CARTOGRAPHY, ETHICS AND SOCIAL THEORY

Abstract

'Cartography, Ethics and Social Theory' is a sequel to 'Deconstructing the Map' (Cartographica 26 / 2, 1989: 1–20) and to the 'Responses' to that paper (see 'Commentary' Cartographica 26 /3 &4, 1989: 89–121). It is argued that the absence of a social dimension in cartographic theory has led to a neglect of social issues in the content of maps and that together these deficiencies constitute a crisis of representation. The dilemma of cartographic ethics — and the profession's response to it — is discussed in the context of the technological transformation in official topographical mapping being induced by the invention of Geographical Information Systems. A case is made for the retention of topographical maps in their present published form on the grounds that they can offer a democratic and humanistic form of geographical knowledge.