To map or not to Map
To map or not to map, that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to succumb to the notion of the death of cartography or take arms against the clouds of uncertainty that the future of maps holds. And by exploring, partake. To dream — to map, No more.
(Shakespeare reference obviously, now that we’ve taken Hamlet out of the way, let’s talk about Maps)
Scholars and Realists have made the declaration, following the template of Friedrich Nietzsche that ‘Cartography is Dead’. The demise is a personal catastrophe for me — not only because I love maps in their vague and faded 2D paper medium but because as a Nigerian, a Surveyor, a map enthusiast and an art lover. I have always had a special connection with maps, right from the days of high school Geography. I see a map on the wall of a movie scene and a smile creeps into my face. I see a sophisticated map hanging on the frame of a corporate office, I pause to have a feel of it.
It was a similar fascination that I had for the iconic Nigeria national topo map sheets that were produced in the late 1960s. The scantiness of the cities on the map, the absence of new towns, so much unexplored virgin lands — it was these features that made me connect with the geographic realities of our new nation during those early years of independence, when I first had a feel of the Topo map sheets in the Mid-2000s.
I had always hoped that there will be another set of national map sheets published and I will be able to visually compare and analyze the development of the country, the changes in landscape, the expansion of economic vectors, the infrastructural response to an exploding population. It is this prospect of holding the ‘Original’ A1-size map sheets and the subsequent sequels side by side and marvel and tell stories about Nigeria with them, it is this prospect that kept me hoping in the late 2000s that sooner another set of map sheets would someday be published.
But the sequel to the Original maps of 1960s never happened, now that I look at it though, it is almost incomprehensible to conceive how 5 decades passed without a significant breakthrough in the publishing of national maps in Nigeria.
Despite the creation of new states prior to the civil war and the post-civil war dynamics of the country in the 70s. Despite the political upheavals and the evolving demographics of the 80s. despite the unyielding grip on power by the military in the 90s. I can understand the indifference to mapping in the early 2000s- Nigerians were just out of a post-authoritarian government regime and the country was too busy trying to rebuild its image at home and abroad to care about maps.
However, by the 2010s, it was too late. Google Maps had been born and Cartography had died in the previous decade. The global mapping landscape had changed and no one in the local mapping sector knows what to make of the new digital world we now live in. No one knew, no one pretended to know except for academics shoving down Geoinformatics down the throat of students — as if it was something we were supposed to understand.
Geoinformatics, then was nothing but an exciting name, a branding gimmick, newness in its appearance and pronunciation but nothing more. We just did not connect with it and the reason was simple. Although global commentators announced the death of cartography in the mid-2000s.
In the Nigerian local mapping scene, cartography had always been dead before then, even in academics, there was no life to it and there was no life in it.
Before the national map sheets of the early 1960s were produced there was no real record of any sort of indigenous advancement in the mapping scene in Nigeria. For reasons that can be easily understood of course — we were a new nation, and we were barely educated in the intricacies of map making.
But the era — post 1960 did not really see any significant improvement in the local national mapping scene. There was a lack of innovation, lack of precedents to build on, lack of daring exploits to inspire map enthusiasts, not much craziness to match or outdo. So when Geoinformatics became a slang and students were demanded to leap. They were not exactly sure what platform they were to stand on before leaping or if there was a platform at all. When academics dissect this cadaver, they blame the government. Everyone blames Everyone. No one takes responsibility.
Which brings me to my title again — “To map or not to map”. I’ve read the autopsy on the death of cartography. The argument made is simple, we live in the age of disruption and computers are here to automate mapping, go home and do something else.
Fortunately, we are Nigerians and we are Africans, a continent of developing nations that could really use a lot of innovations and improvements in the different sectors of the society — like security, economy, education, community development, arts, culture, businesses. There is an opportunity for us to create unique-custom-thematic maps that will shed light on these unique issues — not just any kind of boring maps, but graphically rich and aesthetically pleasing maps that will demand the best of our creativity, consciousness and conscience. Maps that will elevate the perspective of the issues discussed in the news media. Maps that tell stories. Maps that people are yet to realize that they need. Maps that reflect our raw realities.
It may not be easy and it may not be a hit at first, but if we don’t create a platform and exert in the mind of the public, a map consciousness that can be subtly familiarized with, especially in this age of the rise of tech. we would have missed an opportunity — and that’s not the story I wanna tell my children.
This responsibility lies not with the academics or with the government (they’ve both tried in the past 5 decades)- this responsibility lie on all of us — young professionals in the mapping related fields and industries. Congratulations, your time has come — Rise up to the Challenge.
