NACIS 2024

Maps as Poetry
Richard Bohannon, Metro State University—Saint Paul
Maps tell a story, but tell it slant. While they have long been used as narrative aids (such as in Esri’s Story Maps), most maps do not have a linear, narrative structure and the story-telling aspect of mapping is often metaphorical – maps have agendas and perspectives. This paper proposes a complementary, alternative metaphor -- maps as poetry – using historic and contemporary maps to show how poetry might be a helpful model for the work of maps and the map-making process. Both poetry and maps are sparing and restrained – poetry in its use of language, maps in their selections from the landscape. Both also use rhythm and balance (aural for poems, visual for maps) to evoke a particular mood, feeling or tenor. Poetry is a particularly useful metaphor because, like most maps, it can be non-linear, conveying ideas through images without walking the audience directly through their meaning.

Revitalization of a University Building Interior: Abstracting Geographies Through Cartographic Public Art Installations
Cynthia Brewer, Penn State Geography
Public art fits within a broader discourse of university renovation, undertaken to attract and retain students, enhancing the appearance and functionality of campus environments. We describe cartographically inspired floor and wall designs for a renovated space within the Department of Geography at Penn State. Hallway floor designs used pentagonal tiles, creating a coarse rasterization of local physical features and historical movement paths. Back-lit wall panels have a global emphasis. High-contrast shapes were chosen from six continents. They show human (building footprints, parcels, and indigenous land claims) and physical patterns (major rivers, lagoons, and ice). A local panel shows the ridge-and-valley terrain of central Pennsylvania.

The Cartographic Art of the Opposite of Bespoke
Nicholas Bauch, Esri
Pixel-perfect detailing, custom tracing, nudging hex codes: all marks of the artistic precision we adore in powerful cartographic design. But how might we maintain adherence to strong spatial storytelling when creating a large number of maps for an audience who, on average, won’t spend more than 8 seconds reading them? Frequently absent of legends and even text, geographical representation goes to new places when designing maps “at scale.” From the perspective of MapX—the carto team for Esri’s public-facing website—I outline challenges, and share design system strategies that help answer the question: “how to show the beauty and elucidative capacity of cartography when there are nearly 2,500 web pages calling for new, cutting-edge maps?

Drawing Participation: A Real-Time, Peer-to-Peer Tool for Participatory Planning and Design
Carlos Sandoval Olascoaga, Northeastern University
Drawing Participation (DP) was created to increase accessibility and to provide a scalable and open platform for shared planning and design. DP is a peer-to-peer, collaborative Geospatial Computing System tool that integrates drawing, mapping, spatial analysis, version-control, and algorithms for design synthesis. Drawing Participation is a model for collective and collaborative planning methods and interfaces that enable large groups of people to work together in ill-defined design problems. In this presentation we will present, first, the conceptual and technical background of DP, second, the technical implementations of the tool, and third, a case study of the implementation of the tool to collaboratively develop parcel maps in informal settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A Pop-Up Book: Visualizing the Spatial Sensitivity Analysis
Seda Salap-Ayca, Brown University; Zhu Gaocanyue, Emma Hogarth & Georgia Rhodes, Rhode Island School of Design
Sensitivity analysis plays a crucial role in deepening our understanding of models and facilitating clearer communication of their results by accounting for variations in output and their dependency on inputs. When applied spatially, sensitivity analysis generates individual maps for the effects of each input as well as for their interactions. However, the challenge lies in simplifying the visual presentation of spatial sensitivity results. This project is a fusion of art and science designed to address this multidimensional visualization challenge by leveraging a pop-up structure to convey mapping information. The first layer of the book cover features graticules representing latitudes and longitudes, providing a foundational framework. The second layer, constituting the main body of the map, utilizes vibrant color zones to distinguish between regions, while blank spaces denote missing data. These colors, produced through a marbling technique, symbolize the intricate relationship between input and output in spatial models, illustrating how variations in input can yield diverse outputs. The third layer employs Turkish map folding, incorporating paper mechanisms shaped like collapsible houses, which cleverly obscure internal information, necessitating audience interaction to unveil insights. This folding structure transforms the map from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, adding depth and complexity while retaining visual appeal. By integrating artful design with scientific rigor, this project offers a novel approach to conveying spatial sensitivity analysis results, making them more accessible and engaging to a wider audience.