Creator: PS | Level: Beginner | Category: Foundations: Maps and Meaning

Why this matters

Many beginners assume that a map has to look like a road map, atlas page, or GIS interface. But cartography introduces maps more broadly as selective, symbolic representations of space, and that broader understanding makes mapping feel much more approachable. It also helps learners recognize the many different forms maps can take.

Key ideas

• A map is a selective representation, not a complete copy of reality.
• Maps can be static, interactive, analog, digital, narrative, or mobile.
• Different kinds of maps emphasize different relationships.
• Broadening the definition of a map helps beginners enter the field more confidently.

Lesson

A narrow definition of mapping can make the field feel more technical than it needs to be. Once you start looking closely, maps appear in many forms: historical reconstructions, thematic maps, transit diagrams, locative apps, story maps, neighborhood sketches, and interactive dashboards. What ties them together is not one visual style, but a shared effort to organize information about space so that people can interpret relationships, movement, boundaries, and patterns.

At the same time, not everything called “mapping” works in exactly the same way. Geographic mapping, concept mapping, and cognitive mapping all organize knowledge differently. For this project, the goal is to start with spatial mapping while still acknowledging that mapping is a broader family of practices. That wider frame helps learners understand both the flexibility and the specificity of maps.

Example Project or GCDI resource

Spatiality Apps is a great example here because it stretches what many people expect a map to be. The project uses mobile applications built from public data to go beyond basic tourist information and offer “new ways of looking at and understanding a city.” It shows that mapping can also live inside locative and mobile forms, not just conventional GIS windows.

Open reading / resource

OpenALG, Chapter 1: Introduction to Cartography is an ideal reading for this lesson. It introduces core cartographic ideas in accessible language and gives beginners a vocabulary for defining and classifying maps.

Reflection / mini activity

Collect four examples:

• one conventional map
• one interactive or mobile map
• one narrative or story-based map
• one example you are unsure counts as a map