This paper addresses the changes in cartography since digitization and widespread popular dissemination. Cybercartography, an emergent system of maps, mapmaking tools, and mapmakers, forces a rethinking of spatial representations. The implicit distinction in digital media enables a new type of map user or neo-geographer that creates layers of expressions based on subjective experience. This paper argues that the neo-geographer signifies a new cartographic behavior that affords a complex subjectivity. This behavior is further exhibited in the practice of navigable maps and virtual globes which lead the way to a paradigmatic change in the way we represent and interact with space. It is divided into three parts: Part I addresses the role of digitization in maps and lays out framework and vocabulary. Part II examines layers of spatial representations in historical context. Part III opens room for future study in the quickly developing inhabitable cartographic spaces of virtual globes and virtual worlds.
About Amanda Finkelberg
Finkelberg is the Senior Director of Product for Hippo Education and is on a mission to make better medical education for every clinician. She holds two degrees in Media including an MS from CMSW focused on new technologies and future of education. Prior to her move to education design, Finkelberg ran a small LA-based visual effects and animation company which provided artwork for feature films and commercials and capped a long career in VFX at ILM, Sony and Digital Domain features. She has been teaching and developing curriculum at the college level for the last decade.
Thesis: Space, Place, and Database: Layers of Digital Cartography