Why do I love maps so? It's mainly a prerational matter I can't explain; I've always loved maps. (I won the school geography bee in 8th grade, but didn't get very far at the state level.) However, there's also a rational component, or at least a partial rationalization: from a map, I can take in facts at a faster rate than I can from any other data format I know of. Conversely, I am annoyed whenever someone links to audio commentary but not to a transcript. (I also am annoyed by the neologism "podcast," but that's a separate issue.) I value my time, and I can read a lot faster than I can listen.
posted by sedenion on 4/25/2006
4 Comments:
You, too?
"Podcast" is second only to "wi-fi" in recently coined tech terms that irritate me. But as you say, that's a different rant....
I love maps, too! I'm 43 and just completed my first semester--planning to transfer with a major in the GIS field.
I just discovered your blog. Very interesting. I like maps a lot too and I wonder if people who like maps are just more visual-type of people. The density of information I think is a good point too. That's why scientists (and mathematicians?) tend to use graphs to efficiently synthesize data.
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