Cartographic propaganda

Cartographic propaganda is a map created with the goal of achieving a result similar to traditional propaganda. The map can be outright falsified, or created using subjectivity with the goal of persuasion.[1] The idea that maps are subjective is not new; cartographers refer to maps as a human-subjective product and some view cartography as an "industry, which packages and markets spatial knowledge"[2] or as a communicative device distorted by human subjectivity.[3] However, cartographic propaganda is widely successful because maps are often presented as a miniature model of reality, and it is a rare occurrence that a map is referred to as a distorted model, which sometimes can "lie" and contain items that are completely different from reality.[4] Because the word propaganda has become a pejorative, it has been suggested that mapmaking of this kind should be described as "persuasive cartography", defined as maps intended primarily to influence opinions or beliefs – to send a message – rather than to communicate geographic information.[5][6]

  1. ^ Tyner, 1974
  2. ^ Sorrell, P.E. (December 1981). "Cartography: A manufacturing industry concerned with the Processing, Transformation, Packaging and Transportation of Spatial Data". The Cartographic Journal. 18 (2): 84–90. doi:10.1179/caj.1981.18.2.84.
  3. ^ Wood, Michael (December 1972). "Human Factors in Cartographic Communication". The Cartographic Journal. 9 (2): 123–132. doi:10.1179/caj.1972.9.2.123.
  4. ^ Boardman, David (1983). Graphicacy and Geography Teaching. London: Croom Helm. p. 129.
  5. ^ Tyner, Judith A. (2015). "Persuasive Cartography". In Cartography in the Twentieth Century, ed. Mark Monmonier, 1087-95. Vol. 6 of The History of Cartography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  6. ^ Mode, PJ. "Persuasive Cartography". The PJ Mode Collection. Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 September 2015.