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Rethinking maps
Rob Kitchin and Martin Dodge
Prog Hum Geogr 2007; 31; 331
DOI: 10.1177/0309132507077082
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Rethinking maps
Rob Kitchin1* and Martin Dodge2
1NIRSA and Department of Geography, National University of Ireland,
Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
2Department of Geography, University of Manchester, UK
Abstract: In this paper we argue that cartography is profitably conceived as a processual, rather
than representational, science. Building on recent analysis concerning the philosophical
underpinnings of cartography we question the ontological security of maps, contending that it is
productive to rethink cartography as ontogenetic in nature; that is maps emerge through practices
and have no secure ontological status. Drawing on the concepts of transduction and technicity we
contend that maps are of-the-moment, brought into being through practices (embodied, social,
technical); that mapping is a process of constant reterritorialization. Maps are never fully formed
and their work is never complete. Maps are transitory and fleeting, being contingent, relational and
context-dependent; they are always mappings; spatial practices enacted to solve relational
problems (eg, how best to create a spatial representation, how to understand a spatial distribution,
how to get between A and B, and so on). Such a rethinking, we contend, provides a fresh
perspective on cartographic epistemology, and could work to provide a common framework for
those who undertake mapping as applied knowledge (asking technical questions) and those that
seek to critique such mapping as a form of power/knowledge (asking ideological questions). We
illustrate our argument through an analysis of mapping practices.
under challenge. On the one side have been the provocative book Ground truth (Pickles,
other scientific cartographers seeking to 1995), a number of authors applied Harleys
replace Robinsons model with one more ideas to GIS to argue that the positivistic
rooted in cognitive science (eg, MacEachren, claims of GIScience were hollow; that despite
1995) or visualization principles (eg, Antle the claims to god-like positionality and the
and Klinkenberg, 1999); on the other have been neutrality of products GIS was a situated and
critical cartographers who, drawing on critical valued-laden pursuit. In combination, the
social theory, have questioned the rationale application of critical theory to cartography
and principles of cartography, but often and GIS has produced the fields of critical
have little say about the technical aspects cartography and critical GIS, respectively
of how to create a map or how maps work (see Harris and Harrower, 2006).
(Crampton, 2003). As Denis Wood (1993) and Jeremy
Focusing on the latter, in his now classic Crampton (2003) outline, however, Harleys
analysis, Brian Harley (1989) drew on the application of Foucault to cartography, and
ideas of Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida therefore nearly all critical cartography that
to argue that the process of mapping was not follows, is limited. Harleys observations, while
a neutral, objective pursuit but rather was one opening a new view onto cartography,
laden with power. He contended that the pro- stopped short of following Foucaults line of
cess of mapping consists of creating, rather inquiry to its logical conclusion. Instead,
than simply revealing, knowledge. In the pro- Crampton argues that Harleys writings
cess of creation many subjective decisions are remained mired in the modernist conception
made about what to include, how the map will of maps as documents charged with confess-
look, and what the map is seeking to commu- ing the truth of the landscape (p. 7). In other
nicate (MacEachren, 1995; Monmonier, 1996). words, Harley believed that the truth of the
As such, Harley noted, maps are imbued with landscape could still be revealed if we took
the values and judgements of the individuals account of the ideology inherent in the repre-
who construct them and they are undeniably sentation. The problem was not the map per
a reflection of the culture in which those indi- se, but the bad things people did with maps
viduals live. Maps are thus the product of priv- (Wood, 1993: 50, original emphasis). Harleys
ileged and formalized knowledges and they strategy was to identify the politics of repre-
also produce knowledge about the world. sentation in order to circumnavigate them (to
And, in this sense, maps are the products of reveal the truth lurking underneath), not fully
power and they produce power. In contrast to appreciating, as with Foucaults observations,
the scientific view that positions maps in that there is no escaping the entangling of
essentialist terms, Harley cast maps as social power/knowledge. Another strategy to address
constructions; as expressions of power/ the crisis of representation has been the pro-
knowledge. Others, such as Denis Wood duction and valuing of counter mappings
(1992), Mark Monmonier (1996), John Pickles maps made by diverse interests that provide
(2004), and ourselves (Dodge and Kitchin, alternative viewpoints to state-sanctioned and
2000) have extensively demonstrated this commercial cartography (Wood, 1992).
