Mark Stephen Monmonier | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Pennsylvania State University Johns Hopkins University |
Spouse | Margaret Janet Kollner (m. 1965) |
Children | 1 |
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 |
Mark Stephen Monmonier[ pronunciation? ] (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. [2] [3] He specializes in geography, geographic information systems, toponymy, and the history of cartography. [4] [5]
Monmonier was born in Baltimore, Maryland to parents John Carroll Monmonier and Martha Monmonier. [1] [2] His father worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and his mother worked as an elementary school teacher, teaching 5th grade. [1] [2] His father's career enabled their family to travel via rail through the use of his employee pass, and Monmonier noted he was exposed to several Transit maps and developed an early interest in rail transportation. [2] Monmonier attended Calvert Hall College High School, and spent time at the Enoch Pratt Free Library where he attended lectures and was exposed to the Maryland Geological Survey reports, which contributed to an interest in geology and networks. [2] [6]
Monmonier first attended Johns Hopkins University to pursue a bachelor's in engineering focusing on geophysical mechanics under a Maryland State Engineering Scholarship. [2] He ultimately changed majors due to changing interests, going on to earn two BAs in 1964 from Johns Hopkins University, one in geology and another in mathematics, under the Fredrick E. Blaser Scholarship. [1] [2] After obtaining his bachelor's degrees, Monmonier started graduate school at the University of Maryland, where he worked with professors Azriel Rosenfeld and John Pfaltz. [2] Monmonier left the University of Maryland due to frustration with the department's regional geography class to join the graduate program at Pennsylvania State University, which had offered him a three-year fellowship. [2] Monmonier earned an M.S. in geography in 1967, and Ph.D. in 1969, both from Pennsylvania State University. [1] [5] Monmonier's dissertation was titled On the Use of Digitized Map Sampling and Measurement: An Example in Crop Ecology, and focused on overlay analysis, building on his work with Azriel Rosenfeld and John Pfaltz. [2]
As an undergraduate, Monmonier worked as a GS-2 file clerk over the summers for the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, Maryland. [2] He worked part-time in the Johns Hopkins University library reshelving books. As a graduate student at the University of Maryland, Monmonier was denied a position as a teaching assistant due to a speech impediment and worked as a graduate assistant at the school's Computer Science Center. As a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, Monmonier was funded for three years as a National Defense Education Act Fellow. Once the NDEA fellowship ended, Monmonir was funded at Pennsylvania State University as a teaching assistant where he ran lab sections for Physical Geography, and worked with Peirce F. Lewis. When Lewis went on Sabbatical, Monmonier covered his Physiography of the United States course as the primary instructor. [2]
After getting his Ph.D., Monmonier began his academic career as Assistant professor of Geography at the University of Rhode Island in 1969, where he was hired to teach cartography and quantitative methods. [1] [2] [5] An interdepartmental dispute that may have resulted in Monmonier being forced to be the department chair caused him to seek employment elsewhere. [2]
After a year at the University of Rhode Island, Monmonier started at State University of New York at Albany (SUNY) in 1970 as an assistant professor of geography. [1] [5] [7] Due to bureaucratic issues and frustration with pay cuts and parking, Monmonier left SUNY in 1973. [1] [2] [5]
After learning from geographer Justin Friberg that Syracuse University was having difficulty hiring a cartography professor, and frustrated with SUNY, Monmonier interviewed and was accepted a position as Associate Professor of geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1973. [2] [5] Monmonier was promoted to full Professor in 1978, and Distinguished Professor in 1998. [5] Monmonier continued work at Syracuse University until his retirement in May 2021. [8] He is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography and the Environment at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. [8]
As an undergraduate Monmonier was a member of two honorary fraternities, Pi Tau Sigma and Tau Beta Pi. [2] [1] He served in numerous roles in the American Association of Geographers, and on panels advising the National Research Council and the Environmental Protection Agency. [2] [5] He worked as a consultant on several projects, including as a GS-13 Research Geographer for the United States Geological Survey, as a consultant on legal cases, and as part of a committee to help the National Geographic Society select a new map projection for world maps. [2] He was the vice president of the American Cartographic Association between 1982 and 1983, and President between 1983 and 1984. [1]
Monmonier's research has had multiple focuses. His early research was focused on methods of using computers to manage geographic data, and the application of these methods to problems in geomorphology, health, and agriculture. [2] His work also focused on topics such as the history of geography and cartography, and the social implications of maps. [9] Monmonier published several books aimed at the general population on the topics of cartography and geography, as well as several more traditional textbooks. [10] Monmonier's emphasis on publishing books is noted by geographer Russell S. Kirby as standing out from contemporary academics. [11] 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. [4]
