ARTICLE

The Practice of Mapmaking: Bridging the Gap between

Critical/Textual and Ethnographical Research Methods
Edoardo Boria
Department of Political Science / Sapienza Università di Roma / Rome / Italy

Tania Rossetto
Department of Historical and Geographical Sciences and the Ancient World, Geography Section / Università degli Studi
di Padova / Padua / Italy

ABSTRACT

The recent shift from representation to practice within map theorization has led to a renewed interest in mapmaking
calling for both closer attention to the practices involved and the employment of ethnographic methodologies in
researching how maps come to life. A deep understanding of the making of maps, however, requires a combination of
different approaches, from the critical (text-oriented) to the ontogenetic (practice-oriented), from deconstruction to
narrative ethnography, and from cultural contextual readings to subjects-centred readings. Two map scholars with very
different backgrounds (phenomenology and political geography) seek to put these different approaches into action while
investigating mapmaking through a single case study. The life and work of Laura Canali, who has created maps for Limes:
Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica (the leading publication in Italy in the field of international relations) since 1993, are
analyzed to show how ethnography and critical reading are better used as complementary rather than conflicting
approaches. Comparison of the methodological framework applied here with more traditional approaches employed in
the field of historical cartography provides evidence of present-day changes in mapmaking and calls for an enhancement
of new practice-oriented methods of analysis. Finally, additional insights from creativity studies suggest that there is an
interesting line of research on ‘‘cartographic creativity’’ to be further developed.

Keywords: mapmaking, cartographic creativity, post-representational cartography, deconstructionism, Laura Canali,

geopolitical cartography

RÉSUMÉ

Le récent passage de la représentation à la pratique en théorisation cartographique a renouvelé l’intérêt pour la carto-
graphie, nécessitant à la fois une considération accrue pour les pratiques en question et l’emploi de méthodes ethnogra-
phiques dans l’analyse du processus au fil duquel les cartes prennent vie. Une profonde compréhension du processus
d’élaboration des cartes réclame toutefois la conjugaison de différentes approches, de l’application de la méthode critique
(mode texte) à celle de la méthode ontogénétique (mode pratique), de la déconstruction à l’ethnographie narrative, et
des lectures culturelles contextuelles aux lectures thématiques. Deux chercheurs chevronnés en cartographie, provenant
d’horizons très différents (phénoménologie et géographie politique), s’emploient à mettre en œuvre ces approches dans le
cadre de leur étude de la cartographie en examinant un cas particulier, celui de la vie et des travaux de Laura Canali,
auteure de cartes créées pour Limes: Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica (principale publication italienne dans le domaine
des relations internationales) depuis 1993. Les auteurs analysent ce cas afin d’illustrer en quoi il est préférable d’utiliser
les méthodes de l’ethnographie et de la lecture critique en complémentarité plutôt que de les opposer. La comparaison du
cadre méthodologique appliqué ici avec les méthodes plus traditionnelles employées dans le domaine de la cartographie
historique permet d’observer les transformations que subit actuellement la cartographie et confirme la nécessité de
perfectionner les nouvelles méthodes d’analyse axées sur la pratique. Enfin, des données supplémentaires tirées d’études
de la créativité semblent ouvrir une intéressante avenue de recherche à explorer, celle de la « créativité cartographique ».

Mots clés : cartographie, cartographie géopolitique, cartographie post-représentationnelle, créativité cartographique,

déconstructionisme, Laura Canali

32 Cartographica 52:1, 2017, pp. 32–48 6 University of Toronto Press doi:10.3138/cart.52.1.3790

 The Practice of Mapmaking: Bridging the Gap between Critical/ Textual and Ethnographical Research Methods

Studying Mapmaking, Then and Now We would like to compare this early work with the latest
attention devoted to mapmaking. Within the recent emer-
At the turn of the twenty-first century, the study of cartog- gence of a ‘‘processual’’ or ‘‘ontogenetic’’ perspective (Kitchin
raphy has been affected by epistemological innovations that and Dodge 2007) and a related focus on practices within
have profoundly changed the intellectual scope of this field, cartography, mapmaking has recently been given special
ranging from the first deconstructionist works by John attention. This attention has been directed toward the
Brian Harley (1988, 1989) to more recent phenomenological diffuse authorship of mapping in the new realm of perva-
(Del Casino and Hanna 2006) and post-representational sive cartography (‘‘prosumer mapping,’’ as described by
(Dodge, Perkins, and Kitchin 2009) contributions. Also, Dodge, Perkins, and Kitchin 2009), the repositioning of
due to the broader ‘‘spatial turn’’ within the social sciences the figure of the professional cartographer (Kent 2014),
and the humanities, the highly specialized study of cartog- and the ongoing centrality of the ‘‘producer’’ (the indi-
raphy has rapidly evolved into a more extroverted arena vidual, network, financier, artisan, or institution) against
of ‘‘map studies.’’ However, the methodological equipment the enormous proliferation of map uses and map users
of this field is still unstable, with the co-presence of various (Kovarsky 2007). Indeed, the historical study of mapmakers
different methods and the need to reflect on methodologi- is now focused on the very practice of mapmaking, taking
cal stances. The present situation thus gives the impression into consideration the various physical activities, artisanal
that the course of map studies still remains incomplete, gestures, inconsistency of working methods, and the indi-
and more needs to be done to grant coherence to the vidual circumstances of each mapping project (Haguet
innovative expectations generated in recent years. 2011). This historical sensibility clearly adheres to the
Indeed, the initial move toward these theoretical innova- idea that maps are processual, contingent, and practiced
tions and methodological proposals can be traced back to entities. However, the emergence of ‘‘critical cartography’’
the work of Harley. Drawing from his earlier study of and geo-cultural interpretations of maps during the 1980s
British mapmakers and the wider corpus of map historians’ and the 1990s has put more emphasis on maps as static,
methods, Harley proposed a specific methodology for the fixed, and closed texts imbued with powerful meanings.
evaluation of maps, and in particular early maps (Harley In that period, Harley himself prominently adopted the
1968). His methodological framework was based on the method of discourse analysis to deconstruct the political
distinction between the ‘‘evidence on maps’’ (e.g., dating, and ideological content of the map.
identification, map content, mathematical properties regard- This focus on the power of cartographic representations
ing scale and projection, toponymy) and the ‘‘evidence has recently shifted to a more multifaceted and open appre-
about maps’’ (e.g., external sources, documents accom- ciation of mapping practices, experiences, and processes
panying the map, and additional direct or indirect evi- from an ‘‘ontogenetic’’ (or also a ‘‘post-representational’’)
dence). Concerning this second category, the map historian perspective. In this vein, a call for new methods for the
must consider that cartographers often have multiple rather study of how mapping practices come into being has
than single purposes, depending on their own individual been made. Kitchin, Gleeson, and Dodge (2013), in par-
approaches (including preferences, intentions, personality, ticular, recommend the use of ethnographies, ethnome-
abilities, and the perceptions of the mapmaker), external thodology, participant observation, and observant participa-
influences that may have directed their work (such as tion alongside discourse analysis. Of course, ethnographic
who commissioned the map, or the environment of the methods have already been employed to research the
mapmaker), and economic conditions (or, more specifi- use of maps (Brown and Laurier 2005; Rossetto 2012).
cally, the map business). Within the study of the evidence As for mapmaking, though, it has been researched mostly
about maps, Harley includes contemporary assessments through autoethnographic practices or narrative self-
of maps (including comments in letters, newspapers, or accounts (Kitchin, Gleeson, and Dodge 2013; Perkins 2014;
periodicals written by cartographers or map users such as Monmonnier 2014; Wood 2010). An interesting and dif-
travellers, statesmen, soldiers, and scholars). While the ferent case is that of the anthropologist Grasseni’s (2004)
evidence about maps is crucial to critically evaluate why a work, which consists of an ethnographic observation
map was made, the evidence on maps is equally essential (called a ‘‘cartographic memoir’’) of the ‘‘map-making
to critically grasping the performative power of maps. As enterprise’’ of a group of local amateur mapmakers re-
Harley (2001, 112) put it, ‘‘Compilation, generalization, drawing the tourist map of their locality. Furthermore, in
classification, formation into hierarchies, and standard- his study of female cartographers in history, the sociologist
ization of geographic data, far from being mere neutral van den Hoonaard (2013) also includes interviews with
activities, involve power-knowledge relations at work.’’ contemporary mapmakers. In particular, he conducted a
Even though his analysis is focused on early maps, we can qualitative survey by interviewing 38 female cartographers
see how this methodological framework is (still) relevant at several international cartographic conferences (with 45-
for the analyses of maps and mapmakers of all epochs minute interviews conducted in public spaces).
and genres.

