Mark Monmonier

Last updated
Mark Stephen Monmonier
Born (1943-02-02) February 2, 1943 (age 80)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Pennsylvania State University
Johns Hopkins University
Spouse
Margaret Janet Kollner
(m. 1965)
Children1
Awards German Cartographic Society's Mercator Medal (2008)
American Geographical Society's Osborn Maitland Miller Medal (2001)
Guggenheim Fellowship (1984)
Scientific career
Institutions Syracuse University
Thesis On the Use of Digitized Map Sampling and Measurement: An Example in Crop Ecology  (September 1969)
Doctoral advisors George F. Deasy
Anthony Williams
Website www.markmonmonier.com

Mark Stephen Monmonier (born February 2, 1943 [1] ) is a Distinguished Professor of Geography and the Environment at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. He specializes in toponymy, geography, and geographic information systems. [2]

Contents

Career

Monmonier began his academic career as Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Rhode Island in 1969. He would soon after take a position at the State University of New York at Albany in 1970. [1] [3] He joined the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1973, where he continued his career until his retirement in May 2021. [4] He is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography and the Environment at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. [4]

Monmonier's research focused on the twentieth-century history of cartography, in particular, map-related inventions and patents. He also wrote extensively on the use of maps for surveillance and as analytical and persuasive tools in politics, journalism, environmental science, and public administration. [5]

The "Monmonier Algorithm", an important research tool for geographic studies in linguistics and genetics, is based on an article he published in 1973. [6] [7]

In 2008, he received the German Cartographic Society's Mercator Medal. [8]

In 2016, he was inducted into the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association's GIS Hall of fame. [9]

In 2023, the American Association of Geographers awarded Monmonier the AAG Lifetime Achievement Honors, for making "outstanding contributions to geographic research, most notably in the fields of cartography and geographic communication" as well as an "extensive record of distinctive leadership at national and international levels". [7] [10]

Publications

Monmonier has authored over 20 books, and his popular written works show a combination of serious study and a sense of humor. Most of his work is published by the University of Chicago Press. [11] He has appeared on National Public Radio interview programs.

For example, in From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: how maps name, claim, and inflame, Monmonier discusses topics such as:

In How to Lie with Maps, Monmonier gives us a different view of maps: Different projections give vastly disparate impressions of the same "facts" or terrain.

Single-authored Books

Co-authored Books

Edited Encyclopedia

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartography</span> Study and practice of making maps

Cartography is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gall–Peters projection</span> Cylindrical equal-area map projection

The Gall–Peters projection is a rectangular, equal-area map projection. Like all equal-area projections, it distorts most shapes. It is a cylindrical equal-area projection with latitudes 45° north and south as the regions on the map that have no distortion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geographer</span> Scholar whose area of study is geography

A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" and the Greek suffix, "graphy", meaning "description", so a geographer is someone who studies the earth. The word "geography" is a Middle French word that is believed to have been first used in 1540.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waldo R. Tobler</span> American geographer

Waldo Rudolph Tobler was an American-Swiss geographer and cartographer. Tobler is regarded as one of the most influential geographers and cartographers of the late 20th century and early 21st century. Tobler is most well known for his proposed idea that "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things," which has come to be referred to as the "first law of geography." He proposed a second law as well: "The phenomenon external to an area of interest affects what goes on inside."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goode homolosine projection</span> Pseudocylindrical equal-area map projection

The Goode homolosine projection is a pseudocylindrical, equal-area, composite map projection used for world maps. Normally it is presented with multiple interruptions. Its equal-area property makes it useful for presenting spatial distribution of phenomena.

The history of cartography refers to the development and consequences of cartography, or mapmaking technology, throughout human history. Maps have been one of the most important human inventions for millennia, allowing humans to explain and navigate their way through the world.

David Woodward was an English-born American historian of cartography and cartographer.

