North is a societal construct: when to break the rules with your map Presenter: Laris Karklis, Washington Post Copresenters: Lauren Tierney, Washington Post; Tim Meko, Washington Post We use maps to navigate, inform and tell stories. Sometimes, the cartographic principles we learned in grade school should be pushed aside in favor of a presentation that guides our audience's understanding of a story. Whether it's following the path of a natural event like the 2017 eclipse, mapping a watershed or when limited by the layout of your design medium, sometimes we opt for a non-north-up presentation. This session will deconstruct examples of Washington Post maps that break the north-up rule and explain the reasoning for deviating from the norms.
How Far is a Sandwich? Cartographic Representations of Linear Distance Presenter: Victoria Johnson Why do we use miles or kilometers on maps instead of submarine sandwich lengths? This presentation will take a bite out of how to cartographically represent distance and scale. We'll explore many delicious ways of mapping for linear distance, focusing on the presenter’s own experience developing a series of hoagie-centric maps. Come hungry for knowledge, leave satisfied in making maps more appealing to all comers.
Mapping U.S. small towns: challenges and solutions Presenter: Jennifer Mapes, Kent State University Small towns are too often grouped together with rural areas, obfuscating their more urban characteristics: this can be seen in both academic research and popular press narratives. Maps offer an opportunity to either repeat this mistake or provide an opportunity to correct it. In this presentation, I will discuss some of the challenges created by conventional cartographic representations of demographic data at national and state scales. I will go on to illustrate some alternatives that help to highlight the nuances of spatial patterns in areas outside of large cities.
Feminist Icon Design Presenter: Meghan Kelly, University of Wisconsin—Madison Feminist mapmaking offers exciting and alternative avenues to explore data, map form, and cartographic process. But where do we even begin? My work aims to bring feminism to mapping practice through icon design, an accessible entry point for novice and experienced cartographers. I conducted mapping workshops at Maptime Amsterdam and UW—Madison where I introduced a feminist cartographic framework before asking participants to redesign Maki icons with this framework in mind. Here, I review the workshops, the feminist mapping framework, and the resulting feminist icon designs to demonstrate the value of feminist perspectives in icon design and cartography, more broadly.
