Spatial Thinking in Planning Practice: An Introduction to GIS

39 CHAPTER 5: LYING WITH MAPS When you understand the technique of making maps in general, it is time to realize that how maps !nally look like to a great extent depends on how you present your data. Especially in choropleth map, how do you de!ne the data breaking points, and varied choices on symbology lead to di#erent looking maps which might hide part of the information what the real data truly present. "is piece by Mark Monmonier warn us not only to be careful in designing maps, but also to be critical in reading maps, and promoting a healthy skepticism about these easy-to-manipulate models of reality. Monmonier shows that, despite their immense value, maps lie. Statistics of any kind can be manipulated. For professionals working in the planning !eld, who rely on lots of data to make public decisions, it is especially important to be skeptical about what you are presented. To show how maps distort, Monmonier introduces basic principles of mapmaking, gives entertaining examples of the misuse of maps in situations through progressively more subtle treatments of data, each misleading, some innocent and others malicious, until you begin to question all map abstractions entirely. It covers all the typical kinds of distortions from deliberate oversimpli!cations to the misleading use of color. Read the book chapter Mark Monmonier. 1996. ‘Data Maps: Making Nonsense of the Census’. in Mark Monmonier (1996) 2 nd edition. How to Lie with Maps? Chapter 10. University Of Chicago Press Discussion Questions 1. What are ways that a map-maker (cartographer) has control of the displaying spatial data? 2. What are examples of ways that planners can use maps to persuade city council members with a decision about a proposed change in zoning or land use designation? 3. How can a planner ensure that they are not being seduced by the spatial information they review? Contextual Applications of Chapter 5 "e 5 U.S. Counties Where Racial Diversity Is Highest—and Lowest Exposed: America’s Totally Inconsistent Minimum Parking Requirements

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