power/knowledge revealing the ideology Again, this strategy does not challenge the
inherent in maps (or their second text) and ontological status of the map; rather it simply
how maps lie (or at least provide selective reveals the politics of mapping.
stories) due to the choices and decisions that Cramptons (2003) solution to the limita-
have to be made during their creation, and tions of Harleys and Woods strategies is to
through how they are read by users. extend the use of Foucault and to draw on the
In the 1990s, similar criticisms were levelled ideas of Heidegger and other critical cartogra-
at geographical information systems (GIS). In phers such as Matthew Edney (1993). In short,
across space and time), they nonetheless slip landscape painting or an advertising poster)?
back into that positioning, albeit with maps How does the idea of a map and what is
understood as complex, rhetorical devices not understood as a map gain ontological security
simply representations. In this sense, Figure 1 and gain the semblance of an immutable
is unquestioningly a map. mobile? Our thesis is that ontological security
We think it productive to take a different is maintained because the knowledge under-
tack to think ontologically about cartography. pinning cartography and map use is learned
For us, maps, as we illustrate in the next sec- and constantly reaffirmed. A map is never a
tion and explain theoretically in the following map with ontological security assumed; it is
section, have no ontological security; they brought into the world and made to do work
are ontogenetic in nature. Maps are of-the- through practices such as recognizing, inter-
moment, brought into being through prac- preting, translating, communicating, and so
tices (embodied, social, technical), always on. It does not re-present the world or make
remade every time they are engaged with; the world (by shaping how we think about the
mapping is a process of constant reterritorial- world); it is a co-constitutive production
ization. As such, maps are transitory and between inscription, individual and world; a
fleeting, being contingent, relational and production that is constantly in motion,
context-dependent. Maps are practices they always seeking to appear ontologically secure.
are always mappings; spatial practices Second, how do maps become? How does
enacted to solve relational problems (eg, how the constant, co-constitutive production of a
best to create a spatial representation, how to map occur? We seek to answer this question
understand a spatial distribution, how to get by examining two vignettes outlining the
between A and B, and so on). From this posi- unfolding nature of mapping and by drawing
tion, Figure 1 is not unquestioningly a map (an on the concepts of transduction (that under-
objective, scientific representation (Robinson) stands the unfolding of everyday life as sets of
or an ideologically laden representation practices that seek to solve ongoing relational
(Harley), or an inscription that does work in problems) and technicity (the power of tech-
the world (Pickles)); it is rather a set of points, nologies to help solve those problems) (see
lines and colours that takes form as, and is Dodge and Kitchin, 2005).
understood as, a map through mapping prac- The argument we forward is not being
tices (an inscription in a constant state of made to demonstrate clever word play or to
reinscription). Without these practices a spa- partake in aimless philosophizing.1 In contrast,
tial representation is simply coloured ink on a we are outlining what we believe is a signifi-
page. (This is not a facetious statement cant conceptual shift in how to think about
without the knowledge of what constitutes a maps and cartography (and, by implication,
map is or how a map works how can it be oth- what are commonly understood as other
erwise?) Practices based on learned knowl- representational outputs and endeavours); that
edge and skills (re)make the ink into a map is a shift from ontology (how things are) to
and this occurs every time they are engaged ontogenesis (how things become) from
with the set of points, lines and areas is rec- (secure) representation to (unfolding) practice.