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Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto

Figure 1. Incubi indiani/Indian Nightmares.

Source: Map from Limes: Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica (2009); used by permission.

The present article intends to draw from both these tradi- ‘‘always textual representation and material practices’’
tional and contemporary insights and applications to ex- (simultaneously maps and mappings) (53). To actualize
plore and test methodological issues in the study of the this confrontation and see it at work, we decided to bring
practice of mapmaking within a professional environment. our different backgrounds and sensibilities into the design
We authors, a political geographer strongly influenced by of a one-case study involving mapmaker Laura Canali,
critical cartography (see Boria 2007) and a cultural geog- who has created maps for Limes: Rivista Italiana di Geo-
rapher affected by phenomenological attitudes toward politica since 1993. Limes (from the Latin word that means
maps (see Rossetto 2013), collaborate here on a common ‘‘border’’) is a monthly 200-page periodical published
research experience to understand how a more established by one of the major Italian publishing groups (Gruppo
critical, textual, and deconstructive research methodology Editoriale L’Espresso), and Lucio Caracciolo has been
can engage in dialogue with a more recent experiential, the editor-in-chief since its foundation in 1993. Based in
practical, and ethnographic one. Indeed, the realm of Rome, with around 15,000 paper copies sold each month
cartographic theory is currently animated by the confron- in addition to the e-book and iPad versions and thousands
tation of different approaches as well as by attempts to of daily hits on its Web site (for both free and paid con-
reconcile apparently discordant perspectives. Kitchin and tent), Limes is the leading publication and an eminent
Dodge (2007) proposed that to overcome the technical/ opinion maker in Italy in the field of international rela-
political divide, an ‘‘ontogenetic’’ perspective on carto- tions. Every issue is dedicated to one topic and is replete
graphy must be adopted; with this same objective, Dodge with original maps, which constitute the most recognizable
and Perkins (2015) recently combined Harley’s critical mark of the journal. Thus, our focus is not on a single
legacy with the ‘‘post-critical’’ attitude of so-called ‘‘post- cartographic product or project, but on long-lasting map-
representational cartography.’’ Furthermore, Del Casino making activity producing so far 3,500 original geopolitical
and Hanna (2006) recommended combining a critical maps (Figure 1), that is, spatial representations aimed at
reading of cartographic representations with a more phe- illustrating the dynamic political situation in a particular
nomenological appreciation of mapping practices. Along region and its conflicting powers through a specific set of
the same lines, Hanna (2012) emphasized how maps are graphic symbols (Boria 2008).

34 Cartographica 52:1, 2017, pp. 32–48 6 University of Toronto Press doi:10.3138/cart.52.1.3790

 The Practice of Mapmaking: Bridging the Gap between Critical/ Textual and Ethnographical Research Methods

