For this project I evaluated different types of historical maps presented on web and how they are used. While it is not difficult to find websites which exhibit maps; it is almost impossible to find websites which "read" maps. It is also difficult to find websites which use any sort of dynamic interface.

Maps of Pimeria: Early Cartography of the Southwest, by Jack D. Mount
http://www.library.arizona.edu/pimeria/welcome.html

Primarily this an exhibit site, providing a selection of maps with fairly detailed descriptions. There is no attempt to read the maps. The site uses LizardTech’s MrSID software to display scalable map images. There are 29 maps dating from 1556 to1854.

Population Growth of the Southwest United States, 1900-1990, by Martin Chourre and Stewart Wright, U.S. Geological Survey
http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/changes/
anthropogenic/population/

An essay on using maps to understand 20th century population trends. There are 20 maps, two for each decade, using the same base map of the Southwest broken into county districts. In each of the decades one of the maps displays, using a color spectrum, the total population by country and the other shows population density. These maps can also be viewed as an animated sequence. The informational content of the maps in the essay can be seen at the small size in which they are presented but the legend cannot be read.

The Cyberatlas:

http://cyberatlas.guggenheim.org

Cyberspace is viewed in this site as a frontier territory in need of a map. The charters of this new territory compare their efforts to the early cartographers, admitting that it is difficult to guage perspective and emphasis because of the vastness of the web and realizing that cybercontinents shift more than their physical counterparts. The result of the four project web maps are artistic links pages.

This project interests me because I believe that for a non-linear narrative space to function well on the web it needs to have a better guidence system than what is currently available. Site maps, side links, and dynamic menus tend to be based on hierarchical principles and are unable to fully comprehend the possible interconnections of information. While the cyberatlas does not seemingly provide any practical products it does suggest different avenues to explore.

Mapping Boston
http://www.mappingboston.org/