After the map : cartography, navigation, and the transformation of territory in the twentieth century / William Rankin.
Publisher: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2016Description: 416 pages ; 26 cmContent type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volume001: 43241ISBN: 9780226339368 (hbk.) :Subject(s): Cartography -- History -- 20th century | Cartography -- Automation | Maps -- Political aspects | Cartography -- Methodology | ScienceDDC classification: 526.09 RAN LOC classification: GA102.3 | .R36 2016Summary: For most of the twentieth century, maps were indispensable. They were how governments understood, managed and defended their territory, and during the two world wars they were produced by the hundreds of millions. By the century's end, however, there had been decisive shift in mapping practices, as the dominant methods of land surveying and print publication were increasingly displaced by electronic systems. In 'After the Map', William Rankin argues that although this shift did not render traditional maps obsolete, it did radically change our experience of geographic knowledge.| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | MAIN LIBRARY Book | 526.09 RAN (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 112324 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
For most of the twentieth century, maps were indispensable. They were how governments understood, managed, and defended their territory, and during the two world wars they were produced by the hundreds of millions. Cartographers and journalists predicted the dawning of a "map-minded age," where increasingly state-of-the-art maps would become everyday tools. By the century's end, however, there had been decisive shift in mapping practices, as the dominant methods of land surveying and print publication were increasingly displaced by electronic navigation systems.
In After the Map , William Rankin argues that although this shift did not render traditional maps obsolete, it did radically change our experience of geographic knowledge, from the God's-eye view of the map to the embedded subjectivity of GPS. Likewise, older concerns with geographic truth and objectivity have been upstaged by a new emphasis on simplicity, reliability, and convenience. After the Map shows how this change in geographic perspective is ultimately a transformation of the nature of territory, both social and political.
For most of the twentieth century, maps were indispensable. They were how governments understood, managed and defended their territory, and during the two world wars they were produced by the hundreds of millions. By the century's end, however, there had been decisive shift in mapping practices, as the dominant methods of land surveying and print publication were increasingly displaced by electronic systems. In 'After the Map', William Rankin argues that although this shift did not render traditional maps obsolete, it did radically change our experience of geographic knowledge.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Possibly Ambiguous Terms (p. vii)
- Introduction Territory and the Mapping Sciences (p. 1)
- I The International Map of the World and the Logic of Representation
- 1 The Authority of Representation: A Single Map for All Countries, 1891-1939 (p. 23)
- 2 Maps as Tools: Globalism, Regionalism, and the Erosion of Universal Cartography, 1940-1965 (p. 65)
- II Cartographic Grids and New Territories of Calculation
- 3 Aiming Guns, Recording Land, and Stitching Map to Territory: The Invention of Cartographic Grid Systems, 1914-1939 (p. 119)
- 4 Territoriality without Borders: Global Grids and the Universal Transverse Mercator, 1940-1965 (p. 163)
- III Electronic Navigation and Territorial Pointillism
- 5 Inhabiting the Grid: Radionavigation and Electronic Coordinates, 1920-1965 (p. 205)
- 6 The Politics of Global Coverage: The Navy, NASA, and GPS, 1960-2010 (p. 253)
- Conclusion: The Politics in My Pocket (p. 295)
- Acknowledgments (p. 301)
- Acronyms and Codenames (p. 305)
- Notes (p. 309)
- Index (p. 377)
Reviews provided by Syndetics
CHOICE Review
This ambitious and detailed book, elegantly written and illustrated, offers a history of the mapping sciences--or, more precisely, "geographic tools" and "geo-epistemology"--in the 20th century. Moving across cartography, geodesy, and navigation, cartographer Rankin (history of science, Yale) traces a gradual but significant shift in the "nature of territory" from a world of cartographic representation firmly tied to the space of the nation-state to very different understandings premised on the coordinates of the global positioning system (GPS). Alongside detailed historical excavation, the text's strength is its serious, even unprecedented, attempt to draw together scholarship in cartography and historical geography with the history of science--and with a dose of diplomatic or international history, too. Rankin clearly possesses a formidable understanding of his subject, and approaches maps and related technologies with a delightful precision. This treatment does come at a cost, though, as other forms of geographic knowing are infrequently drawn into the narrative. Rankin's wise focus on what might be called "territorial technicians" also risks losing sight of their location within a broader landscape of power and the analytical approaches that would (necessarily) do more than "simply ... understand the changing politics of geographical knowledge." Nonetheless, this is a rich and rewarding study. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --Matthew Farish, University of TorontoThere are no comments on this title.