Between the Critical/ Textual and the Ethnographic: aspects of creativity (products and processes), levels of in-
Research into Cartographic Creativity vestigation (culture, organization, group, and individual),
the nature of the studies (theoretical or empirical), and
The new cartographic realm in which we live at a time methodologies (quantitative or qualitative) (Long 2014).
of ubiquitous digital mapping has changed not only the Even if quantitative methodologies (such as psychometrics,
morphology of maps and mapping practices but also the experiments in controlled settings, or historiometry) are
methodology needed to grasp and interpret these maps still prevailing within creativity studies, interpretive quali-
and mapping techniques. Recovering the still useful aspects tative methodologies (including interviewing, observation,
of Harley’s framework while developing our own research textual analysis, and phenomenological inquiry) are also
angle, we realized that we were somehow updating this well established. Within qualitative methodologies, which
framework by appropriating it for these new challenges. are focused on how participants make meaning out of their
First of all, the fact of working with a living cartographer experience of creating, case-study research is definitely
and on living maps produced the immediate effect of prevalent.
transferring this framework into the realm of contingent Our research design was developed from the micro-level,
encounters, relational processes, and dynamic contexts, focused on a single subject and built with exploratory
thus emphasizing practices at the expense of products purposes, thus starting from broad research questions
(from maps to the practice of mapmaking). Nonetheless, and maintaining maximal openness (Swanborn 2010).
our research also relied strongly on deconstructive accounts Despite focusing on cartographic practice, we adopted a
of textual materials and visual products. By encountering ‘‘holistic’’ approach, understanding the person as a whole
maps as they emerge into existence, we therefore felt that and considering together the diverse aspects of life and
we not only were searching for the evidence on/about work, while placing emphasis on the development of
maps, but also were involved in stories on/about mapmaking. the work as crucial to case-study research on creativity
As we will show, the deconstructionist, textual, and critical (Wallace 1989). Literature on the case-study method in
analysis of maps was challenged by the work in the wild, creativity research provided practical information on how
and the idea of finding evidence was overcome by the to study creative people and creative processes (Cohen
idea of being exposed to specific events, situations, and 2010).
narratives.
With the collaboration of the mapmaker Laura Canali, we
We found it helpful to approach mapmaking as a case planned a three-day-long fieldwork project. Tania Rossetto
of ‘‘creativity research,’’ thus focusing specifically on carto- spent three days at the house of the cartographer, and
graphic creativity. To be clear, we are not referring here Edoardo Boria, who was already acquainted with the
to research in map design, which could also be seen as re- subject in the case (being a regular columnist of Limes),
search concerned with cartographic creativity, but instead took part in some of the interview sessions. Fieldwork
to a reflective and interpretive style of research focused on also included observation of a meeting of the editorial office
the creative processes involved in mapmaking. Geography of Limes and interviews with the staff. Post-fieldwork
is currently experiencing a ‘‘creative (re)turn.’’ As Marston continuation of the research process included additional
and De Leeuw (2013) contend while introducing a special conversations and e-mail interviews with the subject, the
issue of the Geographical Review on creative geographies, staff, and the editor-in-chief of the periodical, as well as
geographers now not only are engaged with the creative attendance at two conferences in which the mapmaker
productions of others, but also increasingly are directly participated, along with analysis of additional textual docu-
involved in producing creative expression. Here, however, mentation (e.g., Limes Web sites, minutes of editorial
we refer to the methodological tools developed within the meetings, drafts of articles and maps, and e-mail ex-
specialist field of ‘‘creativity research’’ to analyze a creative changes among editors). Each of the stages of the research
subject, namely a mapmaker: a figure who is scarcely con- process was discussed by the two authors on an almost
sidered within the geographical creative turn or within daily basis for two months before and after the fieldwork.
creativity research. The field of creativity studies has been In what follows, we report our research experience with
traditionally devoted to domains of human experience two concise, separate, and implicitly dialogical accounts
such as painting, sculpture, music, literature, film, archi- to show how the different theoretical backgrounds affect
tecture, advertising, and engineering design, but now research on mapmaking, and how both complementarity
there is a tendency to open up the investigation to addi- and exchange between different research styles are required
tional domains and fields that have yet to be explored, when the investigation is brought into real life situations.
such as cartography. Particularly profitable for us was Drawing from Doris Wallace’s (1989, 32) observations on
finding confrontations in the literature between biograph- the phenomenological/critical roles of the investigator of
ical (studying creativity within life stories) and contextual creative people at work, we felt that, with respect to our
(studying social, cultural, and evolutionary influences on research experience, Tania Rossetto played a prevalent
creativity) methodologies, as well as distinctions between ‘‘phenomenological (close to subject)’’ role and Edoardo

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Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto

Boria a prevalent ‘‘critical (distant from subject)’’ role. As

Wallace maintains, both of these roles are interpretive,
and the investigator(s) is (are) continually moving between
these two roles.

First Research Account: Phenomenological, Narrative,

Subject-Centred

searching for mapmaking stories

Unlike my research colleague, I was only an occasional
reader of Limes. I realized that I had never wondered
who the cartographer was when I looked at maps. As
Pickles (2004) wrote, quoting Jan Broek, the lack of ‘‘buts’’
and ‘‘ifs’’ in cartographic language have traditionally dis-
allowed the cartographer’s expressing in the map itself
the actual practices of the mapmaking process (35). By
shifting from representations to practice, and thus turning
from the paper maps of the periodical to the living cartog-
rapher herself, I was now searching for those ‘‘buts’’ and
‘‘ifs.’’ Essentially, I was asking her to ‘‘tell me about map-
making.’’ In other words, I was searching for verbalized,
experiential, mundane, and embodied stories about map-
making. According to Caquard and Cartwright (2014),
the focus on maps as alive rather than death objects
entails that one ‘‘tell the story of the map’s life’’ (105),
since narrative provides a means of connecting maps with
the processes in which maps come to life (Figure 2).
Drawing from my previous training in ethnographic re-
search, I planned fieldwork that aimed to be more complex
and ‘‘animated’’ than standard interviews with a cartogra-
pher (Stauffer 2012). My preliminary work included (1)
an examination of Laura Canali’s cartographic and non-
cartographic works, both internal and external to Limes;
(2) an analysis of Laura’s various Web pages (e.g., columns
and a personal Web site), which provided excerpts of self-
narratives mostly related to maps; (3) the acquisition of Figure 2. Narrating the very first map.
other information on Laura’s life (from an official biogra- Source: Photograph by Tania Rossetto.
phy and from my colleague); and (4) the organization of
very brief preliminary meetings with Laura (at a conference emerged significantly during my preliminary encounters
of mine, and at Laura’s exhibition in Milan). On the basis with Laura). In line with the narrative collaborative ethno-
of this preliminary information, along with my first intui- graphic style (Gubrium and Holstein 2008), I also planned
tions and impressions, I decided to adopt a ‘‘narrative’’ to carry out my fieldwork with maximal openness to the
and phenomenological style of interviewing and observing surprises revealed through dialogue and exchange.
the subject, which involved multiple settings and record-
While organizing my three-day fieldwork, I prepared some
ing modalities (e.g., audio, video, photography, written
story-facilitating activities. One of them was based on the
notes, or no recordings). A flexible, vital, mobile, and
multi-sensory ethnographic practice was aimed at testing elicitation of visual and textual materials (including maps,
covers, and Laura’s own texts) and objects (chosen by
so-called ‘‘non-representational ethnography’’ (Vannini
Laura upon my previous request for her to evoke her
2015) within the domain of maps and mappings. I identi-
relationship with cartography) (De Leon and Cohen 2005).
fied the following key areas of interest in my ethnographic
This happened mainly in the principal ‘‘institutional’’
practice: (1) transitions (past, present, and future) in pro-
setting, namely, the living room of her house in Rome.
fessional activity and life story; (2) multiple dimensions of
Second, I proposed ‘‘video tours’’ (Pink 2007) and ‘‘go-
creativity (art and cartography); (3) the process of creation
alongs’’ throughout the city, so that Laura could be inter-
(tools, objects, procedures, and time); and (4) gender (a
variable that I initially did not take into account, but that viewed in multiple settings (Kusenbach 2003). Apparently,

