Deep Maps and Spatial Narratives

The Spatial Humanities

by David J. Bodenhamer (Editor), John Corrigan (Editor), Trevor M. Harris (Editor)

Deep maps are finely detailed, multimedia depictions of a place and the people, buildings, objects, flora, and fauna that exist within it and which are inseparable from the activities of everyday life. These depictions may encompass the beliefs, desires, hopes, and fears of residents and help show what ties one place to another. A deep map is a way to engage evidence within its spatio-temporal context and to provide a platform for a spatially-embedded argument. The essays in this book investigate deep mapping and the spatial narratives that stem from it. The authors come from a variety of disciplines: history, religious studies, geography and geographic information science, and computer science. Each applies the concepts of space, time, and place to problems central to an understanding of society and culture, employing deep maps to reveal the confluence of actions and evidence and to trace paths of intellectual exploration by making use of a new creative space that is visual, structurally open, multi-media, and multi-layered.

254 pages, Hardcover

First published January 14, 2015

Reviews

[mayhugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would
appear to man as it is: infinite.
For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things
thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
William Blake

[Dan Gorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Specialized volume for mapping experts and amateurs. The authors believe that digital technology can make maps interactive and reflective of ordinary peoples' experiences. The phrase "deep maps" describes maps that include more data than simple GPS points — stories, photos, "ghost maps" showing how lands and buildings change, geospatial data uploaded by users from mobile devices, etc. Deep maps can depict perceptions of time and space, but such visualizations require sophisticated animation. Stuart C. Aiken's essay on using maps to tell a father's life story is probably the best in the volume.