This reminded me of our space v. place discussion as well as the reading that argued that place is culture. Although maps are usually seen as unchanging and concrete, because place is so entangled with our culture and therefore our worldview, these biases and assumptions come out in the portrayal of our world. Much like we have been talking about Betsy and her desire to present the island in a certain way, maps, too, are meant to convey a certain message about the place being mapped. While the map of Maine may look like an absolute and unchanging visual description of a space, the cartographer’s decision on what to color and how they construct the map in other ways show how representing space and place are directly effected by where we are from. Borders themselves are social constructions, which also shows how the essence of a map is culturally influenced. Maps also have a myriad of uses which affects how different cartographers map what they see.
The four maps that we were given have stark differences. The map of Maine not only has major roads, but also shows the topography of Maine, which gives some natural sense what Maine looks like. However, in the map of the islands, the coast of Maine is largely untouched, and the islands are the only detailed part of that map. The map of Monhegan has no roads or labels, and is a more artistic rendition that still gives a sense of place. The town center plans are geared toward just that, so the maps are organized in a way that would seem to help contractors get a sense of how the center will look like. Because maps are generally seen as concrete representations of our world, it is easy to think of them as cultureless entities that are as concrete as the laws of physics. However, cartographers are greatly affected by the space and place that they live or grew up in, which affects how they create their visions of a space or landscape.