Monmonier has authored over 20 books, and his popular written works show a combination of serious study and a sense of humor. [11] This is apparent in his most popular book How to Lie with Maps, which has been praised for explaining complex technical concepts in cartography in a way that is engaging and understandable to non-professionals. [12] Despite being digestable to non-professionals, How to lie with maps is described as one of the essential texts for cartographers, and "the closest thing to a religious text we have in cartography." [13] [14] Others of his books are aimed at more advanced audiences, or designed to serve as traditional textbooks. For example, the book Computer-Assisted Cartography: Principles and Prospects was the first commercial textbook on using computers in the cartographic process. [2] [15] In another text published by Monmonier titled Technological Transition in Cartography, he provided analysis of the technological changes that have occurred in cartography from the 19th to the late 20th century. [16] This book was target at cartography students, but was not designed to serve as a stand-alone comprehensive cartography textbook. [16] John P. Snyder, Alan MacEachren, and Michael Goodchild all recommended the book for professional cartographers and cartography students. [17] [18] [19] Most of his work is published by the University of Chicago Press. [20] Kirby stated in a review that Monmonier's books have "shaped the way we think about maps, their uses, and their abuses, as well as their meanings in the world of business, international politics, and our everyday life." [11]
Monmonier describes himself as an "academic cartographer" in his memoir. [2] His professional work has involved teaching cartography classes and consulting as an expert cartographer with various organizations. His research and publications reflect this specialization, with work focusing on cartographic generalization, thematic map, and approaches to spatial analysis. He has also written extensively about the history of cartography. [2] [6]
Monmonier's early career was dominated by studying and developing techniques in computer cartography, and he was one of the early pioneers of research on computer cartography and thematic mapping. [21] His textbook Computer-assisted Cartography: Principles and Prospects was the first textbook on computer cartography, and his 1965 publication The Production of Shaded Maps on the Digital Computer in The Professional Geographer was published six years after Waldo Toblers 1959 publication Automation and Cartography , viewed as the first academic publication on using computers in the cartographic process. [2] [22] [23] Several of his publications relate to choropleth maps, including class breaks, intervals, and color choice as well as recommendations to avoid ink spread. [2]
Monmonier's research focuses on the twentieth-century history of cartography, in particular, map-related inventions and patents. David Woodward and Brian Harley approached Monmonier as early as the 1970s to discuss his participation in the History of Cartography series. [9] This ultimately led to him editing the 6th edition of the series, History of Cartography: Cartography in the Twentieth Century. [9] He has also written about the history of patents related to cartography, and how maps have been used in media. [3] [24] [25] By combining patent records with other information, such as census records, Monmonier published biographic information about several map inventors, notably John Byron Plato whom Monmonier published a book about. [3] [11] [26]
The "Monmonier Algorithm", an important research tool for geographic studies in linguistics and genetics, is based on an article titled Maximum-Difference Barriers: An Alternative Numerical Regionalization Method. [27] [28] Monmonier's original article sought to find a "Maximum-difference boundary" by assessing how similar or dissimilar counties were with a common border. He demonstrated his algorithm with data from two study areas in the United States, each looking at a different dataset. [2] A 2004 article titled Geographic patterns of (genetic, morphologic, linguistic) variation: how barriers can be detected by using Monmonier's algorithm published in the journal Human Biology built upon this method in a software package, and coined the term "Monmonier Algorithm" to describe it. [29] The 2004 Human Biology journal used Monmonier's 1973 algorithm to identify genetic barriers and visualize the spatial patterns of them, noting this method works where correlation analyses fails. [29] This has caused Monmonier's 1973 paper to be his most cited peer-reviewed publication. [2]
Monmonier has received several honors throughout his career. These include but are not limited to:
Monmonier married Margaret Janet (Kollner) Monmonier in 1965 after meeting her in 1964, and remained married until her death in November 9, 2022. [36] Mark and Margaret adopted their daughter, Jo Kerry, in 1968. [36] Monmonier is a Catholic, and had his first communion in 1949. [1] [2]
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.
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. The projection is named after James Gall and Arno Peters.
A cartogram is a thematic map of a set of features, in which their geographic size is altered to be directly proportional to a selected variable, such as travel time, population, or gross national income. Geographic space itself is thus warped, sometimes extremely, in order to visualize the distribution of the variable. It is one of the most abstract types of map; in fact, some forms may more properly be called diagrams. They are primarily used to display emphasis and for analysis as nomographs.
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. He is most well known for coining what has come to be referred to as Tobler's first law of geography. He also coined what has come to be referred to as Tobler's second law of geography.
Arthur H. Robinson was an American geographer and cartographer, who was professor in the Geography Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1947 until he retired in 1980. He was a prolific writer and influential philosopher on cartography, and one of his most notable accomplishments is the Robinson projection of 1961.
A choropleth map is a type of statistical thematic map that uses pseudocolor, meaning color corresponding with an aggregate summary of a geographic characteristic within spatial enumeration units, such as population density or per-capita income.
