Читать книгу Geography For Dummies - Jerry T. Mitchell - Страница 119

Just about anyone can make a map these days. There are a number of online software options that allow you to drop points on a map or make full-blown presentations of stories atop a base map of remotely sensed imagery.

But there’s still one big problem: These new mapmakers have not read this book. As a result, they use the wrong symbols, don’t process their data for choropleth maps, and use crazy color schemes that do everything but illuminate. Perhaps worse than having no map at all is one that is flat out misleading. That is, of course, only a problem if you want your maps to be truthful. Not everyone does. History is replete with examples: from World War Two Nazi maps (propaganda to show how much lebensraum (living space) Germany needed, thus a reason to conquer Europe) to Cold War Russians “hiding” cities by moving them from one map to another over time (why? To avoid American missiles.).

Be excited about your ability to map, but take care, too.