Maps turn each of us into what Michel de Certeau calls a ‘voyeur-god’ … The map is a mechanism that shows what no eye could ever see, even when the maps represents the most familiar territory— the space marked out by daily experience … Maps suggest ways of thinking as well as seeing. They materialize a view of the mind more than of external reality. They project an order of reason onto the world and force it to conform to a graphic rationale, a cultural grid, a conceptual geometry.

Christian Jacob, The Sovereign Map

(the piece where got the de Certeau bit from was his 1984 book, The Practice of Everyday Life)

Posted on May 19, 2013 via sapere aude with 70 notes ()

perfectnonfreedom:

Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654 - Orkney and Shetland islands.

Posted on May 19, 2013 via Perfect non-freedom with 37 notes ()

perfectnonfreedom:

17th Century map of the Orkney Islands.

Posted on May 19, 2013 via Perfect non-freedom with 28 notes ()

thelandofmaps:

Map of our solar system labeled with mass and radius [2,559 x 1,599]
CLICK HERE FOR MORE MAPS!
thelandofmaps.tumblr.com

Posted on May 19, 2013 via The Land Of Maps with 29 notes ()

funkyfreshflavor:

engaged in some map-making on this hot Tuesday night.

Posted on May 19, 2013 via The Subterranean Chronicles with 18 notes ()

peoplecartographer:

Hello Tumblrverse! I haven’t posted on this blog in almost 1.5 months. (windridden, please tell Mrs. Windridden that I haven’t forgotten about her map request.) In order to get back into the swing of things, I’ve decided to post a photograph, something I’ve never done before. This is no ordinary photograph, however. It’s a photograph of me, peoplecartographer! More specifically, it depicts my attempt at drawing a mental map of the United States. (In case you can’t tell, the map is upside down. Maine is at the very bottom and I’m in the process of drawing North Carolina.) This exercise was very beneficial in that I discovered the strengths and weaknesses in my knowledge of U.S. geography in addition to gaining further appreciation for the practice of cartography. Although I didn’t use fancy instruments or precise data, I thoroughly enjoyed putting my own interpretation of the world down on paper. This is one of the many reasons why cartography is such a valuable science and art form. So if you have any free time, I would highly recommend pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil and making your own mental map! You won’t regret it.

Posted on May 19, 2013 via Atlas with 18 notes ()

yaleuniversity:

On this day (May 14) in 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departed from St. Louis, Missouri to lead the first American overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back.

Check out the maps Lewis and Clark used during their expedition via the Western Americana Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Posted on May 19, 2013 via Yale University with 35 notes ()

dadatavis:

Laconic History of the World

(The most common word in every Wikipedia article titled ‘History of ____’)

Posted on May 19, 2013 via Digital Agency Data Tumblr with 272 notes ()

fuck yeah cartography!