ognized as a map; it is interpreted, translated This is not minor argument with little theoret-
and made to do work in the work. As such, ical or practical implications. Rather it involves
maps are constantly in a state of becoming; adopting a radically different view of maps and
constantly being remade. cartography. In particular, we feel that the
At the heart of our analysis are two funda- ontological move we detail has value for five
mental questions. First, how do individuals reasons. First, we think it is a productive
know that an arrangement of points, lines way to think about the world, including car-
and colours constitute a map (rather than a tography. It acknowledges how life unfolds in
multifarious, contingent and relational ways. tool in practice, for someone, when connected
Second, we believe that it allows us a fresh to some particular activity . . . The tool
emerges in situ. (Star and Ruhleder, 1996: 112;
perspective on the epistemological bases of our emphasis)
cartography how mapping and cartographic
research is undertaken. Third, it denaturalizes Brown and Laurier (2005) note that people
and deprofessionalizes cartography (Pickles, are never simply mappers, but rather mapping
2004: 17) by recasting cartography as a broad is part of finding a solution to a wider prob-
set of spatial practices, including gestural and lem. We think conceptualizing mapping as a
performative mappings such as Aboriginal set of practices aimed at solving spatial prob-
songlines, along with sketch maps, counter lems is highly productive. In this section we
maps, and participatory mapping, moving it demonstrate this idea by thinking through dif-
beyond a narrowly defined conception of map- ferent ways in which mapping solves spatial
making. (This is not to denigrate the work of problems, using a set of examples. While
professional cartographers, but to recognize these examples are illustrative in nature, we
that they work with a narrowly defined set of believe that they are not extreme or excep-
practices that are simply a subset of all poten- tional and are representative of the actual,
tial mappings.) As such, it provides a way to material practices of mapping (and are based
think critically about the practices of cartogra- on our extensive experience of undertaking,
phy and not simply the end product (the so- observing and teaching such practices). We
called map). Fourth, it provides a means to explain how mapping practices work in a the-
examine the effects of mapping without reduc- oretical and technical sense in the following
ing such analysis to theories of power, instead section.
positioning maps as practices that have diverse
effects within multiple and shifting contexts. Vignette 1
Fifth, it provides a theoretical space in which John Doe has been given the task by a gov-
those who research mapping as a practical ernment department of reporting on the dis-
form of applied knowledge, and those that seek tribution of population change in Ireland
to critique the map and mapping process can between the 1996 and 2002 census.2 There
meet, something that Perkins (2003: 341) feels are several potential solutions to this problem,
is unlikely to happen as things stand. Perkins such as producing statistical tables, figures or
(2003: 342) makes this claim because he feels narrative description, each of which consists
addressing how maps work . . . involves ask- of a set of technical practices which can be
ing different questions to those that relate to used to complete the task. Given the spatial
power of the medium one set of questions nature of the problem, producing what is
being technical, the other ideological. We do commonly understood to be a map provides
not think that this is the case both are ques- one viable solution. Johns task as a cartogra-
tions concerning practice. pher is to construct a spatial representation
using available data that conform to agreed
II Maps as practice always mapping standards and conventions and which effec-
tively communicates the pattern of popula-
[a map ] is like the word when it is spoken, that tion change.
is when it is caught in the ambiguity of an actu-
alization, transformed into a term dependent Starting from a position of having special-
upon many conventions, situated as the act of ized tools (scientific instruments or software)
a present (or of a time), and modified by the and resources (boundary and attribute data,
transformations caused by successive con- previously mapped information), and a degree
texts. (de Certeau, 1984: 117) of knowledge, experience and skills, John
[a] tool is not just a thing with pre-given attrib- works to create a map. The map thus emerges
utes frozen in time but a thing becomes a through a set of iterative and citational
practices of employing certain techniques solutions are not fixed and essential in their
that build on and cite previous plottings or pre- practice but are also subject to play and pre-
vious work (other spatial representations) or cognitive judgement through the evaluation
cartographic ur-forms (standardized forms of of different algorithms in order to determine
representation). This process is choreo- which work best. Alternatively, the classifi-
graphed to a certain degree, shaped by the sci- cation can be devised through a manual, iter-
entific culture of conventions, standards, ative playing with the data in terms of class
rules, techniques, philosophy (its ontic knowl- boundaries, number of classes, and so on
edge), and so on, but is not determined and (which in fact was the case with Figure 1).
