Last night was another incredible Mappy Hour hosted at TriBeCa’s Best Made. 
When we arrived to set up we were informed that yesterday was actually National Whiskey Sour Day which meant
a slight change to our normal beer routine.
By 7:30, the room was full and ready to learn. Cartographer Jeremy Goldsmith was at the helm covering both types of maps and the process of map making. Here are some of our favorite facts from his presentation
1) What is cartography?
“Cartography is about communication” – a really cool way to think about maps next time you’re outside. You’re not just looking at the map but rather engaging in an active process of information exchange from the cartographer to the map reader.
2) How were maps made “back in the day”?
Maps were made based mostly on land surveys before the Renaissance. It wasn’t until the 1600s when the magnetic telescope, sexton and other tools were invented that the scientific process of cartography began.
3) Why are maps so different?
Each maps creation is informed by the goal of the map, the resources, and the cartographers own vision and abilities. Everything from the opacity of rivers to the width of city streets can be manipulated to highlight (or downplay) facets of the terrain.
He also provided anecdotes and introduced the crowd to different types of map making like Radical Cartography.
One map we saw was an example of a crowd-sourced map from the United Arab Emirates, radical because it included information sourced from both men and women and distinct because the department of tourism’s map only included information from men.
After the presentation we announced our next Mappy Hour which will take place on the Lilac Steamer (a historic boat docked at Pier 25 on the Hudson) with Sailors NYC’s Captain Nitzan Levy presenting.
We continued the nights looking at maps covering everything from the East Hudson to Switzerland.
We all became cartographer ourselves by labeling the adventure location of our dreams on a large wall map.Finally, it was time to go home, but luckily this punny patch met us at the door before we left. A mantra to re-enter the NYC world with for sure!#mappyhour #lessisMuir
