◊ Mapping is an interpretation not just a representation
◊ The connection between cartography and the human body
◊ Mapping was used to discover the globe
This significant idea of how mapping was used to discover the globe is portrayed in “Mapping the Body, Mapping the World: Mercator’s Atlas”, this interests me because while we were in the library looking at the maps I mentioned to my partner Nate how difficult it must have been to navigate the world using the maps hundreds of years ago especially compared to the ease we have today. This idea is reflected in the text on page 24 where Ramachrondan wrote “An innovator in the development of world mapping, Mercator , perhaps more than any other historical figure , is closely associated with a paradigmatic shift in the image of the world. His 1569 navigational projection-the so-called Mercator Projection- produced a vision of global space that remains familiar; it is even the basis of the Web Mercator platform used by Google Maps and in ArcGIS systems today.” This matters because, without the evolution of mapmaking, we would never have the navigational tools we have today. We use these tools on a daily basis and we forget how easy it makes it for us.
Leave a Reply