I will definitely use as many as necessary. After only five weeks of making this blog, I feel like I have already learned so much about maps, and I can't wait to continue my map-making experience. I will definitely be using these eight elements in the future, and I have learned so much in this week. See you next time with another blog post!
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![]() Hello, and welcome back to my blog! This week, I will be starting a class on SkillShare where I will learn how to make maps. Moreover, I will be learning why certain parts of maps are important and why we need maps in the first place. Additionally, each week, I will watch one lesson every day for three weeks of blog posts, but these will not be consecutive because I don't want to be too repetitive. I started the class on Sunday, so my plan matched up perfectly. The class I will be taking is called, "Fantasy Maps: The Art of Exploring Imaginary Worlds" from the teacher, Ira Marcks. Furthermore, in this blog post, I will be explaining what I have learned in each lesson so far. Let's get started! Day 1: "Introduction" This first lesson is an introduction to the class, hence I learned exactly what would be happening along with the reasons behind the creation of this class. In this class, I will be learning how to create a fantasy map of my own. Fantasy maps allow our minds to travel to places where we could never go in real life. They set up a story in our minds. Similarly to the book I am reading, All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey, my teacher will be sharing stories of ancient maps to give the students an extra touch of inspiration. After hearing him say this, I immediately knew that this class was destined for me. An inspirational quote from this lesson was, "When we visit a new city, we get out our phones. When we visit an imaginary world, we get out a map." I heard this quote, and as a result, I realized the true purpose of creating maps, to take our minds to beautiful places and times. Day 2: "Class Overview" In this lesson, I learned about the different parts of the class and their importance. The first part is known as "lesson." Therefore, it is a series of lessons on things ranging from the history of maps to small insights on map-making. I am very excited for this part because it will inspire me to create a map of my own. Additionally, it connects perfectly to the book I am reading, which I mentioned earlier. On the other hand, the second part is the project itself. In this section, I will be creating a map of my personal utopia. This includes a step-by-step guide on how to make the maps along with resources to use when making them. Finally, Ira Marcks, the teacher, will be giving the students a series of narrative prompts in order to allow us to find our utopia. This class is perfect for my blog because I am striving to learn both the history of maps and create a map of my own, which, by the way, are involved in this class. Day 3: "Mapping Imagination pt. 1" This is the first lesson where I began to learn the history of fantasy maps. It began with J.R.R Tolkien's series, The Lord of the Rings, and its iconic map of the location, "Middle Earth." In fact, the map was originally drawn by Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien, but unfortunately, that map did not suit the tone of the story. Instead, Tolkien enlisted illustrator Pauline Baynes to make the world come to life. This would become the cornerstone for all fantasy maps to come. Baynes created a perfect match for Tolkien's phenomenal fantasy world. In today's lesson, I discovered the first part of what makes this map so good. Thus, this was only part one of this lesson. Anyway, we learned how Baynes uses the key elements of world maps, title, scale, symbols, type, projection, and compass, to create such a wonderful, amazing map. The title should use clear wording that gives a strong introduction to the story. Furthermore, it should have a frame that decorates the title and reveals the theme of the map. Although this seems like a small detail, it can make all the difference. Scale is both a useful point of reference for the reader and it validates the map. In fantasy maps, this is basically just for decoration. Nonetheless, it is still important. Symbols show the creative voice and communicate the story in a simple way. Without symbols, you would be a whole lot more confused when analyzing a map. Type is the lettering that compliments the map you create. For example, if it was a medieval map, you would use a font that looked like it was from the medieval time period. Projection style is the way an artist draws their map. Baynes used a Mercator map, or "a flattened world." Lastly, a compass rose, a tool for orientation that allows you to know north from south, ties it all off. In conclusion,I learned how Baynes uses the fundamentals to making a map to take her map to the next level. Day 4: "Mapping Imagination pt. 2" In the previous lesson, I learned the fundamentals that went into the map of Tolkien's fantasy world. In this lesson, I learned about the small detail and personal connection that went into the map. Fundamentals are used to tell the story of a map. Likewise, small details are used to add more to the story and make it almost like a familiar place. Tolkien took bits and pieces from his own life and put them into the map. For example, in a letter from Tolkien to Baynes, Tolkien explains how the place, Hobbiton, is at the same latitude as Oxford, England. Tolkien was a professor in Oxford before writing his books. If you go further south on the map, you find Minas Tirith, the capital of the Realm of Gondor. This resembles the Italian capital, Ravenna, of the Western Roman Empire. As a result of these connections, the reader gets a sense of familiarity and unfamiliarity from the two locations on the map. Furthermore, this shows how Tolkien uses both historical and personal connections to produce different feelings when looking at the map. Day #5: "From Glyphs to Grams" "Symbolic Language of maps is inspired by our need to document the seen and unseen part of our existence." In this lesson, we learn how humans from 12,000 years ago used symbolic language to communicate different things. These symbols began to appear in the Neolithic Era when the people would scrape symbols into rocks, petroglyphs, that were used to represent things such as terrain, rivers, and landforms. These appeared in many different places, and each area had distinct differences, like different languages today. Furthermore, these were used by the Aztecs, Egyptians, Sumerians, and American Indians, all which have a place in history to this day. Consequently, the use of petroglyphs allowed for them to flourish because they had a more advanced knowledge of the world around them. Likewise, maps today have two components that are similar to the petroglyphs, ideograms and pictograms. Pictograms are representational symbols that have direct connections between an image and a meaning. These are things like raindrops, which would indicate rain. Ideograms are more complex and difficult to find the meaning of. These are things you would only know with background knowledge. These include a yin yang symbol. Pictograms and ideograms are used towards your authoritative voice when making a map. Day #6: "The Story of Data" Today, I learned how maps use data to influence our understanding of a certain place. Marcks says, "Maps are a tool for connecting points of data." Authors don't create maps to simply entertain their audience, they make them as a point of reference for themselves and to create a logical time period when characters are traveling. Thus, they must use specific symbols and techniques to get these ideas across. If you compare an ancient map to a current map, you will find that the symbols and main points of the maps have changed. Instead of an animal, you would see a restaurant. Likewise, you would see a road instead of a path in the woods. These are mostly because of something called sociocultural systems. There are four categories in these systems. First, Ecological systems describe the environment of a place, such as air or water. Second, Infrastructure describes structures and things instead of a system, like buildings. Third, structure describes the social organization in an area, like labor divisions or economic groups. Lastly, superstructure describes the ideology of a place, like science and psychology. A good map will make connections between the four categories, which is how a map reveals its world to the reader. ![]() Day 7: "The Invisible Kingdom" In this lesson, I learned about how map-makers have to use both their rational mind and abstract mind at the same time. You use your rational mind to design a network of data points in a map, and you use your abstract mind to find opportunities to use your imagination in these networks. Nowadays, there is technology that makes making a map much easier, but nevertheless, by using these techniques you lose the ability to be creative. Psalter map was created in 1260 AD, and it is a kingdom map, which is a map that combines elements of map design and sociocultural data points. In addition, these ancient maps had a lot of religious symbols and decorations made with a lot of detail and color. This map was most likely made for a king and showed the kingdom he ruled. Furthermore, in Psalter Map, you will find Jerusalem at the center of the map, and this was in a time period when Jerusalem was one of the most important places in the world. Also, in one of my earlier posts, I talked about how the most important part of a person's world is put in the center of the map. Likewise, Psalter map has one of the most important places, Jerusalem, in the center of the map. A kingdom is the most important part of a place, and if you look closely at every map, you will find that each map has its own special kingdom. All-in-all, this week, I have learned a large amount about map-making. I have learned the key fundamentals to making a map along with the history of some the most important maps in history. After watching seven of the twenty-one lessons in this class, I can happily report that I am, in fact, satisfied with it. I have learned so much more about the important parts of cartography, and I am only one third of the way through! I can not wait to continue this class over the next few weeks. See you next week with another blog post! Before I fully submerge myself in the world of cartography, I need to be well informed and educated. I hope to do this by reading a book to open my eyes to different parts of map-making. This week, I will be researching a few different books and ranking them based on which ones I think will be most meaningful to read. Furthermore, I will be reading the book that I deem most important and posting updates every few weeks. After countless hours of research, I have chosen three books that I think would be most beneficial for me to read. Let the ranking begin! #3: How to Lie with Maps by Mark Monmonier After reading several reviews of this book, I feel that it would be a great read that delivers both education and interesting content. In this book, Mark Monmonier explains how all maps lie and you can never truly trust a map. Additionally, it explains the map-making process to give the reader a better sense of why maps lie. Maps tell stories, but that does not mean that all of the stories have to be true. When you consider the fact that maps have to be converted from 3D to 2D and compacted into smaller scales, it is understandable why they do have to lie. This book explores these topics and more and surely would give me an adequate amount of information. However, this book is not number one on my list for a couple of reasons. First, Monmonier originally published this book in 1991. He proceeded to publish a 2nd edition in 1996 and a 3rd edition in 2018. Despite the newer editions, this book is said to be exceedingly out-dated. Thus, the information in this book isn't exactly what I am looking for. Many of the reviews also said that the book can be fairly boring and uninteresting in some spots. I am looking for a book that will hook me from the get-go, and unfortunately, this is not the book for me. #2: Rethinking the Power of Maps by Denis Wood Rethinking the Power of Maps is described as a revolutionary book that opened the eyes of many cartographers to what maps truly are and what the future of maps will hold. Moreover, as you may recall, Denis Wood was featured in the Mapping podcast from last week's post. Once I listened to Wood talking about his maps, I became interested in his work, so I think that this book would be a good fit for me. In this book, Wood discusses several topics involving mapping. Pictures are frequently used as a supplement to the text, and all-in-all, it is filled with useful information. This book came in a very close second to my first place winner. However, the other one just seemed to interest more. In the reviews I read, this book was said to be better for people with more experience with cartography, and as a beginner, I think that I might need to stay away from this book for some time. Nevertheless, this book looks like a great read that I definitely will get around to in the future. #1: All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey by Betsy Mason and Greg Miller And, the number one book that I will be reading is, All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey by Betsy Mason and Greg Miller. When I first heard about this book, it immediately jumped out at me. It is just what I need. In this book, Mason and Miller describe the history of hundreds of maps. It explains how each map has a specific story and purpose that may not meet the eye. Also, many different lessons about maps are taught over the course of the book. It is almost a hybrid between the two previous books that I mentioned. Misleading maps are discussed along with how maps tell stories and prompt discoveries. I can't wait to read this book and tell you guys all about what I have learned.
As I said earlier, I had a difficult decision between this book and Rethinking the Power of Maps, but I think what pushed me over the edge was the fact that this book is similar to a story yet informational as well. You could argue that the other two books do this as well, but after reading about this book, I think All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey does an exceptional job at it. That is why it is my winner. So, as I mentioned earlier, I will be posting about what I have read every few weeks. |
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