Critical Cartography Through Intentional Re/Misuse

Due: 9/24

“Data are always collected for a specific purpose, by a combination of people, technology, money, commerce, and government.” (Kurgan 2013, 35)

The main task

Find two digital spatial datasets about a place (that is not New York City) that are related to a topic that interests you and have some relevance to one another. Create a single map which uses these two datasets together to make an argument that was likely not intended by the original creator(s) of either dataset.

Write a pithy 2 sentence summary of your map’s intended argument (think of this as something like gallery text that might accompany a work of art).

Requirements and considerations

• The place you select must be somewhere that you have lived and/or spent a significant enough amount of time to know something about lived experience there.

• Investigate the origins of your two datasets. Some starting points to cover (at a minimum): who made the data? what is/was the intended use(s) the data? when was the data made? how was it made?

• Craft an argument through the juxtaposition, overlay, or presentation of the two datasets together in a map. This argument should try to in some way alter, stretch, or subvert the originally intended use of one or both datasets.

• Research the appropriate projected coordinate reference system to use for your chosen place, reproject your data and map canvas accordingly (see tutorial 2)

• Consider the role that the title and other map elements can play in assisting you in making your argument clear.

• As you design your map choose one of the projects we have looked at thus far in class as a visual precedent (see GoogleDrive for slides, and the Miro board), and imitate some aspect of its graphic style.

• I suggest working with vector datasets for this assignment (but not required). When looking for vector geospatial data you should be looking for one of these file types:
  • shapefile
  • geojson
  • KML/KMZ
  • a csv with latitude and longitude coordinates (review tutorial 2 for how to open something like this)
• If you plan to use raster data you should be looking for something with a ‘.tif’ format or that is called a ‘geoTIFF’ or ‘geoJPG’

Format

• Your final map must be a designed map composition on a single slide with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
• Your designed map composition must thoughtfully include:
  • title
  • legend
  • scale bar
  • north arrow (your map doesn’t need to have north be pointing vertically…)
  • citations for all data sources
  • projection used
  • your name

• Submission

• Upload your map:
  • as a PDF document to Canvas (the PDF should include your 2 sentence summary on a second page)
  • add it to the pin-up section for 9/24 in the course Miro board (with your gallery text as an annotation below your map)

Starting points/guidance

For sources for spatial datasets see:

• Columbia Library Geodata Portal
• Local and State Government operated Open Data Portals
• University Mapping and/or Research Centers. For example:
  • Eviction Lab. “Eviction Filing Rate & Evictions Rate.” Princeton University
  • Beirut Urban Lab, “Beirut Built Environment Database”

A general rule of thumb for finding data: think about who would have the motivation (and the money/resources) to create the dataset you are looking for then try to research that entity.

This guide to writing clear gallery text from the Victoria & Albert Museum is perhaps helpful in composing your map description.