Participatory Mapping: New Data, New Cartography

178 Pages·2014·2.521 MB·English

by  Jean-Christophe Plantin

W661-Plantin.qxp_Layout 1 16/05/2014 12:23 Page 1
FOCUS
FOCUS SERIES in GIS AND TERRITORIAL INTELLIGENCE
J
e
a GIS AND TERRITORIAL INTELLIGENCE SERIES
n
-C
The social and technical properties of the Web redefine h
r
is
how maps are created, published and used online. This t
o
p
book characterizes these contemporary forms of Web- h
e
P
based cartography. It draws a comparison with both la
n
previous analogical and digital maps, it characterizes tin
the new online cartographers, and it shows how maps
interact with other Web applications and sources of
data.
The case study of the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant
disaster in March 11, 2011 provides a vivid example of
how these maps can sustain the involvement of citizens
P
during a crisis. By presenting the international
a
collaboration of mapmakers who created online r
t
radiation maps, this case study illustrates how science i
c
and politics are inseparable in Web-based maps. i
p Participatory
a
t
o
r
y

M Mapping
a
p
Jean-Christophe Plantin is a Research Fellow at the
p
University of Michigan, USA and the Université de
i
n
Technologie de Compiègne, France. His research
g New Data, New Cartography
interests include the Geospatial Web, participatory
mapping projects and digital methods in the social
sciences and humanities.
Jean-Christophe Plantin
Z(7ib8e8-CBGGBH(
www.iste.co.uk

Participatory Mapping

FOCUS SERIES
Series Editor Anne Ruas
Participatory Mapping
New Data, New Cartography
Jean-Christophe Plantin
Firstpublished2014inGreatBritainandtheUnitedStatesbyISTELtdandJohnWiley&Sons,Inc.
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©ISTELtd2014
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himinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
LibraryofCongressControlNumber: 2014936490
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
ACIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
ISSN2051-2481(Print)
ISSN2051-249X(Online)
ISBN978-1-84821-661-7
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainbyCPIGroup(UK)Ltd.,Croydon,SurreyCR04YY
Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
PART1.ORIGINSANDPROPERTIESOFONLINEMAPS . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER1.TOOLINGUPFORCOMPLEXITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.Mapsasintellectualtechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1.Betweengraphicreasonandunreason . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2.Thecollectionofwritings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.3.Managingcomplexity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.Ashiftintheusesofmaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.1.Fromtopographictothematicmaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.2.Theriseofthegraphicrepresentationofinformation . . 11
1.2.3.Mapsandengineers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2.4.Mapsanddoctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CHAPTER2.FROMGISTOWEBMAPS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.Theoriginsofacommunicationapproachtomaps. . . . . . . 19
2.1.1.ArthurRobinson’sfunctionaldesign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.1.2.JacquesBertin’sgraphicsemiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.1.3.Themapcommunicationmodel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.1.4.Beyondthetransmissionmodel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2.Theriseofthenotionofparticipationwithinmaps . . . . . . 27
2.2.1.TheemergenceandcriticismsofGIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.2.FromPPGIStoonlinemaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.2.3.MapsandtheWeb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
vi ParticipatoryMapping
CHAPTER3.APARTICIPANTINTHEWEBOFPLATFORM . . . . . . . 37
3.1.TechnicalarchitectureofWebmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.1.1.Firstonlinemaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.1.2.APIsandmashups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.1.3.TheWebasplatforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.2.GoogleMapsversusOpenStreetMap? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2.1.ThemapaccordingtoGoogle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2.2.WheredoesOpenStreetMapfitin?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2.3.Betweenoppositionandinfluence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
CHAPTER4.MAPSANDWEB-BASEDDATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.1.Categoriesanddatastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.1.1.Staticdata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.1.2.Contributorydata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.1.3.Dynamicdata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.2.Expressive,technicalandscientificbricolage . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.2.1.Personalizing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.2.2.Managingcontingency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.2.3.Ensuringvalidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
PART2.MAPPINGPRACTICESINEMERGENCYSITUATIONS . . . . . 75
CHAPTER5.THESTATEOFINFORMATIONAFTERTHE
FUKUSHIMADISASTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.1.Thechallengesinaccessinginformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.1.1.Timelineoftheevents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.1.2.Thelackofofficialinformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.2.Flawsinthepublisheddataonradiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.2.1.Scatteredandcomplexdocuments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.2.2.Non-downloadabledata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.2.3.Thelackoftemporalmetadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.2.4.Heterogeneousmeasurementunits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
CHAPTER6.PRODUCINGRADIATIONMAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.1.Producingradiationdata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.1.1.ProducingdatawithGeigercounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.1.2.ExtractingdatafromofficialWebsites . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.1.3.Combiningdifferentdatasources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6.2.Threeattitudestowardradiationdatasources . . . . . . . . . 98
6.2.1.Usingalternativedata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Contents vii
6.2.2.Usingofficialdata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.2.3.Usingalltheavailabledatasources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
CHAPTER7.CIRCULATIONANDUSEOFMAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
7.1.Cartographers’motives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
7.1.1.Makingthedatavisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
7.1.2.Maintaininganeutralstance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
7.1.3.Providingalobbyingtool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
7.2.Takingactiononthebasisofamap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
7.2.1.Verifyingthedatainemergencysituations . . . . . . . . . 115
7.2.2.Discussingmapsfromtheirdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
7.2.3.Steppinginonacontroversialpoint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
CHAPTER8.THESHAPEOFPUBLICENGAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . 125
8.1.Anemergingonlinepublic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
8.1.1.Theroleofcontroversiesindemocracies . . . . . . . . . . . 126
8.1.2.Publicengagementonnuclearissues . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
8.1.3.Accountingforthematerialityofobjects. . . . . . . . . . . 130
8.1.4.Froma“phantompublic”toa“foam” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
8.2.Anadhocengagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
8.2.1.Self-expressionversusopeningofthedata. . . . . . . . . . 139
8.2.2.Alimitedgoalandtimeframe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
8.2.3.Specificinfrastructureforthedata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159