THE POWER OF MAPS

functions, engagement and persuasion

MoME SU 23
August 07. 

Attila Bátorfy, Átló, ELTE University

why do we love maps?

6 month

why do we love maps?

why do we love maps?

we love to know where things are

maps stimulate the brain in two ways: it stimulates our aesthetic sense, but more importantly, it invites us to use the rational side of our brain to analyse things.

maps and dataviz

Functions

aides memoriae (memory aids, mnemonic device)
planning - modelling
representation
A to B - itinerary

Pavlov "map" - bc. ca20 000

Mezhirich "map" - bc ca15000

Beudolina "map" - bc. ca3000

Marshall-islands navigational chart

plan of Nippur - bc. ca1400

Leonardo - Plan of Imola

Plan of St. Gall

Francesco Rosselli (attr) - Pianta della Catena (Florence), ca. 1472

Jacopo de Barberi - View of Venice (detail), 1500

Georg Braun, Frans Hogenberg - Hamburg, 1572–

Jacques Turgot - Birds eye view map of Paris, 1734-36 (detail)

Joseph Daniel von Huber - View of Vienna (detail), 1777

Ferenc Vitéz Collár, Lőrinc Neumayer - Telescopic Map of Hungary, I., 1840, Széchenyi National Library

John Bachmann - Bird's eye view of New York, 1865

Tabula Peutingeriana, Roman itinerary

Harry Beck - Subway map of London

Functions

aides memoriae (memory aids, mnemonic device)
planning - modelling
itinerary
"mapping out" / surveying / knowledge

18. century

Englightenment, modernism, measurements

- organizing the state
- beaurocratization
- standardization
- communication
- military logistics
- l'homme moyen of Quetelet

Thematic cartography
new methods
abstraction vs. reality

weather

Edmond Halley - An Historical Account of the Trade Winds, and Monsoons, Observable in the Seas between and near the Tropicks, with an Attempt to Assign the Phisical Cause of the Said Wind, 1686

Edmond Halley - An Historical Account of the Trade Winds, and Monsoons, Observable in the Seas between and near the Tropicks, with an Attempt to Assign the Phisical Cause of the Said Wind, 1686

Alexander von Humboldt - Isothermes according to latitude and longitude lines, 1817

WC Woodbridge - Isothermal map based on Humboldt's observations, 1823

Francis Galton - First modern weather maps, Meteographics, 1863

Francis Galton - First modern weather maps, Meteographics, 1863

topography and geology

Marcellin du Carla-Boniface - Isoline topographic map 

Jean-Louis Dupain-Triel, 1798

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm von Charpentier - First geological map, 1778

William Smith - Geological map, 1815

Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli - Mappa Metallographica..., Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus, 1726

Sámuel Mikoviny: Cross sections of the mines at Selmecz, 1746, Széchenyi National Library

György Buchholtz jr. - Panoramic view of the High Tatra, 1717, Széchenyi National Library

György Buchholtz jr. - Cross section view of the "Dragon-cave" at Deményfalva, 1719

transportation and communication

? - The Danube at Vaskapu (Iron Gate) with the navigable canals, Institute and Museum of Military History 1750

Imre Milecz - Map of salt transportation routes, 1773

Imre Milecz - Map of salt transportation routes, 1773

Drury Harness - Traffic of Dublin, 1837

Charles-Joseph Minard - Meat export to Paris, 1862

Charles-Joseph Minard, diagram map, 1858

Martin de Chevalier - Isochrone map of France, 1882

Emile Cheysson et. al - Anamorfic Map, 1889

Franz Raffelsperger - Postal Network of the Habsburg Empire, 1826

Franz Raffelsperger - Postal Network of the Habsburg Empire, 1826

Site map of the regulation of Tisza river

military and war

Anonymous - Battle of Nagyszombat with the orders of the Imperial and the Hungarian army, 1704, Museum and Institute of Military History

diseases

Valentine Seaman (1770–1817)
Yellow Fever Map, 1798

Cholera Map of London, 1849

John Snow ? (1813–1858)
Cholera Map of London, 1854

people

János Mátyás Korabinszky - Ethnographic and religious map of the comitatus Sáros, 1793,
Széchenyi National Library

Charles Dupin, choropleth map, 1826

János Csaplovics - Ethnographische Karte, 1829

André Michel Guerry - Comparative choropleth maps, 1829

Frére de Montizon - Point Density Map, 1830

Frére de Montizon, 1834

James Cowles Prichard and Alexander Keith Johnston - Ethnic Map, 1843 

Leon Montigny
Election Map of Paris, 1870

Charles Booth - Poverty Map of London, 1889

Florence Kelley (1859–1932)
Chicago Wage Map
1895

Pál Balogh, Kocsárd Proff - Ethnic Map of Hungary, 1902

Pál Balogh, Kocsárd Proff - Ethnic Map of Hungary, 1902

style and rhetoric

consistency

Anton Rothbauer, Emil Liedemann, 1846

Minard, 1853

Cheysson et. al. 1880–1906
RJ Andrews' collection

Henry Gannett, 1903
David Rumsey Map Collection

Lajos Illyefalvi, 1933–
David Rumsey Map Collection

Lajos Illyefalvi, 1933–
David Rumsey Map Collection

Erwin Raisz, 1949–
David Rumsey Map Collection

making maps interesting

Richard Edes Harrison
David Rumsey Map Collection

making maps interesting

Passoneau - Wurman, 1966
David Rumsey Map Collection

the beauty of technology

Passoneau - Wurman, 1966
David Rumsey Map Collection

the beauty of technology

Klichenmann et. al, 1970
David Rumsey Map Collection

the beauty of technology

Klichenmann et. al, 1970
David Rumsey Map Collection

the beauty of technology

Galton, 1875, Times

maps in news

The London Times, 1895

The New York Times, 1896

The New York Times, 1829

George Rorick, 1982

Weather Channel, 1990

NYT

Washington Post

FiveThirtyEight

El País

LSO, 2017

AP

Financial Times

Reuters

rhetoric

Carte rouge, 1920

emphasis

Impeach this map 2016

lie

Tim Meko, Washington Post

exaggeration

Anthony Hearsey, 2020

hyperbole

Craig Taylor, Coral Cities

metaphor

Topi Tjukanov, Vintage isochrones

pastiche, reference

thank you!

batorfy.attila@atlo.team