On the map: strategies of information management in the current mapping

Abstract

The map has become the ideal support to manage the multiple layers of information concerning a territory. Historically, the graphic strategies developed in the representation and communication of all that information, deserve our consideration as long as we might be able to extrapolate the design strategies that could be applied on the territory.

Taking as a starting point a series of cartographies that, over the years, have led to a breakthrough on the graphic communication field, we will review the cultural contribution that this meant for the discipline. The beginnings of the discipline show a transit from the topological space to the cartesian representation.

The search for tools of graphic management of changing elements, as well as the incorporation of Big Data in cartographies that are closer to a diagram than to a traditional map, manifest a necessary confluence of all these levels of information. At present, all of these resources serve as a starting point to architects and urbanists, allowing them not only to represent the more intangible aspects of the project, but also to explore new forms of multidimensional communication. In conclusion, it gives us the ability to map not only the reality, but also the imaginary context.