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 The Practice of Mapmaking: Bridging the Gap between Critical/ Textual and Ethnographical Research Methods

Figure 3. Multiple settings for interviewing, observing, and sensing maps.

Source: Photographs, video stills, and montage by Tania Rossetto.

these different settings were distant from my core interest such as accompanying her son or going to the mechanic);
in cartography, but paradoxically, as we will see, they (3) the publishing house of Limes, including the editorial
provided narrative environments and local contingencies office and the conference room; (4) Laura’s exhibitions
(Gubrium and Holstein 2008) beyond the stasis of sit- and public talks; and (5) the Internet as an additional
down conversation for the emergence of additional map- space for post-fieldwork interviewing (see Figure 3).
making stories. By gradually expanding the spatialities of interviews and
observation, and by observing my colleague at work, I
spatialities of map creation as narrative environments realized that my initial approach was too subject-centred
and that I was missing the more systemic aspects of the
Metaphorically speaking, my fieldwork and subsequent
activity of mapmaking. Going into the editorial office with
activities were designed to ‘‘map’’ mapmaking practices
Laura enriched her narration: the mapmaking stories of
on the ground, rather than to provide zenith views of
the individual emerged more vividly as mapmaking stories
cartographic products. In truth, I was not casting aside
of the relational self imbued with the complex and con-
Laura’s products. Rather, I was following and even in-
flicting aspects of different social worlds. Moreover, I
habiting her products in the different spatialities in which
realized how much Laura’s maps depended upon the
they came to life. Those multiple spatialities included (1)
decisions of others. During the meeting at the publishing
Laura’s home, including the workroom in which she
house in which the staff was planning forthcoming issues
designs, the workshop in which she paints, her husband’s
of Limes, one journalist’s proposal was rejected by the
(Limes’ editor-in-chief ’s) studio, the living room, the
editor-in-chief with the justification that the theme was
kitchen, and the bedroom; (2) the neighbourhood and the
unmappable (and thus the content was not geopolitical,
whole city (viewed by car while doing everyday activities

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Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto

publicly described herself as follows: ‘‘I am a person who

designs, who designs some maps; I work together with the
authors [and] I try to design maps which follow words . . .’’
Thus, in defining her professional identity, Laura explicitly
involves the role of others. Interestingly, to let us under-
stand how her creative process works, Laura provided a
folder with a collection of her handmade notes on articles,
preliminary summaries provided by collaborators, map
sketches, e-mail exchanges with authors, drafts corrected
by map proofreaders, and blueprints, all related to an
entire single issue of Limes (Figure 4).
In her narratives, I repeatedly perceived a tension between
the recognition of the co-authorship of maps and the
‘‘centralization’’ of the creative process in her hands. Laura’s
stories are indeed very inclusive, but in a more comprehen-
sive and ephemeral way: her maps are developed not only
together with strict collaborators, but through translocal
compositional processes in which various assemblages of
ideas, sources, texts, situations, and people differently
situated participate in the ‘‘spatial event’’ (Saunders 2013)
of mapmaking. Therefore, multiplying the interview settings
as well as the narrative environments for map storytelling
helped immensely in the exploration of the complexity of
cartographic authorship.

the porous boundaries of cartographic creativity

Laura arrived at Limes in 1993 at the age of 25, when the
graphic designer employed at the periodical, Roberto
Steve Gobesso, decided to devote himself exclusively to
the cover design and delegate the making of the internal
maps, considered as a less ‘‘creative’’ task, to the new em-
ployee. In 2009, when Gobesso left the editorial office,
Laura decided to devote herself to the cover design as
well, despite the increase in work. ‘‘I wanted a more
creative space,’’ she remembers, and the covers do in fact
represent a high level of experimentation and hybridiza-
tion of graphic vocabularies. The covers tend to ‘‘stretch’’
the cartographic language used inside the periodical and
to blur the boundary of cartography, sometimes in ex-
treme ways (Figure 5).
Indeed, Laura revealed to me that her identity as a cover
designer or painter was something separate from her iden-
tity as a cartographer. In an article written in collaboration
with a literary scholar on some literary maps produced by
Figure 4. Interviews about the mapmaking process. herself, Laura (Canali and Miglio 2014) emphasized the
Source: Photographs and montage by Tania Rossetto. different ‘‘sentimental’’ involvement as well as the different
graphic outcomes in mapping (literally ‘‘translating into
but only political). I was surprised by that fact that Laura maps’’) poetic texts (such as those by Paul Celan) on the
did not take the floor at that time. The conference room one hand, and in mapping geopolitical journalistic articles
appeared to me to be very distant from the little work- on the other. In a self-described account available on her
room in her house, and her control of the decision to Web pages, Laura identifies herself as a ‘‘graphic designer,
make a map appeared to me in a different light. cartographer, illustrator.’’ When I asked her about these
diverse professional identities, she replied, ‘‘I have still
During a talk hosted at the Italian Geographical Society to decide.’’ Interestingly, confidential narration about her
on the occasion of the 2015 Diplomacy festival, Laura

