Mapping It All Out

 

I'm a bit late with this one, but maybe that is not a bad thing. There are times where I catch myself thinking about how much we as people, humanity as a whole have progressed. I sometimes think about how we came to make soap, or someone had an idea to make footwear. One thing I never really thought about is how we know where we are, or how we know where we are going and if it's the right way to go, 

So once we talked about maps and wayfinding, I decided to take myself down the rabbit hole of the history of map-making. And all I'm going to say is, I'm happy to have been born in 1998 and not in the 1600s where one explorer's mistake mislead people to believe California was an island...

How crazy is that? This map was then made by an Amsterdam map maker, Michiel Colijin based off of incorrect information. It makes you think about how much other information misled people. We now struggle with our GPS taking too long, or maybe leading us a different way, but we never really have the issue of not knowing where we are. We are privileged that way. We constantly have the tools to see where we are and see where we are headed. If not through your phones, then through physical maps that have been perfected over the years and even simplified through the color coating that is used. The error of California being an island was not a one-off either, there have been other (now funny mistakes).

This is a mountain range shown near the west coast of Africa, first done by James Runnell in 1798. After it was copied through much of the 19th century, a French adventurer went to near the region and reported that not only are there no mountains, there are barely any hills there. Maybe you understand what I'm getting at. We are so lucky that we are living during a time where this is a perfected product. Surely there are still mysteries that cover the globe, but not any that really affect our everyday life. 

Lastly, I wanted to talk a bit about the London Underground diagram. It shouldn't be classified as a map because it's not fully true to the geography of London but many have used it as a map and a guide. I want to talk about it because I was a bit ashamed in class that I lived in London when I was young until I was 8 and I never really cared to give it much thought. My family and I often used the London Underground, and the diagram became something that was used every day that I just got used to it just being there. In class, it made me really think about it. 

This is the first diagram that was published in 1908, it's still very informative but a little bit of a mess as well. I thought it was important to in a way, paint a picture of this whole subject by comparing the 1908 diagram of the London Underground and the one used today. It exemplifies the improvements as well as the vast amount of information that has become available in the same diagram. 

Not the clearest image however, it clearly displays how much change has happened to the same diagram. 

It reminds me a lot of the map we used for the NYC MTA Trains. It makes me a bit more thankful that we are in a way spoonfed this information rather than being tricked and left to figure it all out.