The accountability of hand-drawn maps and rendering practices

Abstract

This paper presents an ethnomethodological analysis of the representation of space in hand-drawn maps. The rendering practice of hand drawn maps includes some systematic devices by which real space is transformed into two-dimensional space on paper and a map is recognized as the map representing a certain space. In other words, members use these devices not only to trace real space but also to enable the recognition of space in a specific mode. The paper deals with three distinctive patterns affording accountability of geographical features: retention of the three-dimensionality of real space; formal resemblance with intertextuality; and identification of space by means of words. Retention of the 3D of space on map is the device that assigns 3D effect to maps and contributes to the perception of the figure as being similar to real space. Intertextuality bestows formal resemblance on various maps to secure the intersubjectivity and scientific objectivity of maps. Words entered on hand-drawn maps enable a reading of a correspondence of maps with real space. The representation of space makes sense by virtue of these devices that accomplish the recognizability of space between the drawers and readers of hand-drawn maps.