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 The Practice of Mapmaking: Bridging the Gap between Critical/ Textual and Ethnographical Research Methods

an informational image, and this makes it different from

art. However, in her narrations, the agency of colours over-
comes the cartographer’s informational purposes; in her
own words, in her geopolitical maps Laura also ‘‘does and
undoes’’ chromatic assemblages, seeks ‘‘aesthetic balance,’’
and provides ‘‘energy’’ through colours (Figure 6).
Moreover, when I asked about her preference for zenith
or frontal views in graphics, she provided the following
cartographically informed verbal image of her painting
technique and abstract style: ‘‘I paint my canvas from
above.’’ Writing on her emotionally oriented, sporadic
work in literary mapping, Laura suggests that one look
at her artistic and fictional (or ‘‘alternative’’: see Papotti,
2012) literary maps as paintings (Canali and Miglio 2014,
203), but during interviews, she emphasized her need to
anchor her geopoetic maps to the ‘‘real (spatial) data,’’ as
she does in geopolitical mapping. We long discussed her
attempts to share her abstract paintings with the public.
I told her about my ideas of removing the explicit boun-
daries between her geopolitical–cartographic work and
the artistic–pictorial collection to profile herself not only
as a ‘‘geopolitical cartographer’’ but also as a ‘‘map artist,’’
as in fact already happens, on a small scale, within the
covers of Limes. Indeed, at one of her recent exhibitions
before our fieldwork, Laura exhibited for the first time a
painting with a cartographic subject, thus providing a
meaning and a geographical basis for her ‘‘free’’ use of
colour in painting (see ‘‘the Mediterranean Sea of Stone’’
at the top of Figure 7). Her suspended identity as both
Figure 5. Cover from Limes: Rivista Italiana di a cartographer and an artist was not only verbalized but
Geopolitica 2013 (9). literally embodied when we entered her household work-
Source: Limes: Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica (2013); used shop. While showing me both paintings and giant prints
by permission. of her geopolitical maps, Laura appeared as suspended
between languages that, in an age of pervasive geovisuali-
zation, are now perceived as more convergent than ever
‘‘artistic side’’ as an amateur painter was provided while (Figure 7).
we were together in ‘‘alternative’’ interviewing settings.
During a ride in her car, Laura told me about the intimate,
fleeting maps: time, craftsmanship, gender, and emotion
emotional events that led her to start painting in 2008.
During a video tour of her house, she showed me a When I was writing this article, Laura was suddenly faced
classical wall map of the various regions in Italy that very with the Paris attacks of November 13 on various fronts:
recently had been (symbolically) replaced by one of her she had an unplanned issue of Limes to publish, several
canvases. While she narrated the stories of her different new maps to design very quickly, and the added anxiety
identities, some complex aspects of her creativity emerged. of living with her family in the centre of a European
One of the most evident was the use of colours. Perhaps capital on high alert. During a public talk, Laura said, ‘‘I
unconsciously, the use of colour is what makes her simul- work day by day,’’ and described her maps as follows:
taneously an artist and a cartographer. Writing in her ‘‘They are not static maps, and I want to educate the
personal column, Ricamando il mondo (Embodying the reader [about] this continuous change . . . Maps are always
world), on the Limes Web site (another ‘‘space reserved in movement, they are of the moment’’; ‘‘I never think
for creativity’’ obtained only recently, together with a that my maps will last for a long time.’’ I realized that
further column devoted to Laura’s experiments in literary much of what I collected during my fieldwork was some-
cartography), she suggests that ‘‘whether a map of Limes, how related to the dimension of time, including the story
a geopoetic map or a canvas’’ . . . ‘‘colours always over- of how Laura became a cartographer.
whelm me.’’ Laura told me that in cartography, the colour In accordance with my plans, I wanted to know about the
is always at the service of meaning-making, while in ‘‘mere development of her cartographic skills and the cartographers
art’’ this meaning can disappear. In other words, the map is

Cartographica 52:1, 2017, pp. 32–48 6 University of Toronto Press doi:10.3138/cart.52.1.3790 39

Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto

Figure 6. Gli Iraq in movimento/Iraqs on the move.

Source: Map from Limes: Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica (2005); used by permission.

or graphic designers who inspired her work. I discovered monthly, she had to delegate some of the work to an
that Laura had started out in accounting and became a apprentice, but she is still uneasy about this choice.
self-educated graphic artist while working at her father’s When I asked about the evolution of her style, she showed
screen printing company and attending an evening school me her first map at Limes: ‘‘rudimentary, but it was already
in the applied arts. The first ‘‘evocative object’’ that Laura me,’’ she commented, caressing the page tenderly and
chose to express her relationship with cartography was a suggesting that there was always continuity in her style
scraper that she used to remove flaws from plastic films (Figure 2). She showed me other maps from Limes, ex-
while she was employed at her father’s company (and not pressing how each one of them has a special place in her
yet a map designer!). She still takes a little piece of film life. Routine and habit should not necessarily be con-
along with her in her wallet. The scraper on her desk sidered as repetitiveness, since similar maps arise out of
(among notebooks, atlases, and other items involved in very different contingencies. The temporality of maps also
her work) symbolizes how her maps are still products of emerges as cartographic emotions linked to the passing of
an artisan practice: they are handcrafted day by day. By time. Emotion and time are implicated in the work of the
saying, ‘‘It takes time [to trace the contour], but during geopolitical cartographer, since she is constantly dragged
this time in my mind I [begin] to think about the task,’’ into the latest international crises, political conflicts, war
Laura was giving me the material sense of the duration of battlefields, and border disputes (Figure 9).
mapmaking and its significance as a practice (Figure 8).
It is interesting that when Laura tries to explain one of her
Laura told me about the need to establish closure at the maps, she always ends up with an animated description
end of the mapmaking process: ‘‘When a map is done, I of a concrete situation on the terrain, verbally visualizing
see it, I feel it, I convince the author and I conclude.’’ refugees, soldiers, tracks, raids, polluted wells, or arm
Mapmaking is a question of time – Laura’s time – which traders on her map. She cannot abstain from animating
is divided primarily between family and work. With the her maps. Laura carries the burden of dealing with power
turning of the periodicity of Limes from trimestral to conflicts and violence in her mapmaking. Indeed, she

40 Cartographica 52:1, 2017, pp. 32–48 6 University of Toronto Press doi:10.3138/cart.52.1.3790

 The Practice of Mapmaking: Bridging the Gap between Critical/ Textual and Ethnographical Research Methods

my theoretical background initially led me to neglect

a feminist perspective on the ‘‘mapping subject,’’ which
necessarily addresses power and social hierarchies (see
Pavlovskaya and St. Martin 2007). Normally, I do not see
the world as violently traversed by lines of gender, class,
sex, or race. However, a sensitivity toward the critical

Figure 7. Between cartography and art.