essential. Rather, instead of there being a tele- Both cases, technical and manual, consist of
ological inevitability in how the map is con- practice (of running the algorithm or playing
structed and or how the final product will with the data), and these practices vary over
look, the map is contingent and relational in time, by context, and across people. In terms
its production through the decisions made by of the visual display, a colour scheme needs to
John with respect to what attributes are be devised. Similarly, there are technical solu-
mapped, their classification, the scale, the tions such as RGB, HLS or HVC models (see
orientation, the colour scheme, labelling, Robinson et al., 1995);3 in other cases the
intended message, and so on, and the fact that colour ramp is chosen by the cartographer.
the construction is enacted through affective, Finally, there are considerations concerning
reflexive, habitual practices that remain out- where the legend appears, whether labels
side cognitive reflection. Important here is the appear on the map and where, and so on.
idea of play of playing with the possibilities While some of these practices seem prosaic,
of how the map will become, how it will be the procession of decisions and actions
remade by its future makers and of arbitrari- grows the map. Each might seem banal or
ness, of unconscious and affective design. trivial, but their sum the culmination of a set
John thus experiments with different colour of practices creates a spatial representation
schemes, different forms of classification, and that John understands as a map (and believes
differing scales to map the same data. Making that others will accept as a workable map
maps then is inherently creative it can be based upon their knowledge and experience
nothing else; and maps emerge in process. as to what constitutes a map).
For example, using mapping software the When a spatial representation understood
first stage might be to plot administrative as a map is printed for inclusion in a policy
boundaries. In doing so, decisions have to be document (see Figure 1), for example, we
made in terms of the administrative units to would argue that its creation is not complete
use (postcodes, enumeration areas, electoral it is not ontologically secure as a map.
divisions, counties, and so on), and the scale Although it has the appearance of an
of the display. Next, these units need to be immutable mobile its knowledge and mes-
populated with data. To be able to do this the sage fixed and portable because it can be read
data need to allocated to a zone and sorted by anyone understanding how maps work it
into categories that differentiate rates of pop- remains mutable, remade every time it is
ulation change. There are technical solutions employed. Like a street geometrically defined
to classification that can be performed using by urban planning, and created by urban plan-
specialized algorithms. However, John still ners, is transformed into place by walkers (de
needs to determine which algorithm is most Certeau, 1984), a spatial representation cre-
suitable given the structure of the data (eg, to ated by cartographers (the coloured ink on
use the default setting, choosing fixed inter- the paper) is transformed into a map by indi-
vals, mean standard deviation, percentiles, viduals. As each walker experiences the
natural breaks and so on). These technical street differently, each person engaging with
work together to link the spatial representa- interpret (assuming the passer-by has compe-
tion to the landscape and to traverse that land- tence to be able to help). In this sense, Janes
scape. Each adds value to the other, making map is a collaborative manufacture (Crang,
the instructions on how to find the location 1994: 686), as is the space they beckon into
more intelligible. Indeed, the friends direc- being (see Dodge and Kitchin, 2004; 2005).
tions augment the other media. If the friend Similarly, the spatial representation of popula-
had drawn a route onto the professional street tion change becomes a collaboratively manu-
map then the map would have been rewritten factured set of maps (each different for each
in a novel way (what one might call a practice participant) through discussion in a workshop,
of overwriting). The result would be a wholly with the discussion reframing each partici-
new map combining embodied spatial knowl- pants understanding of population change in
edge with direct citations to pre-existing car- Ireland, or more broadly simply the geography
tographic knowledge. Such sketch maps of Ireland.
demonstrate the ability of people to unself-
consciously perform mappings that have suffi- III An ontogenetic understanding
cient accuracy and clarity to solve the problem of maps
of the moment. Rather than rely solely on the From our examples we would argue that
frozen cartographic representations from a maps emerge in process through a diverse set
professionally published source, such route of practices. Given that practices are an
mapping empowers individuals to describe ongoing series of events, it follows that maps
their place in the world to others. are constantly in a state of becoming; they
Once orientated Janes next problem is to are ontogenetic (emergent) in nature. Maps
determine how to get to the town hall, to have no ontological security, they are of-the-
engage with map and the imagined and mate- moment; transitory, fleeting, contingent,
rial geography to plot a new route and to then relational and context-dependent. They are
traverse this route. If Jane fails to place herself never fully formed and their work is never
in either or both the map or material geogra- complete. Maps are profitably theorized, not
phy then she is unable to traverse the city as mirrors of nature (as objective and essential
successfully. A solution might be to retrace truths) or as socially constructed representa-
her steps until she locates a recognizable land- tions, but as emergent. In this section we
mark that allows her to solve the problem at want to start to think through how maps
that location. Another is to ask a passer-by for emerge through practices drawing on the
help. The passer-by might choose to ignore concepts of transduction and technicity; to
the map and give verbal directions to the provide a starting point for conceptually fram-
town hall based on local knowledge. ing the process by which John and Jane begin
Alternatively (s)he might engage with the to solve their relational problems.
