ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of the mapping in the geographical imagination, charting the powerful differences that flow from the application of spatial technologies to code ideas and places. It investigates maps as technological artefacts of science, charts the role of maps as political and social constructions and artistic imaginings, and explains how mapping can be seen as a suite of cultural actions. The vast majority of people who make and use maps still associate them with geography. They mostly assume mapping is ‘neutral’ and apolitical. For much of the discipline’s history, maps have a been touchstone for geography, employed as an objective tool, to describe regional distributions and as a source for geographical ideas. Brian Harley began to challenge scientific orthodoxy and focus attention on the social role of mapping technologies. Maps have guided the explorer, fostering a sense of inevitable progress and encouraging belief in the march of civilization.