Source: Photographs and montage by Tania Rossetto.

shares this pain and the related responsibilities with her

husband and the staff when she uses the plural pronoun,
saying, ‘‘We do it without scaring people, without creating
scaremongering.’’ Maps are emotional entities, and to
control and direct this emotional content is a crucial task
for the map designer. In performing this task, Laura
continually makes and remakes both her maps and the
ethical foundation of her work, which she approaches in
a workable and practical manner, rather than critically or
cynically.
Laura emotionally perceives herself as embedded within a
group: the staff of Limes (including her husband), which
she depicts as the human environment in which her work
flourishes. However, gendered narratives tend to re-focus
her individual self through her different but overlapping
roles as colleague, wife, mother, daughter, and cartogra-
pher: ‘‘I know what it means to work among men,’’ she
acerbically states. Certainly, and profitably, the various
affinities that Laura shares with me (among which are
age, motherhood, and work pressure) played a crucial Figure 8. Mapmaking as craftsmanship: a notebook,
role in enhancing the elicitation of those emotional, tem- cutting out space, and the scraper.
poralized, and gendered mapmaking stories. Significantly, Source: Photographs and montage by Tania Rossetto.

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Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto

Figure 9. Screenshot from Sputnik Website. The appearance of this map (featuring Crimea with the colours of Russia
instead of Ukraine) on Limes’ Web site has won the approval of the Russian public and the protest of the Embassy of
Ukraine in Italy (protest to which the editorial office of Limes gave a public response).
Source: 6 Sputnik. Retrieved on 9 January 2016 from http://sputniknews.com/world/20160109/1032884477/italian-
magazine-crimea.html.

question of gender emerged both spontaneously and gently just the same attention to technique and the material
while I was concretely observing lived gendered mapmaking features of maps. Whereas critical cartography was inno-
practices. My post-representational phenomenological eth- vatively concerned with the problematization and politici-
nography thus came to include the critical question of zation of maps, the methodology continued to be focused
gender as a matter of embodied, subjective experience. on textual, semantic, technical, aesthetic, and linguistic
aspects that were, in the end, the basis of all neopositivist
Second Research Account: approaches. The above-mentioned paper of Harley on
Critical, Deconstructionist, Contextual evaluating early maps (Harley 1968) included significant
methodological innovations to which he never returned
why still deconstructionism? afterwards in a systematic manner, because he was taken
in by the charm of intellectuals such as Roland Barthes,
As Miguel de Cervantes once wrote, ‘‘Time ripens all Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida, who pushed him
things’’ (Cervantes, 1803, 257). The recent 2015 special to concentrate on the theoretical systematization of his
issue of Cartographica devoted to Brian Harley 25 years deconstructionist strategy. Whereas different approaches
after his ‘‘Deconstructing the Map’’ has provided an eval- could be found in Harley’s previous production (see for
uation not only of him as a figure but also of the whole instance the affective register of Harley 1987), nonetheless
legacy of critical cartography with the right measure of the critical turn of the 1980s was not sudden, but coherently
temporal distance. The conclusions of this special issue based on preceding intuitions that resulted in broader
(see also Edney 2005 and Perkins and Dodge 2009) seem theoretical reflections. Even if Harley’s deconstructionism
to point out that, despite a strong and revolutionary criti- introduced a new perspective for recognizing the ideol-
cism of the ‘‘empiricist’’ approach, Harley persisted with ogical, cultural, and instrumental nature of maps, on the

42 Cartographica 52:1, 2017, pp. 32–48 6 University of Toronto Press doi:10.3138/cart.52.1.3790

 The Practice of Mapmaking: Bridging the Gap between Critical/ Textual and Ethnographical Research Methods