spatial representation in partnership with According to Adrian Mackenzie (2003:
Jane. As Brown and Laurier (2005) demon- 10) transduction is a kind of operation, in
strate, maps are often beckoned into being which a particular domain undergoes a certain
collectively as shared social and cultural prac- kind of ontogenetic modulation. Through this
tices. Through collaboration Jane and the modulation in-formation or individuation
passer-by each beckon their own map into occurs. That is, transduction involves a
existence based on their experiences, knowl- domain taking-on-form, sometimes repeat-
edges and skills, with the conversation and edly (his emphasis). Simondon (1992: 313)
practices of pointing, tracing, sharing views of explains [t]he simplest image of the trans-
the street, and so on, reshaping each map. ductive process is furnished if one thinks of a
Through this process Janes map potentially crystal, beginning as a tiny seed, which grows
gains depth and clarity and becomes easier to and extends itself in all directions in its
mother-water. Each layer of molecules that material geographies are alternatively modu-
has already been constituted serves as the lated. Without the map the problem of get-
structuring basis for the layer that is being ting from A to B might not be solved, or will
formed next, and the result is amplifying be solved less efficiently or in a more costly
reticular structure. In other words, the crys- manner.
tal grows through individuations, that cite As these relational problems make clear,
previous individuations, to transduce ele- maps are the product of transduction and
ments into a crystal. Using this idea, if we they enable further transductions in other
think of John creating a map of population places and times; they are always in the pro-
change, we can say that the plotting of lines, cess of mapping; of solving relational prob-
colours and so on consists of a series of indi- lems such as how best to present spatial
viduations that transduces the blank page information, how to understand a spatial dis-
into a map, with each individuation citing tribution, how to find ones way. Here, we
previous plottings. want to make it clear that we are not drawing
Transduction occurs because we are end- a distinction between what traditionally has
lessly confronted with sets of relational prob- been divided into map-making and map use.
lems practices in effect aim to solve these Instead, to us all engagement with maps are
problems (Mackenzie, 2002). In the case of emergent all maps are beckoned into being
mapping, those problems include meta- to solve relational problems; all are (re)map-
problems such as the production of maps or pings the (re)deployment of spatial knowl-
finding ones way, that in themselves are edges and practices. And all emergence is
made up of hundreds of smaller problems contextual and a mix of creative, reflexive,
such as where to place a label, what colour playful, affective and habitual practices,
scheme to use, or how to orientate or make affected by the knowledge, experience and
correspondence between map and territory. skill of the individual to perform mappings and
The solving of problems is always partial, apply them in the world. Conceiving of map-
opening up new problems (eg, the plotting of ping in this way reveals the mutability of
one line leads to the plotting of the next, and maps; that they are remade as opposed to
so on), and contextual (embedded within mismade, misused or misread.
