ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors consider the value of aesthetics and discuss the role of art in cartography taking account of some debates that they feel bring meaning to how they think about design. Cartography is a creative professional career where problem-solving is part of the production process. Maps are every-day objects and, as such, the realm of cartography is being seriously challenged because so many modern-day maps break accepted cartographic practice. Alexander J. Kent focuses on the role of aesthetics in cartography. He suggests that aesthetics has been largely ignored because of the assumptions that it neither influences the process of cartographic design and that it exists independently from geographical information. There are, essentially, six main stages in designing anything: problem identification, preliminary ideas, design refinement, analysis, decision and implementation. The art of cartography and the art of the cartographer are therefore about purposeful design.
