NACIS 2022

In and On, Around and Above: Mapping Island Experiences
Darren Sears
In previous meetings, I have presented an overview of my abstract watercolor maps that accentuate edges and contrasts in the natural world by merging multiple perspectives into “fractured” compositions. This talk will concentrate in detail on three new maps - both the design process and the final product - that depict contrasts in the form of ecological or geological islands. The fractured style, by combining sensations of traveling through and floating above, immerses the viewer within the multiple facets of each place while at the same time capturing its overall “island-ness.” I will describe how the unique geography of each location, and the particular way I experienced it, presented different challenges and opportunities.

A Synesthete's Atlas: Performing Cartography in Real Time
Eric Theise
Since April 2022 I've been projecting/manipulating slippy maps in collaboration with improvising musicians across Europe and North America. Limiting myself to geospatial technologies, "A Synesthete's Atlas" is a constrained mutation of expanded cinema, lifting/applying strategies from experimental film & animation, color theory, the Light and Space movement, and concrete poetry. I'm a "map jockey".

I'll present Carto-OSC, an assemblage of open source libraries, data, and protocols, plus 1000+ lines of JavaScript that integrates it all into a touch-surface interface. Included are video excerpts of previous performances but you're encouraged to attend Saturday night's performance with upright & electric bassist Liz Draper at Mirror Lab. Details in Field Trips.

The Scarlet Letter "A"
Chelsea Nestel, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Aesthetics is implicit in cartography's claims to disciplinary value, yet its place in cartographic theory is controversial. Some cartographers view aesthetics positively (e.g. Kent 2005), but others problematize it as hedonic, detracting from map function, or unscientific (e.g., CP 2012, Robinson 1952). Furthermore, cartography itself has been critiqued on aesthetic terms as an ideological "mask" or "image" (e.g., Wood 2007). Critics' concerns with aesthetics are well-founded, telling us either (a) we should abandon aesthetics in cartographic theory or (b) we should reform it. I argue (b) using new developments in philosophy of aesthetics regarding normativity (Lopes 2018) and experience (Nanay 2016). Aesthetic commitments are not optional. If cartographers make "good" maps, aesthetic theory matters.

Map or Not?
Mark Denil
How is it that someone can look at a thing—and it really can be just about anything—and say: this is a map, or this is not a map? Is this even important? A lot of people, including many NACIS members, have said it isn't—that it is silly to even ask the question. Obviously, those people are wrong. Why should you take advice from someone who can't tell a map from a not-map? Understanding such decisions, however, is not as simple and obvious as it seems. This talk will explore some of the ramifications of recognizing maps.

Mapping as public art - in steel and acrylic
David Nuttall, Artimaps, LLC
This talk will look at my progression from 2D and small scale 3D maps into larger 3D public art mapping. I will discuss my first project “100 Years Apart”, the design, tools, implementation and the intimidation of translating my map art to a new and larger medium. This first sculptural map is a stylized work that is a visual snapshot of the history of an area of downtown Huntsville and will be placed at the civic center for two years. It depicts the location in 1921 and 2021. The sculpture is fabricated from materials that reflect the time period and hopefully inspires the viewer to take a closer look. Future projects will hopefully take this map/art/sculpture medium into more education and information about the changes seen over time.

Slack channel: #nacis2022-rockisland