standards, conventions, received wisdom, Mapping works because its set of practices
personal preferences, direction by others, and has been learnt by people,4 and because maps
so on). In this sense, transduction is the are the product of technicity (made by tools)
means by which a domain structures itself as and they possess technicity (they are a tool
a partial, incomplete solution to a relational themselves). Technicity refers to the extent
problem (Mackenzie, 2003: 10). In the exam- to which technologies mediate, supplement,
ples above, the meta-problem for John is one and augment collective life; the unfolding or
of providing information with respect to pop- evolutive power of technologies to make
ulation change in Ireland in a meaningful form things happen in conjunction with people
that can be used by the contracting party in a (Mackenzie, 2002). For example, mapping
policy document. This document in itself has practices used to produce a spatial represen-
transductive effects, alternatively modulating tation understood as a map by its creator are
how the world is understood, and this under- the product of cartographic instruments
standing can then be used to enact policy ini- (pens, paper, rulers, software packages, etc)
tiatives and to transduce material used in conjunction with people, where the
geographies. The meta-problems for Jane are outcome is co-dependent on both instru-
to locate herself with respect to map and ments and individual, and embedded within a
location, and then to make her way to the particularized context. A spatial representa-
town hall. Similarly, both imagined and tion can be said to possess technicity when it
is used by a person to solve relational prob- and use influence how mappings are (re)made,
lems; to alternatively modulate (transduce) how this work varies between people and the
activity and space. The solution arises from relational problems being solved, how maps
the conjunction of person and representation; gain the status of immutable mobiles and how
they are produced through, or folded into, this varies, and has varied, over time and
each other in complex ways. Maps thus space. Within this conceptual view, technical
should be understood processually . . . as questions (ontic knowledge) concerning such
events rather than objects, as contingent the things as accuracy and standards, remain an
whole way down, as networks of social- important focus of study, but are appreciated
material interactions rather than simply to be contingent, relational and context-
reflections of human capacities or innately dependent; that addressing technical ques-
alien objects (Mackenzie, 2003: 4, 8). tions is in itself a process of seeking to solve a
Cartography as a profession is thus reposi- set of relational problems. In other words, the
tioned as a processual,5 as opposed to repre- focus of attention shifts to the relationship
sentational, science. between cartographer, individuals, and a
From this perspective, the important ques- potential solution, and how mapping is
tion is not is not what a map is (a spatial repre- employed to solve diverse and context-
sentation or performance), nor what a map dependent problems (eg, how John produced a
does (communicates spatial information), but map of population change and Jane produced
how the map emerges through contingent, rela- a map using a published spatial representa-
tional, context-embedded practices to solve tion to get from one location to another),
relation problems (their ability to make a dif- rather than a single map being viewed as a uni-
ference to the world); to move from essential- versal and essential solution to a range of
ist and constructivist cartography to what we questions (that there can be a best or most
term emergent cartography. accurate map that all people understand and
Epistemologically, what this means is that use in the same way to address a range of
the science of cartography (how maps are problems). This is, we believe, a subtle but
produced) and critical analysis of cartography important distinction as it recognizes a funda-
(the history and politics of cartography) are mental shift in conceptualizing the founda-
both positioned as processual in nature. tional knowledge underpinning cartography,
Rather than one asking technical questions and reconfigures the epistemology appropri-
and the other ideological, both come to focus ately, without necessarily fundamentally alter-
on how maps emerge through practices; how ing many of the key technical questions at a
they come to be in the world. With respect to technical level (but clearly at a philosophical
both, as Brown and Laurier (2005: 23, original level) that professional cartographers are
emphasis) note, this calls for a radical shift in interested in, while also opening up a set of
approach from imagined scenarios, controlled wider issues and concerns that we believe
experiments or retrospective accounts to deserves wider attention.
examine how maps emerge as solutions to
relational problems; to make sense of the IV Conclusion
unfolding action of mapping. As such, carto- In this paper, we have examined in depth the
graphic research becomes refocused as a sci- ontological status of maps. Like Crampton
ence of practices, not representations; on how (2003) and Pickles (2004) we agree that there
mapping is produced, how mapping is contex- is a need to rethink the philosophical bases of
tually co-constituted (within individual, collec- cartography, moving beyond ontic knowledge
tive and institutional frameworks), how to construct new ontologies. Unlike
mappings do work in the world, how the craft Crampton and Pickles, however, we have
of cartographers and the lexicon they develop questioned the ontological security of maps,
instead arguing that maps are ontogenetic in mapping. Here, there is an attempt to
nature. That is, maps are never fully formed observe and acknowledge what cartogra-
and their work is never complete. Maps are phers do (undertake contextual science) not
of-the-moment, beckoned into being through what they say they do (undertake objective
practices; they are always mapping. From this science) and how people bring maps into
perspective maps are fleeting, contingent, being to solve relational problems in ways
relational and context-dependent, emerging that extend beyond a nave understanding of
through transductive processes to solve rela- map use (ie, collaboratively, in relation to
tional problems. This theoretical turn has led places and other sources of knowledge,
us to suggest that cartography is processual, within context, etc). For professional cartog-
not representational, in nature. Rather than raphers this means taking seriously the con-
cartography being narrowly understood as the scious and unconscious decisions they make,
scientific pursuit of how best to represent the the way creating a map unfolds in citational,
spaces of the world (focused on issues such as habitual, reflexive and playful ways; and the
form and accuracy), cartography becomes diverse and context-dependent ways in which
understood as the pursuit of representational maps are brought into being by people as they
solutions (not necessarily pictorial) to solve live their lives (see Brown and Laurier, 2005).
