Reimagining a Classic: Map Use, the 9th Edition

Abstract

When the classic cartographic textbook, Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation, was first published in 1978, very little map use or mapmaking was done in a digital environment. Today, 46 years later, computers are central to mapmaking and digital devices are often the primary platform for map use. This latest edition of Map Use recognizes, in both its format and content, its growing digital audience. The new edition, in print and e-book form, incorporates the latest advancements in geospatial technology throughout its chapters, continuing to make it up-to-date, relevant, and useful to map enthusiasts everywhere.

Yet for all the technological advances in map use and mapmaking, the philosophy underlying Map Use remains the same. As in earlier editions, we stress that a good map user must understand, at a basic level, what goes into the making of a map. From mapmakers, we ask for little less than a miracle. From the map, we want the overwhelming detail, complexity, and size of our environment reduced to a simple representation provides a meaningful basis for relating to the real environment. As the reader, we must make a corresponding effort to become educated map users. This is what Map Use is all about. Its aim is to make basic cartographic principles widely accessible as a comprehensive, foundational textbook for college-level students and instructors, a go-to guide for professionals in fields where maps are important, and a trove of knowledge for casual and curious map users.