Festival of Maps

I haven't been to the festival of maps--I'm not sure it would hold my attention for very long. But last semester we did a project on maps and how each one is made to serve a particular purpose, so then contain different information and look completely different, which is why we have so many different kinds of maps around. Sometimes they're confusing and difficult to decipher, other times they're extremely easy to figure out. Usually, though, it all depends on the purpose of the map. As stated earlier, maps are made for different reasons--to suit different needs--so they'll contain different information, even if it may be completely irrelevant to what you need. If that's the case, the map you're looking at is definitely the wrong one.

It is very difficult to map things exactly to scale. Without knowing the exact size of a building or playground, sizing it up on the paper comes as a task. Taking the train—the pink line, more specifically—I have noticed that the map of the rails seems to be a rough sketch. Knowing the streets fairly well, I have noticed that the spacing of some of the stops compared with the spacing of other stops is inconsistent. But people still know where they are going. With that particular map, the spacing and scale is not important. The order of the stops is what is important; that is what the people pay attention to. A map of interstate highways, however, is something that needs to be done to scale. When people are planning on a trip, they sometimes count on the scale-key to determine how many miles they can expect to drive in a given day. Basically, every map needs to be different to suit different needs. Every map has its purpose, and with that different purpose comes different aspects that need to stand out.

The main maps of Chicago that I've seen are the CTA maps and the neighborhood maps. And they tell you exactly what you need to know. I mean, why do you look at a CTA map? To see which line stops where and where it makes its connections and which stations are wheelchair accessible, etc. And the CTA map tells you just that. The neighborhood map gives you an idea of where specific neighborhoods are. It labels various streets--not all of them, just a few--to give you an idea of where each neighborhood is.

Bottom line, when it comes to maps, they usually have a specific purpose; they have something specific that they're trying to show you. It's difficult to look at a single map and have it tell you absolutely everything you want to know about an area. It's highly unlikely, actually.

So maybe the Festival of Maps would be a good idea. See the different ways to look at things. We'll see what happens.