Reading J.B. Harley’s “Deconstructing the Map,” my first thought was back to our first Conkling reading “Intro.” Conkling says that there are over three thousand islands off of Mid-Coast Maine, but that the exact number was unsure. Today, with satellite imaging, it would be assumed that there is a completely accurate count of the islands, but this depends on what is “accurate.” Could a local lobsterman give a more accurate description of the islands than an image could? He would have an understanding of the tides and the ins and outs of the islands, which is far outside the reach of an accurate satellite image.
This highlights the subjective effects of cartography that Harvey talks about. Cartography is rarely considered a form of art in today’s world but why? Does Google maps make a map like the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Camden insignificant? Harvey says, “The objective is to suggest that an alternative epistemology, rooted in social theory rather than in scientific positivism, is more appropriate to the history of cartography. It will be shown that even ‘scientific’ maps are a product not only of the rules of the order of geometry and reason but also of the ‘norms and values of the order of social … tradition.'” It is important to consider the history of cartography to fully appreciate it as an art form. A map is more that just a picture of an area. It tells the story of the area; who lived there in the past and who lives there now, how these people have shaped the land both deliberately and unintentionally, and how it connects and works with the places around it.