After the map : cartography, navigation, and the transformation of territory in the twentieth century /
William Rankin.
- Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2016.
- 416 pages ; 26 cm
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.