Redefining cartography

In the lecture titled "Living structures as a New Paradigm for Maps and Mapping in the Big Data Era" the idea of cartography is undergoing a transformation, especially with a focus on the concept of "living structure". Historically, cartography was understood as the practice of map-making, combining both science and art. Today, new ideas are emerging, particularly those linked to fractals, scaling principles and living structures.  Historically, cartography was about making maps representing physical spaces. In 1973, Meynen defined cartography as the creation of maps, treating them as both scientific and artistic products. His definition of cartopgrahy was:

“The art, science, and technology of making maps, together with their study as scientific documents and works of art. In this context, maps may be regarded as including all types of maps, plans, charts and sections, three-dimensional models and globes representing the earth or any celestial body at any scale”.

A new definition

Today, cartography includes so much more. It includes, for example, a new way of seeing and thinking about the spatial organization and new approaches through the development of GIS. Cartography is today an important part in creating a better understanding of geographical phenomena rather than simply describing the phenomena. Therefore, with insipiration from Bin Jiang's work, my redefinition of cartography is as follows:

"Cartography is the science, technology, and art of designing and analyzing maps,, while also studying them as both scientific documents and works of art. It encompasses all kinds of maps, plans, and three-dimensional models representing the spatial territories, across various scales. Cartography integrates the use of Geographic information systems to collect, process and visualize geospatial data and recognizes the geographic areas in maps as dynamic systems, inherently representing living structures to understand the complex and organic organization of the world we live in.

References:

Jiang B. (2015), The fractal nature of maps and mapping, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 29(1), 159–174. 

Jiang B. (2019), New paradigm in mapping: A critique on Cartography and GIS, Cartographica, 54(3), 183–205. Reprinted as the cover story in the magazine Coordinates, October issue, 9–21. 

Jiang B. and Slocum T. (2020), A map is a living structure with the recurring notion of far more smalls than larges, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 9(6), 388. Reprinted as the cover story in the magazine Coordinates, August issue, 6–17, 2020.