Overview
Reimagining Maps was written after participation in a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Incubator hosted on Polyplexus. The field of cartography sits at the intersection of applied mathematics, engineering, geology, geography, user experience, and graphic design. Methodologies and concepts from cartography have been creatively applied in a variety of fields, such as the application of spatial mapping techniques to information in knowledge management, or the use of itinerary visualization methods in non-spatial journeys such as learning maps in learning management systems. These fields have been subjected to their own forms of development and evolution leading to new methodologies and concepts somewhat removed from their origins. Cartography itself has undergone a great deal of technology-driven development but would look very different today had it been developed as a new field through the creative application of methodologies and concepts from those it inspired. As the modern information and logistical context presents new challenges and thus new demands for maps, we propose a “reimagining of maps” through an interdisciplinary synthesis inspired by the interdisciplinary origins of maps themselves.
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Methods and contributions
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Findings and contributions
- The authors conclude that across fields and history, mappers face similar challenges: integrating multimodal data, representing uncertainty, user customization, and designing for action rather than archiving.
- Across the mapping domains reviewed, the authors found the main cutting-edge limitation was the ability to integrate data rapidly, not data availability.
- They propose BOLTS: data specifications reasonable for Business, Operational, Legal, Technical, and Social use-cases.
- They argue that BOLTS reasonableness needs metadata to guide transformations, rather than fitting all data to universal schemas.
- Drawing on OpenStreetMap and Wikipedia practice, the authors suggest future maps may rely on reputation-based 'network-sourcing' rather than crowd-sourcing.
Methods
- Concept white paper responding to the NGA 'Reimagining Maps' Polyplexus incubator — The paper is structured around the incubator's driving questions about how emerging knowledge could make maps more flexible and understandable.
- Survey of the current geospatial problem space and its key challenge areas — Part I reviews issues such as interoperability, skill gaps, uncertainty, threat actors, data volume, and accessibility, then condenses them into three challenge areas.
- Cross-field review of 'maps' in fields adjacent to cartography — Part II examines how maps are used in process mapping, software, complex systems, communications, knowledge management, education, ecology, and mathematics.
- Narrative case study based on DASA's 'Map the Gap' wet-gap crossing scenario — A bridge-construction scenario for expeditionary forces in adversarial settings is used to illustrate what reimagined maps might look like.
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- Reimagining Maps.pdf PDF · 0.69 MiB · extracted-text source
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