The power of maps

Abstract

This book consists of essays on the power of maps. The first attempts to explain how maps work, how they bring together the accumulated thought and labour of the past. The second places the map in its historical context, as an instrument that serves interests which not only bring maps into being, but in so doing divide the world. The third shows the way that these interests are embodied in every map, using Van Sant's world map. The fourth chapter pursues the way that the map masks the interest it embodies through a close reading of the area around Ringwood, in northeastern New Jersey, US. The fifth uses the "Official State Highway Map of North Carolina', US, to demonstrate the way this mask is embedded in the very signs either into which the map may be decomposed, or out of which it can be deconstructed. In the sixth essay the history of a single sign, landform relief, is considered, as it illuminates the continuity of the map with the rest of the culture. The final chapter argues that the realisation of the interest of every map frees it to serve all of us. -from Author