There are two key principles the Geography ideology teaches its students. One- issues are always multifaceted, and a good geographer always searches for the unheard voices. Two- mapping is one of the most effective visual communications tools we have across disciplines. Apart from some specific cartography and gis employments, I have utilized mapping into ever employment I have had. Its usefulness is indisputable. Below are some of my mapping projects, and their description.
Mapping at National Geographic
miami & the keys
The National Geographic Society is renown for the accuracy and detail of its maps. Behind the creation of these maps are a fantastic small team of hardworking cartographers- with meticulous attention to detail and a passion for geography. Perpetually overburdened with assignments, the team wasted no time when I joined an intern. I was put in charge of publishing a new Miami & the Keys "Destination Map"- a summarized tour guide in the form of a map. As I was given design freedom, I chose to incorporate creative elements that nostalgically recalled the maps NGS once published when they had a full team of artists working with cartographers.
U.S. Public Lands Map
Although dropped due to funding limits, the unfinished work below was for the newest National Geographic U.S. Public Lands poster map. My stylistic goal for this project was to replicate the cartographic style of the 17th century. Maps of this era have an aesthetic charm which appeals to many, and makes them seeked-out collection items in the modern times. Ample decorative elements are included, but I modified their style for a more modern look. The final layout includes framed vignettes, a title cartouche, a compass and illustrations. The map below still has placeholder maps.
Detail: influencial historical figures:
Drawings by Marion, some placeholder text.
detail: title cartouche
This close-up detail of the title cartouche of the U.S. Public Lands Map includes a compilation of illustrated North American wildlife and recreation. The illustration and the style of the frame are typical of 17th century maps, where cartographers or artists engraved figures and symbols typical of the region mapped. The marble finish serves to decorate as well as underline the importance of U.S. public lands as a valuable and enduring patrimony.
the shantytown mapping project
The "Shantytown Mapping Project" is a year-long research project completed with colleague Kae Yamane and the guidance of Rutgers University Professor James Mitchell, an expert in human vulnerability and natural disasters. Our goal was to explore the potential of publicly-available mapping tools, such as Google Earth, to evaluate the vulnerability of shantytowns. We picked Mumbai as our case study because the visual patterns of slums in this city were easily decipherable from the rest of the landscape. "Flying" over the city using Google Earth and a variety of other public programs, we collected information and plotted the location of each visible shantytown. We assessed what information could be easily be drawn from using such a tool, and discussed the limits of publicly-available mapping tools along with their future potential. The poster and project were presented at the 2012 Association of American Geographers conference, where we won 2nd place at in Student Illustrated Paper Competition.
Detail: Shantytown Mapping Section:
This shows the mapping of a total of 251 parcels of shantytowns located on Mumbai island. These parcels vary greatly in size and location, as well as the type of vulnerability they are exposed to. For each we calculated various characteristics, to attempt to draw statistical conclusions. We found there was a difference in size of the shantytown as well as its individual buildings between the north and the south of the islands. Those in the north, further from the dense center, are larger and fewer in numbers.
Detail: Common Locations of Shantytowns:
One of the characteristic we could find from satellite imagery was the type of location of Mumbai slums - from which we could assume the type of vulnerability based on reports and academic papers on the area . We divided these in six categories; accompanied by Google Earth picture of a typical slum from that location. The location of the slums provided important insight on their vulnerability or their presence among the urban landscape of Mumbai.
Mapping Middlesex Ancestory: Honors Thesis
The picture below shows a page from the website of my undergraduate thesis: Mapping Middlesex Ancestry. This project explores the procedures, obstacles, and findings of the process of visualizing the multiple dimensions of ancestry. The framing scale of this research project was ancestry in Middlesex, New Jersey from the 1990 and 2000 censuses. I was interested in solving the difficulties in representing and comparing the numerous ancestry categories of the census. Once I defined my course of action, my goal became to create a tool that could be flexible as well as encompassing so that users could derive their own questions and inferences from the data viewed through my maps. The maps produced are available for download and viewing in the Google Earth application. The projects website is: www.mappingmiddlesexancestry.edublogs.org.