relational, spatial problems. In so doing, car- Such research, we believe, will open up pro-
tography shifts from being ontical in status, ductive ways of framing and reflexively refin-
wherein the ontological assumptions about ing cartographic theory and praxis, rather
how the world can be known and measured than simply critiquing the work of cartogra-
are implicitly secure, to an ontological project phers without providing epistemological sug-
that questions more fully the work maps do in gestions (other than to acknowledge or
the world. This, for us, goes some way towards reduce ideological bias as with much critical
resolving Perkins (2003) dilemma, providing a cartography as presently formulated).
theoretical space in which to examine the While we have made a start in this paper
technical and ideological aspects of cartogra- to rethink cartography as a processual, emer-
phy, and the full range of mapping practices gent endeavour, there is clearly much more to
including professional cartography, counter be done both theoretically and empirically to
mappings, participatory mapping, and perfor- extend and expand the ideas we have pre-
mative mappings all are necessarily selective, sented. We believe, however, that such an
contingent and contextual mappings to solve approach will be a productive exercise both
relational, spatial problems. ontologically and epistemologically, strength-
Such a turn also clearly has epistemological ening the philosophical tenets of cartographic
implications with regards to cartographic research and production, and stimulating a
research and work, refocusing attention rich vein of empirical, technical and historical
across the broad spectrum of cartography research.
(practioners, technicians, historians, critical
theorists, map users) on understanding map-
ping practices how maps are (re)made in Note
diverse ways (technically, socially, politically) 1. As one of the referees of the paper suggested.
2. One of us was involved in such a project.
by people within particular contexts and cul-
3. RGB is Red, Green and Blue system; HLS is
tures as solutions to relational problems. Hue, Lightness and Saturation system; HVC
Examining these practices can be undertaken is Hue, Value and Chroma system.
in multiple ways (ethnographies, participant 4. Pickles (2004: 6061) explains: Maps work by
observation, technical measurement), as long naturalizing themselves, by reproducing a par-
as they are sensitive to capturing and distill- ticular sign system and at the same time treat-
ing the unfolding and contextual nature of ing that sign system as natural and given. But,
map knowledge is never navely given. It has Harris, L. and Harrower, M. 2006: Critical cartogra-
to be learned and the mapping codes and skills phies special issue. ACME: An International E-Journal
have to be culturally reproduced . . . The for Critical Geographies 4(1). Retrieved 13 February
map opens a world to us through systems and 2007 from http:// www.acme-journal.org/Volume4-
1.htm
codes of sedimented, acculturated knowledge.
Latour, B. 1987: Science in action. Cambridge, MA:
5. Our vision of processual cartography moves Harvard University Press.
beyond Rundstroms (1991) process cartogra- Livingstone, D.N. 1992: The geographical tradition:
phy which sees map-making as a subjective episodes in the history of a contested enterprise.
process embedded within a wider social context Oxford: Blackwell.
wherein the resultant map is immutable mobile 2005: Science, text and space: thoughts on the geog-
to recognize mapping as contingent, relational raphy of reading. Transactions of the Institute of British
and continually emergent process. That is, is Geographers NS 30, 391401.
more profoundly poststructural in nature. MacEachren, A.M. 1995: How maps work: representa-
tion, visualization and design. New York: Guilford
Press.
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