What is a map?
Channel: Andrea Ross
Date: 2015-03-18

by Andrew Hill

New developments in mapping technology, access to geospatial platforms and data, and methods for data visualization have redefined who and what are being mapped. While maps are being produced and consumed faster than ever before, our very understanding of what defines a map has slowly drifted from what technology actually enables. The "map" still holds a strong conceptual link to the foldable paper maps popular in the past centuries. However, the nature of the map today is defined by data that changes before our eyes and information that wont be the same from one viewer to the next.

Combined with the increasing ability to companies or individuals to collect data, open source geospatial tools and access to open data have influenced this directly.

In this talk, we will explore what it means to be a map today. We will look at the changes that new technology and practices have made on the thing we call a "map". Through this talk, the argument will be made that we have entered a new Era of Maps.