Unconventional Maps: Geography Beyond the Real Territories

Journal Title: Romanian Review of Regional Studies - Year 2013, Vol 9, Issue 1

Abstract

Space is a concept that acquired in time new meanings shifting it from concrete to abstract and adding or subtracting dimensions. Even the geographical space is now claimed as object of study by other disciplines, such as ecology or spatial planning. Along with the concept of “space”, these sciences discovered the potential of geographical approaches, especially of the techniques based on using the Geographical Information Systems, and consequently maps found applications even beyond conventional spaces. The paper examines several mapping approaches, used by other disciplines or even by geography, which go beyond or distort the geographical reality, in an attempt to test the hypothesis according to which such methodological imports were productive for the recipient disciplines. The analysis of six approaches (bacterial geography, time space analyses, spatial interpolation maps, bubble maps, body viewer, and network maps) confirms the hypothesis, but underlines the need for caution in interpreting the results in relationship with the territorial reality, especially when unconventional maps are drawn over the real space.

Authors and Affiliations

ALEXANDRU PETRIŞOR

Keywords