Cartographic propaganda is a map created with the goal of achieving a result similar to traditional propaganda. The map can be outright falsified, or created using subjectivity with the goal of persuasion. The idea that maps are subjective is not new; cartographers refer to maps as a human-subjective product and some view cartography as an "industry, which packages and markets spatial knowledge" or as a communicative device distorted by human subjectivity. However, cartographic propaganda is widely successful because maps are often presented as a miniature model of reality, and it is a rare occurrence that a map is referred to as a distorted model, which sometimes can "lie" and contain items that are completely different from reality. Because the word propaganda has become a pejorative, it has been suggested that mapmaking of this kind should be described as "persuasive cartography", defined as maps intended primarily to influence opinions or beliefs – to send a message – rather than to communicate geographic information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercator 1569 world map</span> First map in Mercators projection

The Mercator world map of 1569 is titled Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio ad Usum Navigantium Emendate Accommodata. The title shows that Gerardus Mercator aimed to present contemporary knowledge of the geography of the world and at the same time 'correct' the chart to be more useful to sailors. This 'correction', whereby constant bearing sailing courses on the sphere are mapped to straight lines on the plane map, characterizes the Mercator projection. While the map's geography has been superseded by modern knowledge, its projection proved to be one of the most significant advances in the history of cartography, inspiring map historian Nordenskiöld to write "The master of Rupelmonde stands unsurpassed in the history of cartography since the time of Ptolemy." The projection heralded a new era in the evolution of navigation maps and charts and it is still their basis.

Jew Point is a headland in Monroe County, Florida.

Jew Peak is a summit in Sanders County, Montana, in the United States. It has an elevation of 5,853 feet (1,784 m). Jew Peak is the 2,010th highest mountain in the state of Montana.

Shitepoke Creek is a short tributary of Salmon Creek, which is a tributary of the Middle Fork Willamette River in Lane County, Oregon, in the United States. Arising between Dead Mountain and Eagle Butte in the Cascade Range, it flows south into the creek about 7 miles (11 km) east of Oakridge. Its entire course lies within the Willamette National Forest.

Shitten Creek is a stream in Lane County, Oregon, in the United States.

Coon Butt is a summit in Blount County, Tennessee, in the United States. It is located within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With an elevation of 2,326 feet (709 m), Coon Butt is the 422nd highest mountain of Tennessee.

Wee Wee Hill is a hill in Highland Township, Franklin County, Indiana, in the United States. With an elevation of 981 feet (299 m), it is the 19th highest summit in Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dancing Lady Mountain</span>

Dancing Lady Mountain is a summit in Glacier County, Montana, in the United States and it is located within Glacier National Park. Dancing Lady is derived from a Blackfoot-language name. The mountain's former name of Squaw Mountain was changed due to ongoing controversy over the term "squaw".

Gook Creek is a stream in Antrim County, Michigan, in the United States. It is a tributary of the Jordan River with an elevation of 620 ft above sea level.

Brilliant is an unincorporated community in Colfax County, in the U.S. state of New Mexico.

Jewfish Point is a cape in Los Angeles County, in the U.S. state of California. It is located on the Southeast coast of Santa Catalina Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rennie Short</span>

John Rennie Short is professor emeritus of geography and public policy in the School of Public Policy at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

References

  1. 1 2 "Monmonier, Mark 1943- (Mark S. Monmonier, Mark Stephen Monmonier) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  2. "Mark Monmonier, Distinguished Professor of Geography". The Maxwell School of Syracuse University. 19 March 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  3. Monmonier, Mark S. (1971). "Digitized Map Measurement and Correlation Applied to an Example in Crop Ecology". Geographical Review. 61 (1): 51–71. doi:10.2307/213367. ISSN   0016-7428. JSTOR   213367 . Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  4. 1 2 "On the Eve of Retirement, Mark Monmonier Receives Lifetime Achievement Award". Syracuse University Media, Law & Policy. May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  5. "Mark Monmonier". American Geographical Society . Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  6. Monmonier, Mark S. (3 September 2010). "Maximum-Difference Barriers: An Alternative Numerical Regionalization Method*". Geographical Analysis. 5 (3): 245–261. doi: 10.1111/j.1538-4632.1973.tb01011.x .
  7. 1 2 Youngman, Jessica (19 January 2023). "Lifetime Achievement Honor for Mark Monmonier, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography and the Environment". Syracuse University News . Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  8. “Die DGfK ehrt Mark Monmonier mit der Mercator-Medaille,” Kartographische Nachrichten 59/6 (December 2009): 340–41
  9. Nelson, Wendy (August 30, 2016). "URISA Announces 2016 GIS Hall of Fame Inductees: URISA". www.urisa.org (Press release). Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  10. "2023 AAG Awards Recognition: Lifetime Achievement Honors". American Association of Geographers. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  11. "Mark Monmonier". University of Chicago Press . Retrieved May 12, 2022.