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The information displayed in maps has been typically viewed as worth a thousand words. Cartographic licence permits the production of high quality, informative and user friendly maps. It is interesting however to examine how the exercise of cartographic licence can be used to mislead and if the purpose of this chapter. Maps are not objective displays of data because choices are made both by the persons producing the map, and interpretation by the user. Just as the selective use of statistics can undermine the validity of an argument, likewise a map can be produced to convey a subjective message.
Information is communicated in a map by:
These methods of communication allow for sources of subjectivity in mapping. There are six areas in which the map maker has made judgements which affect the appearance of the map. These may modify the information that the map presents, to obtain some desired result. This chapter will cover each of those in some detail giving examples of each.
 Generalisation |
Attribute Standardisation |
| Aggregation |
Classification |
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Selective Presentation |