methodological level, it did not bring an abrupt end to the These are manifestations of the unconscious subordination
map studies tradition, and maps continued to be analyzed of cartographic creativity to norms (conventions, rules,
as ontologically secure entities. Now, at a time in which codes, etc.) existing within the cartographic domain. One
this ‘‘stability’’ of the map is being challenged (by so- could recall here the concept of ‘‘habitus’’ as it has been
called post-representational approaches), it is still useful treated by Pierre Bourdieu, as ‘‘a set of dispositions which
to rely on deconstructionism. Deconstructionist method- generates practices and perceptions. The habitus is the
ologies still allow the in-depth exploration of the various result of a long process of inculcation, beginning in early
human and non-human components of maps. For exam- childhood’’ (Johnson, quoted in Bourdieu 1993, 5). The
ple, they are particularly useful for analyzing the degree of use of conventional solutions in Laura Canali’s maps
eccentricity of a map with reference to habitual carto- does not therefore originate from the intention to adhere
graphic norms. to professional rules, but from the strength of habits
If every map is the product of two different and interact- unconsciously acquired long ago. (Laura did in fact tell
ing forces, one of a subjective-contingent nature and one us about her early passion for geography and cartographic
of a social-contextual nature, the critical-deconstructionist atlases during childhood.) The breaking of cartographic
approach illuminates the qualitative value and modes of canons for the benefit of originality is limited by restraints,
operation of both these forces. In particular, it enables but Laura does not seem to be aware that her creativity is
the evaluation of the weight of two aspects that in every limited to a ‘‘space of possibles, that is an ensemble of
cartographic endeavour reduce the freedom of the map probable constraints which are the condition and the
creator: the technical and cultural habits inherent in the counterpart of a set of possible uses’’ (Bourdieu 1996, 235).
cartographic domain on the one hand, and the specific It is important to note that the same conventions and
conditioning context in which the map is made on the habits embedded in the mapmaking process also affect
other. If one takes these aspects into consideration by the audience, and this influence is cautiously considered
focusing on the mapmaker, the exercise of contextualiza- by Laura. For instance, while talking about the political
tion that is fundamental to the deconstructionist approach situation in the Middle East, Laura said, ‘‘The weight of
helps to determine to what degree a cartographer is aware state borders on factual geopolitics is ridiculous, but I
of (1) the constraints to which he/she is subjected; (2) put them on the map anyway, otherwise the reader will
the limits of the autonomy he/she enjoys; and (3) the be disoriented: I do it for him/her.’’ Readers are a priority
performative power of his/her maps. for Laura, and she strives to be readable. This explains, for
These kinds of questions about the habits and conditions instance, her preference for the use of icons instead of
of practices sound as though they are emerging out of symbols (e.g., the figure of the barrel of oil to indicate an
the field of creative studies rather than map studies. In oil field or the soldier to indicate military presence). If
creativity research since the 1950s, the structuralist per- one of her publics expresses a specific cartographic culture,
spective has identified the importance of not ‘‘limiting . . . Laura tends to adhere to it. For instance, despite her largely
inquiry to the creator’s mental content at the moment of autonomous set of symbols, Laura still adopts some official
insight, forgetting that it is a highly organized system of symbols derived from military cartography, since Limes is
responding that lies behind’’ (Barron 1955, 479). Analyzing frequently read by servicemen.
the weight of habitual practices and normal procedures Symbology is a significant element in the evaluation of the
in mapmaking could help to improve our understanding weight of norms and canons and the perception of this
of the real contribution each mapmaker provides to the weight by the mapmaker herself. Laura does not perceive
‘‘cartographic culture’’ of his/her epoch. the full force of traditions; she told us, ‘‘I invented my
symbology by myself because I had the necessity to ex-
effective habits for cartographers and their illusion of plain things that have never been put on maps.’’ In truth,
dealing with standard users Laura’s own work has much to gain from works on geo-
political cartography from the 1920s and 1930s (Boria
As for our case study, the weight of normal cartographic 2008), but she barely knows them and has no interest in
procedures and habits was initially assumed to be minimal. them (although, paradoxically, Laura herself seems to
In fact, Laura Canali has no professional cartographic train- have a prejudice against an unconventional genre such
ing, and enjoys great autonomy in her working environ- as geopolitical cartography). Laura feels that her set of
ment. Furthermore, the cartographic genre she practices symbols is original (‘‘I have my style!’’ she says), but they
within (geopolitical cartography) is not subject to well- are inevitably drawn from the wider symbolic realm in
defined canons. However, the content analysis of her which our society is embedded; for instance, movement
maps has shown some aspects of ‘‘cartographic con- in her maps is indicated by lines, direction by arrows,
formism,’’ with the persistence of traditional habits such and alliances by segments between geopolitical subjects.
as the predilection for putting Europe at the centre of the
Furthermore, looking at symbology helps to evaluate another
planisphere, or the relevance given to state boundaries.
conditioning factor: the persistence of habits in the work

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Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto

Table 1. Framework of the mapmaking process at Limes and the figures involved
Stages in the production of Limes’ maps Positions involved
Conceiving and submitting Editor-in-chief, publisher, authors of articles, designer, and editors
Information gathering Designer, editor-in-chief, editors, and authors
Information processing Designer for technical production + editor-in-chief, editors, authors, and
readers (for compliance checks) + map proofreader + printer (for producing
paper version) and Webmaster (for digital version)
Document distribution Publisher through distribution network (for paper version) + Webmaster
(for digital version) + Internet users (for recirculation after first publication)
Document use Users

of the mapmaker. Laura seldom revises her set of symbols. paper to the Internet (and social networks), where maps
This conservative tendency derives from Laura’s certainty are viewed without reading the entire article and still
of holding a satisfactory and exhaustive set of graphic commented on and discussed, is particularly telling for
solutions, and her intention to spare her readers the trouble this new situation within which cartography unfolds.
of adjusting to new formats. The latter seems particularly
meaningful to the analysis of the relationship between the observing the work environment
map producer and the map user. Laura is convinced that
she has a specialized and attached public (‘‘the people of The study of the conditions surrounding the production
Limes,’’ as she puts it), and this gives her a sense of and reception of Limes’ maps has led to a clarification
security; ‘‘I know that my reader is prepared,’’ she says. of the real contribution of the cartographer to the entire
Undoubtedly, a specific audience of Limes exists, one mapmaking process. Our fieldwork helped us to see the
interested in geopolitical themes and satisfied by the quality act of mapmaking as immersed within a complex work
of the periodical (although heterogeneous in political orien- environment. The figures involved in the production of
tation, since Limes does not support any specific ideology a Limes map include the following: (1) the members of
or political movement, and consequently the maps are pro- the editorial office, who propose maps on specific themes,
vided to explain what the different positions and territorial collect data, and verify the correctness of information; (2)
claims of all factions are). However, thinking of regular the editor-in-chief, who promotes and coordinates all stages
readers as a ‘‘loyal audience’’ is somewhat of a trap. It not of production; (3) the articles’ authors, who expressly ask
only prevents innovative creative solutions, which could for maps, provide data or suggestions, and double-check
confuse the reader and endanger his/her loyalty, but above the informative correctness; (4) the publisher, who dictates
all gives the false sense that the communication is entirely schedules, sets up promotion strategies, and establishes
controlled by a producer who knows perfectly how the the material aspects of the medium; (5) the map designer,
reader will decipher the map. who is the sole figure entirely devoted to drawing; (6) the
map proofreader; (7) the pressman, who is responsible
This idea of the unambiguous map conflicts with the post-
for the quality of printed images (more specifically the
modern understanding of the instability of maps’ mean-
colour); (8) the Webmaster, who adapts the maps for the
ings and is much more in line with strictly technical,
Internet, circulates them, and literally provides them with
semiotic, or structuralist approaches. The group working
a new, unpredictable life; and finally (9) the readers, who
on a mapmaking project is convinced that they are
provide feedback to the editorial office and the map de-
addressing a specific, standard reader who interprets the
signer, disseminate maps beyond the ‘‘frontline’’ of Limes’
cartographic text accurately, but in the end this is an
readers, and reuse them in different contexts. The frame-
artificial, reassuring oversimplification of the complexity
work in Table 1 shows how these different figures are in-
of cartography. This is particularly true when we come to
volved in various ways in the stages of the mapmaking
consider how cartography today travels through the Inter-
process.
net and reaches publics that are less identifiable and more
heterogeneous than ever. Despite the long-standing atten- To this list of figures, we must add all those non-human
tion devoted by map scholars to the cartographic com- agents that are involved in the process of mapmaking:
municative act (Board 1967; Muehrcke 1972), the tre- technologies, organizations, and the technical and geo-
mendous impact of new technologies on the diffusion graphic culture of both the producers and the users.
and reception of maps suggests that this matter must be Thus, the principal figure of the map design is located
reconsidered. The passage of Limes’ cartography from within a complex environment. Moreover, this environ-

