Educational Adventures

Here There Be Crack Whores: Bloggers as Modern Day Cartographers

October 23, 2012

Were I a modern day cartographer, I’d definitely label this metro stop ‘metro with the scary-ass, super long escalator’.

 

The last time I visited DC, I checked out the Exploring the Early Americas exhibit at the Library of Congress.  This exhibit (which I swear is far more interesting than it sounds) includes a rather extensive collections of maps dating back to the late 16th century (is it wrong if that makes me swoon?) On one map–the first map of this continent printed on this continent in 1784–I found some unique place descriptions. For example:

-a rock 150 feet high which can be seen from the Cherokee River

-the lands between these rivers are of a most excellent quality

-the Pawnee and a great number of other nations inhabit these plains

And I thought–wouldn’t it be great if we still labeled maps in this fashion?  I mean, how helpful would that be?  To not just know where you are going–or, with the case of Google Maps, where the nearest sponsored hotel or restaurant is located–but what you will find there?  It would look something like this:

 

A map of DC, labeled 1790s style.

You see, during this same trip, I really could have used such a map.  Having booked a hotel through a bidding site, I ended up in a really lovely hotel directly north of the Capitol building.  But there’s a three-block stretch along D Street that’s, well, not great.  As a matter of fact, that same stretch along E Street isn’t fantastic, either.  You know. I saw some things.

If only a properly labeled map existed, so many people could avoid…seeing things. Or, on a more positive note, if only a properly labeled map existed so people could be directed to, say, the really great baklava stand in an unassuming food court hidden in the basement of the Regan building (again, see poorly-labeled map above.)

But then I realized something–in my own small way, I’m attempting to act as a modern-day cartographer.  Sure, my map labeling skills kind of suck (stealing maps from the internet and editing them in Picasa has its limits) but I’d like to think that I do the same thing with words and photographs as cartographers once did with quills and ink.  I tell people on journeys where to go, what to look for, and sometimes things to avoid.  I’m a travel blogger–the cartographer of the 21st century. Look at me! I’m…name a famous cartographer. Because I can’t.

Dear readers–if you are a travel blog reader, why do you read travel blogs?  For entertainment or for information?  Or a combination of the two?  And travel blog writers–why do you blog?  To inform?  To entertain?  To make connections?  Share in the comments section below.