{"id":5740,"date":"2015-09-09T09:56:52","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T16:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/?p=5740"},"modified":"2015-09-09T09:56:52","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T16:56:52","slug":"six-things-that-modern-maps-do","status":"publish","type":"insider","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do","title":{"rendered":"Six Things that Modern Maps Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the dawn of humankind, man has sketched crude abstractions of geography on cave walls and rocks. These early maps documented and communicated important geographic knowledge our ancestors needed to survive.
\nFast-forward to 2015. The world has become significantly more complex than it was for our early ancestors. But luckily we now have information technologies at our disposal to help us solve the increasingly complex problems. It\u2019s a natural fit to apply these powerful information technologies to the serious environmental, geographic, and social problems we face. And thus the modern map was born.
\nModern maps can be used to tell stories, and apps provide the user experience through which we work with maps and share them. Here are six things that modern maps do to help us address the complex problems we face today.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

1. Maps communicate and foster understanding<\/strong>
\nGIS maps provide windows into useful information. Many kinds of descriptive information can be stored with the map and accessed on demand for individual features in your map.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In this map<\/a>, you can click on any voting precinct in the map to view its report. For example, you can investigate the relationship between ethnicity and income in presidential voting patterns.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

2. Maps tell stories<\/strong>
\nMaps provide a powerful way to tell many kinds of stories. Story maps make it easy to tell rich, map-based stories in the form of self-contained web apps.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

These web apps combine intelligent web maps with text, photos, video, and sound to elucidate interesting topics, like this map<\/a> of endangered languages of the world linked to audio from native speakers.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

3. Maps can display dynamic information that changes over time <\/strong>
\nIn GIS, many maps can dynamically display time frames, much like a weather map.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This map<\/a> displays snow cover from NASA\u2019s next generation Blue Marble imagery. Click the play button to animate the seasonal imagery over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

4. Maps help in finding patterns in mountains of data<\/strong>
\nAlthough it may seem counter-intuitive, sometimes adding thousands or millions of individual features or events helps a more coherent picture to emerge, one that simply couldn\u2019t be seen any other way.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nThere can be value in adding mapping detail in order to give clarity to an overall view of your data, and sometimes this is referred to as \u201cdata art.\u201d<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

5. Maps help you perform analysis<\/strong>
\nMaps can be used to enable geographic analysis. GIS maps combine powerful visualization with a strong analytic and modeling framework.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nJust as you can use each map layer as a window into information about features, you can use the map as a window into sophisticated analytical tools and results.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

6. Maps can be used to compile data<\/strong>
\nSometimes a map is the container or capturing device.
\n\"\"
\nThis simple map runs on an iPad. A team of arborists in Beverly Hills, California, uses it to add to and update a database of every tree in the city.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

\"\"This post is excerpted from my new book, <\/em>The ArcGIS Book: 10 Big Ideas about Applying Geography to Your World. The twin goals of this book are to open your eyes to what is now possible with Web GIS, and then spur you into action by putting the technology and deep data resources in your hands. The book is available through <\/em>Amazon.com<\/em><\/a> and other booksellers, and is also available at <\/em>www.TheArcGISBook.com<\/em><\/a> for free.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[275952,275982],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5740","insider","type-insider","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","category-vision"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSix Things that Modern Maps Do<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Six Things that Modern Maps Do\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the dawn of humankind, man has sketched crude abstractions of geography on cave walls and rocks. These early maps documented and communicated important geographic knowledge our ancestors needed to survive. Fast-forward to 2015. The world has become significantly more complex than it was for our early ancestors. But luckily we now have information technologies […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Esri\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/themes\/esri_newsroom\/placeholders\/Newsroom-Keyart-Wide.jpg\" \/><meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/themes\/esri_newsroom\/placeholders\/Newsroom-Keyart-Wide.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Esri\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do\",\n\t \"name\": \"Six Things that Modern Maps Do\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/files\/2015\/09\/modern_maps1-1024x473.jpg\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2015-09-09T16:56:52+00:00\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#breadcrumb\"\n\t },\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#primaryimage\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Wide-WhereNext_Mag_Template_Banner-2560X1440.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Wide-WhereNext_Mag_Template_Banner-2560X1440.jpg\",\n\t \"width\": 2560,\n\t \"height\": 1440\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"Six Things that Modern Maps Do\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Esri\",\n\t \"description\": \"Esri Newsroom\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Six Things that Modern Maps Do","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Six Things that Modern Maps Do","og_description":"From the dawn of humankind, man has sketched crude abstractions of geography on cave walls and rocks. These early maps documented and communicated important geographic knowledge our ancestors needed to survive. Fast-forward to 2015. The world has become significantly more complex than it was for our early ancestors. But luckily we now have information technologies […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do","og_site_name":"Esri","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/themes\/esri_newsroom\/placeholders\/Newsroom-Keyart-Wide.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""},{"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/themes\/esri_newsroom\/placeholders\/Newsroom-Keyart-Wide.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Esri","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do","name":"Six Things that Modern Maps Do","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/files\/2015\/09\/modern_maps1-1024x473.jpg","datePublished":"2015-09-09T16:56:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Wide-WhereNext_Mag_Template_Banner-2560X1440.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Wide-WhereNext_Mag_Template_Banner-2560X1440.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/six-things-that-modern-maps-do#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Six Things that Modern Maps Do"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/","name":"Esri","description":"Esri Newsroom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insider\/5740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insider"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/insider"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insider\/5740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}