44 Cartographica 52:1, 2017, pp. 32–48 6 University of Toronto Press doi:10.3138/cart.52.1.3790

 The Practice of Mapmaking: Bridging the Gap between Critical/ Textual and Ethnographical Research Methods

ment functions not only by means of strict procedures, complexification of the process in present times. Indeed,
but also through informal exchange and contingent events. despite the fact that information is more easily collected
There is nothing like a ‘‘right’’ sequence in the making today, the proliferation of private producers of statistics
of maps at Limes. Given the collegiality of most activities, and the increased dissemination of data over the Internet
the process can take unpredictable paths, resulting in a have made the selection of information thornier. In
relational process that is much more composite than Woodward’s scheme, professional figures are well distin-
what studies on the contexts of past map production guished, and little work is done together. At Limes, the
have indicated so far (see, for instance, Haguet 2011). working environment is based more on exchange and
It is worth noting that all stages of map production at productive confrontation. The resulting product is a
Limes are shared by multiple professional figures. One collective endeavour; the stages are never closed and there
could investigate their particular points of view by means is a sort of osmosis between them. Furthermore, the
of more individual interviews. However, effective research number of potential readers and users is infinite nowadays
on mapmaking as a relational practice should also attempt because of the Internet, and therefore the stage of recircu-
to analyze the impact of these interactions on the process lation after first publication has become more crucial for
by observing them at a distance. ‘‘External’’ observation of analysis. In actuality, a map never dies, and it spreads
the editorial office’s life as well as other peripheral envi- within a very different context from that of the past.
ronments in which parts of the process are carried out From Limes’ staff we learned about some maps that have
must be conducted to avoid over-personalization of the been reused in different contexts without permission, and
process. even translated (for a Laura Canali’s map in the Chinese
blogosphere, see http://blog.ifeng.com/article/4284965.html).
Generally, our research demonstrates the limits of a semio-
comparing mapmakings and updating methodologies
tic, textual approach that continues to see mapmaking in
A comparison between the framework of the mapmaking terms of a linear communicative process as well as a linear
process at Limes and the matrix of cartographic process productive process.
provided by Woodward (1974, 103) seems to offer some
insight into the transformation of today’s mapmaking Conclusion
and provides an opportunity for revising the methodology
involved in analyzing the production of maps. The posi- The recent ‘‘ontogenetic turn’’ (Kitchin and Dodge 2007)
tions and steps considered by Woodward were as follows: and the related focus on practices and events in the study
f observer and surveyor for information gathering; of how cartography unfolds have challenged traditional
f designer, editor, draftsman, engraver, and printer for approaches to the study of mapmaking based on textual,
information processing; semiotic, empiricist, and also critical/ideological analyses. In
this paper, we aimed to show how these diverse approaches
f publisher and seller for document distribution;
and sensibilities should be put into action together, rather
f librarian and user for document use. than adopted as alternative research strategies. With a
Woodward does not start from the conception of the concrete case study, we have attempted to explore further
map, and this is very typical of map historians. Clearly, it horizons within these different perspectives and then
is much more difficult to retrace this stage for past epochs put them together as complementary strategies. Edoardo
given the impossibility of direct observation and interac- Boria revised the critical/textual tradition, trying to over-
tion. This has probably contributed to the persistence of come mere Harleyan deconstructionism by humanizing
a text-based methodology, which starts from the map as the mapping subject. Tania Rossetto, who concretely de-
a complete and ontologically secure product. Similar diffi- veloped phenomenological–ethnographic applications in
culties impede Woodward from taking into consideration studying the practice of mapmaking, came to acknowledge
feedback from readers, which can impact the mapmaking that lived, subjective experiences are intertwined with dis-
process. Thinking about cartography in terms of carto- courses and socially constructed inequalities.
graphic creativity helps to highlight this point. In fact, The two separate accounts are aimed at reflecting the dif-
since creativity is fundamentally based on originality and ferent approaches to mapmaking and making the reader
effectiveness, a creative work by definition needs to be appreciate each one’s strengths and limitations. When com-
useful for some groups, thus involving social judgement bined, the textual/critical and the ethnographic/phenomeno-
(Runco and Jaeger 2012). logical approaches seem to provide a more comprehensive
The stage of ‘‘information gathering’’ is quite different result, which preserves the strength of deconstructionist
between the two frameworks. First of all, Woodward was critiques but acknowledges the heterogeneity and fluidity
thinking of land surveyors and not an armchair cartogra- of contemporary cartographic practices as enriched by
pher such as Laura Canali, and second, there is increased the inclusion of ethnographic data. The fact of studying

Cartographica 52:1, 2017, pp. 32–48 6 University of Toronto Press doi:10.3138/cart.52.1.3790 45

Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto

a living cartographer provided the possibility of directly Tania Rossetto is senior researcher and Professore Aggregato
‘‘unfolding’’ mapmaking texts and atmospheres, technical of Cultural Geography at the University of Padua (Italy).
constraints and emotions, and cultural contexts and con- Her research interests include the relationship between
tingencies. map studies and visual studies, post-/non-representational
The genre of geopolitical cartography revealed itself to be cartographies, the embodiment of maps, and the potrayal
particularly stimulating, since it is less standardized than of maps. She has also worked on the linkage between carto-
others and seems to provide a particularly elastic environ- graphic theory and literary studies, and in particular on
ment for ‘‘cartographic creativity.’’ Laura’s (and Limes’) literary geovisuality. Recently, she has pursued a line of
cartographic practices are designed to provide specialized research on cartography and object-oriented philosophy,
information but also an aesthetic product, they are linked including a work on the tactility of maps. On these sub-
not to institutional or merely commercial purposes but to jects she has published in Progress in Human Geography,
mass communication as a whole, and they are conducted Social and Cultural Geographies, Tourist Studies, Cartog-
by means of competences that are not strictly technical raphica, and the International Journal of Cartography.
and are achieved through different creative languages (e.g., E-mail: [email protected].
cartography, geovisualization, art, graphic design, and
infographics). They are developed through a collaborative References
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