Countermapping the world
by Minnie Lee
At Bimble, we often talk about countermapping the world. You land in Paris, open a map and the first things you see are the landmarks — the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Sacré-Cœur, you get the picture. Whilst iconic, these places don’t really make up the lived experience of Paris. Your local coffee shop, which does what you know is the best espresso in town, and the quiet bookshop you discovered serendipitously whilst escaping the noise of the city — these are the places we believe should be surfaced by the maps we use. The world likes to map the big things, but here at Bimble, we map the places that matter.
Welcome to Bimble’s version of the Long Read. Dive into this thought piece by Geography grad, Minnie Lee, as she delves into the practice of countermapping.
The Mind of the Mapmaker: Fact or POV?
It is easy to think of maps as objective truth. An exact realisation of the world around us. In actuality, the map is a reflection of its maker. Understanding the art of cartography and therefore the mind of the mapmaker isn’t always straightforward.
Cartographers have dealt with the complexities and deceptiveness of maps for centuries. Perhaps the most classic example of this is the Mercator Map. Take your mind back to geography lessons at school and think about the world map… well that will be the Mercator Map you are picturing! The map was created in 1569, a time when Europe was attempting to colonise the world. The projection makes countries at lower latitudes appear much smaller relative to Europe and consequently less superior. At this time, size really did matter. Britain is also at the centre of the map, which has its roots in British colonialism, a relic many countries are keen to forget.
Ultimately people trust maps. Sometimes maps intentionally lie. I like to refer to it as cartographic persuasion.
As Mark Monmonier, the author of “How to Lie with Maps” explains, there is no escape from the cartographic paradox: in order for an accurate map to present a useful picture, it must tell a few white lies. Aside from political agendas, it is mathematically impossible to present our spherical world on a flat map. But ultimately, people trust maps and sometimes maps intentionally lie. I like to refer to it as cartographic persuasion.
Lying maps & the concept of countermapping
Whilst a 2D map can never create a wholly truthful picture of a 3D world, I came across the progressive concept of countermapping as I delved further into the history and current movements in cartography.
The newly explored ideology encourages the mapmaker to translate a true sense of identity, place, and power to the spaces that they themselves navigate and live in. An ongoing and iconic example of countermapping is happening in the Amazon as you read this blog. The Amazon peoples are working together to reclaim their ancestral territory rights, which the state maps initially failed to recognise. This is a powerful demonstration of a community regaining the deep routed identity that is held in their land. Otherwise, countermapping can be used as a wide umbrella term, simply seeking to challenge traditional methods of cartography. Like Albert Einstein once said, and I must point out, way ahead of his time, “you can’t use an old map to explore a new world”.
The newly explored ideology encourages the mapmaker to translate a true sense of identity, place, and power to the spaces that they themselves navigate and live in.
YOU — yes you, are a cartographer
Without knowing it, people use maps every day, whether it be Google Maps to get to dinner, commuting on public transport, ordering a parcel, or even creating a mind map! The future of mapmaking isn’t just focused on topographical landforms and contour lines anymore. Ordnance Survey, Google, and even NASA have managed to sort most of that out for us! It’s more about the art of cartography and how it enables mapmakers from all different backgrounds to solve political and environmental issues or to simply express their world from their own point of view.
But, what do modern maps really represent? It has been a very exciting time for cartography as digital transformations have allowed more people to become mapmakers and allow map users to enter a world of serendipitous discovery. Automated creativity is being expressed through interactive maps and stories are being told through the minds of these mapmakers. Today, maps go much further beyond the factual representation of geophysical characteristics and for a successful map to unravel a new world of information to a new generation, it must go against the norm.
I come from a small town in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales, called Skipton. To me, my friends, my family, my neighbours, and the local shopkeeper down the road, Skipton isn’t as simple as the town illustrated on Google Maps. It brews Golden Pippin — I’m yet to find a better ale anywhere in the world. It’s home to the Stanforth’s famous pie. It’s the gateway to the Dales. The beauty of countermapping gives us the potential to illustrate our towns, our neigbourhoods even, in their full uniqueness.
An insight into the mind of the mapmaker and what Skipton means to me.
To me, the best kinds of maps portray an equilibrium of facts and a variety of points of view. Finding that balance comes from the people and cultures who represent their cities, neighbourhoods and communities. Bimble’s approach to mapping the world we live in, totally encapsulates this.
You open the Bimble map, wherever you are in the world, and you are shown the real places that people in the community around you love and have listed. And this experience is a social one because the map is illuminated with the profiles of the people who’ve added the places you see. In this way, the philosophy of countermapping lies at the heart of Bimble’s cartographic design, ensuring that the world is represented through communities. This is altogether a more inclusive, dynamic and frankly, fun way of mapping the world. Turns out Albert Einstein was right about more than just a few things — you can’t use an old map to explore a new world.
If you have a story you’d like to share about a great little place or other bimbling experiences, get in touch with us at hello@bimble.com
