Sandbox
How to read a map
On how to read a (good) map
by Dr. Ian Muehlenhaus, Directions Magazine, 27 January 2014
Directions is an industry magazine covering trends in "geospatial information technology." Dr. Muehlenhaus, who contributed this article, teaches of geography and cartography at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He writes, "Just as you shouldn’t trust everything you read or see on television, you should never blindly trust information just because it is on a map." Replace map with statistical study and the same advice applies.
Muehlenhaus goes on to give the following questions to consider when evaluating a map:
- Who made the map?
- What is the purpose of the map? That is, what is the map attempting to communicate?
- Who is the intended audience? (It is important to remember that the map may not have been designed for you, but a more specialized audience.)
- Does the map effectively achieve its communication goals? Does it present an interesting story or argument?
As an example of a good map, the article gives an interesting discussion of maps representing this past fall's Yosemite Rim Fire in California.
Submitted by Bill Peterson