Cartographic generalization, or map generalization, includes all changes in a map that are made when one derives a smaller-scale map from a larger-scale map or map data. It is a core part of cartographic design. Whether done manually by a cartographer or by a computer or set of algorithms, generalization seeks to abstract spatial information at a high level of detail to information that can be rendered on a map at a lower level of detail.
Computer cartography is the art, science, and technology of making and using maps with a computer. This technology represents a paradigm shift in how maps are produced, but is still fundamentally a subset of traditional cartography. The primary function of this technology is to produce maps, including creation of accurate representations of a particular area such as, detailing major road arteries and other points of interest for navigation, and in the creation of thematic maps. Computer cartography is one of the main functions of geographic information systems (GIS), however, GIS is not necessary to facilitate computer cartography and has functions beyond just making maps. The first peer-reviewed publications on using computers to help in the cartographic process predate the introduction of full GIS by several years.
Borden D. Dent (1938–2000) was an American geographer and cartographer who served as professor emeritus and chairman of the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Georgia State University. His textbook, Cartography: Thematic Map Design, is one of the seminal texts in the field, and its sixth edition was reissued in 2009.
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.
Cynthia Ann Brewer is an American cartographer, author, and professor of geography at Pennsylvania State University. Brewer's specialty relates to visibility and color theory in cartography. In 2023, she was awarded the International Cartographic Society's highest honor, the Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal, for her distinguished contribution to the field.
Technical geography is the branch of geography that involves using, studying, and creating tools to obtain, analyze, interpret, understand, and communicate spatial information.
Internet GIS, or Internet geographic information system (GIS), is a term that refers to a broad set of technologies and applications that employ the Internet to access, analyze, visualize, and distribute spatial data. Internet GIS is an outgrowth of traditional GIS, and represents a shift from conducting GIS on an individual computer to working with remotely distributed data and functions. Two major issues in GIS are accessing and distributing spatial data and GIS outputs. Internet GIS helps to solve that problem by allowing users to access vast databases impossible to store on a single desktop computer, and by allowing rapid dissemination of both maps and raw data to others. These methods include both file sharing and email. This has enabled the general public to participate in map creation and make use of GIS technology.
George Frederick Jenks (1916–1996) was an American geographer known for his significant contributions to cartography and geographic information systems (GIS). With a career spanning over three decades, Jenks played a vital role in advancing map-making technologies, was instrumental in enhancing the visualization of spatial data, and played foundational roles in developing modern cartographic curricula. The Jenks natural breaks optimization, based on his work, is still widely used in the creation of thematic maps, such as choropleth maps.
Michael P. Peterson is an American geographer and cartographer whose fields of research include geographic information systems and computer cartography in relation to the Internet and World Wide Web. He is currently a professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He was also the president of the North American Cartographic Information Society between 1996 and 1997, as well as the editor of the journal Cartographic Perspectives from 1998 to 2001.
Waldo Tobler's publications span between 1957 and 2017, with his most productive year being 1973. Despite retirement in 1994, he continued to be involved with research for the remainder of his life. Most of his publications consist of peer-reviewed journals, without single-issue textbooks or monographs, and the quantity of publications is noted as being unremarkable compared to modern geographers. Many of his works are foundational to modern geography and cartography, and still frequently cited in modern publications, including the first paper on using computers in cartography, the establishment of analytical cartography, and coining Tobler's first and second laws of geography. His work covered a wide range of topics, with many of his papers considered to be "cartographic classics", that serve as required reading for both graduate and undergraduate students.
How to Lie with Maps is a nonfiction book written by Mark Monmonier detailing issues with cartographic representation and targeted at the general public. First published in 1991 by the University of Chicago Press, it explores the various ways in which maps can be manipulated and how these distortions influence the general public's perceptions and understanding of the world. The book highlights the subjectivity involved in map-making and the potential for misuse of cartographic techniques, with a goal to "promote a healthy skepticism about maps."
Technological Transition in Cartography is a seminal book by Mark Monmonier, first published in 1985. The book explores the impact of technological advancements on the evolution of the field of cartography, examining how innovations in technology have transformed the methods and practices of mapmaking. The book was created to target cartography students of the time, and sought to demonstrate the importance of viewing cartography as a method of delivering geographic information, rather than using the technology.
Mark Monmonier is a geographer with a long track record of publications that have been influential to the discipline. In 2023, the American Association of Geographers awarded Monmonier a lifetime achievement award, with prominent mention of his publication track record, specifically stating, "Monmonier’s works are timeless and have transformed how people see, analyze, and interact with maps." Monmonier stands out from other academics in that he published several books aimed at the general population. His most famous book, How to Lie with Maps has been referred to as the "bible for cartographers" by Steven Bernard of the Financial Times and ""the closest thing to a religious text we have in cartography" in Spatial Literacy in Public Health: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Collaborations. His publication Maximum-Difference Barriers : An Alternative Numerical Regiodization Method lead to what is now referred to as the "Monmonier Algorithm."