This week I was watching a student locate cities on a google map and realized (hopefully) that this exercise is both creating and reinforcing awareness of locations in the Middle East in ways I hadn’t necessarily considered. He was using Baghdad as a reference and then searching for cities known to be either north of or west of Baghdad. In the process, he is becoming familiar not only with the particular location of Baghdad, but also the relative location of other cities to Baghdad. Have you found Google Maps to be a useful tool for helping to learn place name geography, location, distribution etc.? Please elaborate.
Spatial Literacy
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Even though I consider myself to be quite competent when it comes to maps and geography in general, my knowledge of the Middle East is quite limited (hence I am taking this class). Google Maps is a great tool to use in order to visualize where an event or an incident took place even if in a historical context. The only aspect that can be frustrating at times is trying to find miniscule towns or villages on the map, because once you search for them, they usually cannot be found, so you have to decipher from the little information you get where possibly it can be located. I have had this problem once already in this class when I was creating the map for the Armenian truck driver and I couldn't find Hagob's birthplace, the tiny village of Khan-Baba-Khan. I ended up placing the place mark on the border of Armenia and Anatolia, as there was where much of the fighting between Kurds and Armenians was taking place. In general, Google Maps has facilitated my understanding of the geography of the region, by visually seeing the locations that we are talking and reading about in class.
I have found Google Maps to be extremely helpful in gaining a better perspective of the world's geographies and distributions of space. Simply reading about a city or a place through text is not enough to fully understand what is taking place there and more importantly WHY certain events take place there. Without putting these places into context with the rest of the world (or on a smaller scale even town, country, or continent), it is difficult to fully grasp differing peoples and cultures and the varying conflicts that arise among them. Also, significantly related to space is power and I find it really interesting to see how the relations between the actual size and location of different regions and territories influence political, social and environmental action and changes. Again, I’ve really enjoyed using Google Maps and think it is a crucial device for our future understanding of cultures and global cooperation with other territories.
In a word, yes I do think the Google Map posts have helped me gain a better understanding of the geography region. One of the biggest things I have noticed is simply how I look at a world map. Before this class, any map I looked at would be examined in relation to either the United States or in some cases Europe. However, just through the very nature of the course I have been forced to view maps centered on locations in the Middle East. I think that this is an important personal development because so far in my educational career the historical importance of the Middle East has been neglected. This is an especially harmful oversight because civilization has its roots in the Middle East and it makes sense to view them with the Middle East as their focus. I have gained new insight into the causes and patterns of world development through realizing visually that its epicenter is the Fertile Crescent. With the gaining of this new perspective I hope that I will be able to interpret both historical and current events in a new light.
First of all, we should answer that why do we need maps? I think it cannot be just because of indicating locations,or tool for navigation.It was also used as a propaganda for explorers. “The map is not just the territory; but it is territory (Harley,1992)”. there was a severe relationship between cartography and creation of empires. Cartographers tried to legitimize empires because they needed for political discourse of colonization like European vs. Indigenous. Cartographers were powerful to dominate and control in the 19th century. Maps were used both instruments and representations of imperial power. However, today the situation is almost different than the past. Moreover, it is totally helpful to visualize regions,cities, or countries.Particularly, google map is really helpful. It is the visual representation. It allows more efficient analysis and better decisions about the country or region.
I would absolutely agree that Google maps has increased my spatial literacy, both in the Middle Eastern region and the world in general. As someone who is literally obsessed with maps I will admit that I probably spend more time on Google maps than the average person. I created a Google map of the road trip vacation I wanted my family to take last summer (which unfortunately never materialized) so I was pretty familiar with the whole process before hand. But I think the maps we have created for the class have gone further than being used as a simple point of reference. They’ve become geographic tools that coincide with the readings and have definitely given me a better sense of place and space of the stories to go along with my personal connection to the characters. I think it’s really useful to see how far reaching individual families can be, often spanning across multiple continents. This changed one particular stereotype I originally had of Middle Eastern inhabitants having a tendency to stay in the Middle East and be very confined and isolated people. I have been surprised by how open Middle Eastern people are to migrating and adapting to a new culture, given how distinct and specific their own culture tends to be.
In every course of study, hands-on exercises broaden the classroom experience and in this case, Google Maps have allowed me to better understand geographical placements of the Middle East. When creating the maps that coincide with the Burke chapters, establishing a place mark for the events that have taken place, and their spatial relations to one another exhibits the importance of location. It is also a beneficial study tool.
Another tool that has enhanced this understanding are the map exercises we carry out in the GIS Lab during class time. The different settings of this program displays concentrations of aspects (education, birthrate) of Middle Easterner's lives in way that shows us the development of this region. The setting that I found most useful and interesting is the "world at night" setting that shows technological activity around the globe. When observing this map, the concentrations of developed areas are made obvious, and their location near bodies of water and oil-rich land explains this distribution. Studying these maps reinforce and expand on what we learn in class.
I have found Google Maps and other GIS mapping software to be extremely useful in learning geography, and building a new framework of knowledge and understanding in my mind. The research I have begun for the University of Richmond Geography Department points to the conclusion that digital maps are extremely useful learning tools for almost any academic discipline that involves information that can correspond to a geographic location.
When maps are used, students become directly engaged with a visual framework. We have all certainly become overwhelmed in our history classes when our professors spew out various locations and peoples without including a point of reference or framework to plug them into. Digital maps allow students to build a visual backdrop for the information they learn everyday, which leads to more effective synthesis of information. Software products like Google Maps provide a means to collect our knowledge, and relate it to other pieces of information.
The spatial literacy of students of Middle Eastern Geographies, the creators of this blog, has been increased drastically by their use of Google Maps and similar software. I think this type of learning will always be beneficial, since it is difficult to find any drawbacks to promoting a spatial understanding of geography. These tools only add to our collective understanding of human civilizations and their relationship to the physical world.