World Population Map (2005)<\/a><\/p>\n Secondly, related information about the area, like demography or climate, can be presented on the map. It is the main focus of this Population Map to show demographic situation about different countries. While a square represents one million people, the map clearly shows the proportions of how many people are living in respective areas. It is especially useful when an audience can get numerical information from the graph directly, both the approximate figure of the population and relative proportions compared with that of other countries. Clearly, China and India, having the two largest populations in the world, are the ones to catch audiences\u2019 attention at the first glance.<\/p>\n Among the various characteristics, there is one factor that stands out, and that\u2019s the third aspect I like to point out: the representative of political power \u2013 the selectivity of mapping reflects mapmakers\u2019 political view. On the one hand, the main presentation of population subverts people’s common cognition of the world to some extents: except for China and India having both huge area and population, some large countries with small populations are shrunken, while some others with inconspicuous size but a rather big population stand out and draw people’s attention. For example, it may take you a while to find Canada, Russia, and Australia as they have turned into thin lines or dots in the large picture. On the contrary, it’s easier to notice places as Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia in this map when they are magnified because of the relatively large proportion of the population. Generally speaking, since the Asian part is prominent, it can be inferred that the cartographers want to emphasize the enormous human resource in Asia.<\/p>\n On the other hand, the choice of \u201ccolor\u201d also reveals the concept in a political perspective. When Taiwan and mainland China, Kosovo and Serbia are not in the same color, mapmakers demonstrate their standpoints that they recognize Taiwan and Kosovo as independent states, which other countries may not agree to.<\/p>\n In addition, by putting the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the map, which amplifies North America and Europe, it is obvious that the cartographers consider the West as the center of the world.<\/p>\n At the same time, I identify some advantages of looking at the world in this brand-new way: this map was published in 2005, and it tells the story of history. When audiences are looking from a present perspective of view in 2017, they are aware of what has changed during the past 12 years: The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro has dissolved; South Sudan declared independence from the Republic of Sudan\u2026 In other words, maps are reflections of the history. Just as Denis Wood stated: \u201cWhen the map is produced, it’s already out of date.” Moreover, the vague border lines between areas avoid the controversies of disputed areas, like Kashmir between India and Pakistan.<\/p>\n All in all, as a tool that reflects both reality and ideology, the Population Map offers a great opportunity to look at the world in an innovative view, that not only provides detailed information, but also makes audiences think about the “hidden languages” behind the picture. Therefore, I chose it as the “Map of the Week.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As scholars have pointed out since decades ago: a map is far more than just \u201creproducing\u201d reality; it has characteristics, that define who it is and what it\u2019s for. Denis Wood stated in his The Power of Maps, \u201cmaps link … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/files\/2017\/09\/World-map-sizes.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
![World Population Map (2005)<\/a><\/p>\nSecondly, related information about the area, like demography or climate, can be presented on the map. It is the main focus of this Population Map to show demographic situation about different countries. While a square represents one million people, the map clearly shows the proportions of how many people are living in respective areas. It is especially useful when an audience can get numerical information from the graph directly, both the approximate figure of the population and relative proportions compared with that of other countries. Clearly, China and India, having the two largest populations in the world, are the ones to catch audiences\u2019 attention at the first glance.<\/p>\nAmong the various characteristics, there is one factor that stands out, and that\u2019s the third aspect I like to point out: the representative of political power \u2013 the selectivity of mapping reflects mapmakers\u2019 political view. On the one hand, the main presentation of population subverts people’s common cognition of the world to some extents: except for China and India having both huge area and population, some large countries with small populations are shrunken, while some others with inconspicuous size but a rather big population stand out and draw people’s attention. For example, it may take you a while to find Canada, Russia, and Australia as they have turned into thin lines or dots in the large picture. On the contrary, it’s easier to notice places as Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia in this map when they are magnified because of the relatively large proportion of the population. Generally speaking, since the Asian part is prominent, it can be inferred that the cartographers want to emphasize the enormous human resource in Asia.<\/p>\nOn the other hand, the choice of \u201ccolor\u201d also reveals the concept in a political perspective. When Taiwan and mainland China, Kosovo and Serbia are not in the same color, mapmakers demonstrate their standpoints that they recognize Taiwan and Kosovo as independent states, which other countries may not agree to.<\/p>\nIn addition, by putting the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the map, which amplifies North America and Europe, it is obvious that the cartographers consider the West as the center of the world.<\/p>\nAt the same time, I identify some advantages of looking at the world in this brand-new way: this map was published in 2005, and it tells the story of history. When audiences are looking from a present perspective of view in 2017, they are aware of what has changed during the past 12 years: The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro has dissolved; South Sudan declared independence from the Republic of Sudan\u2026 In other words, maps are reflections of the history. Just as Denis Wood stated: \u201cWhen the map is produced, it’s already out of date.” Moreover, the vague border lines between areas avoid the controversies of disputed areas, like Kashmir between India and Pakistan.<\/p>\nAll in all, as a tool that reflects both reality and ideology, the Population Map offers a great opportunity to look at the world in an innovative view, that not only provides detailed information, but also makes audiences think about the “hidden languages” behind the picture. Therefore, I chose it as the “Map of the Week.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As scholars have pointed out since decades ago: a map is far more than just \u201creproducing\u201d reality; it has characteristics, that define who it is and what it\u2019s for. Denis Wood stated in his The Power of Maps, \u201cmaps link … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21024],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maps-of-the-week"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.buzzhunt.co.uk\/wp-content\/2014\/01\/World-map-sizes.png\"){kind=link}