ABSTRACT
User-centred design is a constant theme in cartographic production and research in pursuit of a greater understanding of how maps are used, by whom, and under which environmental conditions. Modelling the communication of information via maps became a particular focus of cartographic research in the 1960s and 1970s, with the implicit belief that maps could be optimized by meeting the specific and defined needs of the user. Changes in mapping technology since the heyday of the cartographic communication models have been dramatic. Appearing in a Special Issue of the Journal devoted to 'Use and Users', Cultures of Map Use offered a bold critique of the existing approaches to research into map use, providing a persuasive and well illustrated case for rethinking maps with regard to their wider cultural context. The scientific reductionism inherent within the closed and narrowly defined systems isolated the 'user' from their social and cultural contexts.
